Worship albums

[danny316]

Murlough's list of favorite praise/worship albums got me thinking about the topic. I was wondering what'd be on other people's lists of favorite praise and worship albums after that.

So I made my own list using a considerably looser definition of praise and worship:

1. The Violet Burning (aka Lipstick and Dynamite Wonder) - The Violet Burning

The one album that dared to break every taboo of "praise and worship" music and just honestly, emotionally, and personally let it all out to God. Why don't other bands write songs to God about darker themes? Oh, that's right, as it is, they had to censor the f-word on this, and change the album's name, and release it on an indie-rock label because the Christian subculture wouldn't touch it. Maybe there's a reason I think most of the normal "praise and worship" is terrible by comparison - I've been spoiled by an album so far ahead of it's time.

2. The Joshua Tree - U2

There's a reason that every P&W act out there tries to sound like this album. This is the closest that genuine and personal explorations of faith will ever come to an anthemic and communal environment. "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" chronicles Bono's own search for the Almighty, and it's still an anthem that almost everyone can relate to. There was some real magic here, and even if it didn't last for the full 11 tracks, it was great while it lasted.

3. The Fires of Life - Cool Hand Luke

An honest bunch of guys that are extremely devoted to God and fairly talented shouldn't be left alone. Particularly not with good session musicians, like Marc Byrd and Matt Slocum. There's some great stuff hidden the dark-sounding atmosphere of this disc, and it's some of the best praise-type material I've heard. Besides, they don't sound THAT much like Coldplay.

4. Kansas - Jennifer Knapp

One of P&W's best songwriters was given a great set of CCM all-stars to round her debut album. She shows us her early lessons of faith in a set of strong worship-type songs while members of Sixpence None the Richer, dc talk, Audio Adrenaline, and more flesh out a solid folk-rock sound. The emphasis on her discovery of God's grace really drove this album home for me.

5. Who We Are Instead - Jars of Clay

Ironically, Jars seemed to find themselves with this album. They brought back some old experiments that worked and tried a few new ones. The theme of the album is realizing who we are instead of who we think we are, and grace is a major part of this theme. The final four songs set up an amazing worship set, more by juxtaposition than actual great songwriting. "Jesus Blood..." is the perfect set up for the stellar "Jealous Kind", which almost puts you in the mood for the two slower P&W songs that come after it. Also, I have to admit, I liked Jars better when they were inspired by hymns but still writing original material instead of just singing reworked hymns. There's something more personal and spiritual about this approach that has more of an effect on me.

6. No Name Face - Lifehouse

OK, so this has the whole "Is he talking to a girl or God?" question scribbled all over it in very large red letters repeatedly. Interpret it as an album directed to God, and this is a fairly solid album that balances more worshipful tunes (Everything, Breathing, Unknown, Sick Cycle Carousel) with more introspective ones (Somewhere in Between, Trying, Somebody Else's Song).

7. You Are There - Ashley Cleveland

The session musician turned gospel-rock singer, live. I suppose that this would be a bad time to mention that my favorite song here is the Rolling Stones cover (the sound of Mick Jagger being beat up by a girl who rocks harder than he does). Most of these songs are a bit more worshipful, though.

8. SONICPRAISE - Sonicflood

OK, so that first real album of them defined them. That's the one that set the pace and changed things, allowing P&W to stop ripping off The Joshua Tree and Jars of Clay's debut. This disc feels so much more alive and more passionate to me. As praise-rock goes, I find this to be the more enjoyable SONICFLOOd album, even though the other was more innovative.

9. Learning to Breathe - Switchfoot

Remember when Switchfoot thought everything was a concept album for some part of the Christian life? Admit it, it was kind of cute. This one was supposed to be about how growing as a Christian is like learning to breath in a new environment, or something else like that that I couldn't tell from the music. This is really more of a rock album than a worship album, but most of the more powerful tunes have a very distinct worshipful flair - "Learning to Breathe", "Love is the Movement", "You Already Take Me There", "The Economy Of Mercy"...ultimately, this isn't the strongest album, but it is fairly solid, and one that does have a definite lean toward P&W in some places.

Beyond there, a few more releases by the same handful of artists that aren't quite as exciting.

[bethany]

Indelible Grace, Pilgrim Days, For All The Saints - various artists. Jars owes a lot to these recordings for their hymn album.  

[murlough23]

I think it's an extreme stretch to call some of those P&W albums, but then maybe a few of mine were a stretch as well. I do think that it all worships God, but I guess I was trying to give due credit to albums whose lyrics specifically focused on stating that, as opposed to other topics.

[dgp11776]

What the heck - a top 20.  Mine are pretty conventional.

1.  Delirious - Glo
2.  Cool Hand Luke - The Fires of Life
3.  Delirious? - King of Fools
4.  Something Like Silas - Divine Invitation
5.  downhere - downhere
6.  Bart Millard - Hymned No. 1
7.  Chris Tomlin - Arriving
8.  SONICFLOOd - SONICFLOOd
9.  David Crowder Band - A Collision
10.  Rock N Roll Worship Circus - Welcome to the Rock N Roll Worship Circus
11.  Cool Hand Luke - Wake Up O Sleeper
12.  Salvador - Salvador
13.  Jars of Clay - Redemption Songs
14.  Audio Adrenaline - Lift
15.  Tree63 - The Answer To the Question
16.  MercyMe - Spoken For
17.  Telecast - Eternity Is Now
18.  Jeremy Camp - Stay
19.  Telecast - The Beauty of Simplicity
20.  Newsong - Rescue:  Live Worship

[PaulDA]

8. SONICPRAISE - Sonicflood
 

Of course my all time favorite worship albums are Rebecca St. James 'Worship God' and  her live EP,
but I also love Sonicflood's live album (the grey cover).
I also like the studio one (the reddish cover), but the live album is much better.
Another favorite is Passion 'One Day' live album. Excellent.
Worship albums are almost always better live.

I like 'The Joshua Tree' but I do not consider that a worship album.

[dgp11776]

P.S.  Thanks to my kind firewall blocking access to Xanga, I'm not able to see murlough's list.

[murlough23]

Worship albums are almost always better live.

I could go either way on that one. If I'm used to a specific artist's studio version of a song, and the live version leaves out some of what makes the studio version likeable to me, or if they drag it out and repeat it too much, I'll probably prefer the studio version. That's less an issue of how worshipful it is, and more a technical issue. Another thing that bugs me about live albums in general is too much talking, or more varied results in the sound mixing (Jars of Clay's Stringtown, for example, is interesting as a document of the band touring for their first two albums, but the production is pretty horrendous).

On the other hand, the whole point of worship albums is generally to get a group of people singing songs together, so the energy of a live crowd can often better illustrate the power of a song. It makes a lot more sense to hear Chris Tomlin singing "And together we sing, everyone sing" on a live album than a studio album. Also, some artists like Matt Redman have pretty good touring bands, but rely way too much on studio wizardry, deflating album versions of otherwise great songs. (I love Matt Redman in concert, but I don't own any of his CD's for this very reason.)

And then again, sometimes you have lead singers/worship leaders that cheerlead the audience too much. When someone's eliciting a programmed response from the audience by interjecting comments into their singing, it kind of says to me that they don't have enough confidence in the audience being excited about the music. It's especially problematic if it's a worship album and you have a singer going "Do you believe it, Toledo?" or something like that just to get the audience to cheer because their town was named.

So it could really go either way. The first music I really got into was the Maranatha!/Integrity worship tapes that my mom used to listen to, most of which were recorded live (stuff like Don Moen and Ron Kenoly). I still have a soft spot for a lot of that stuff, even if I don't actually listen to it any more.

NP: "What About Them", John Reuben

[murlough23]

P.S.  Thanks to my kind firewall blocking access to Xanga, I'm not able to see murlough's list.

Here you go:

1. Something Like Silas - Divine Invitation
This one just supplanted Delirious?'s Glo as my all-time favorite worship album. Every song has a sound to it that just draws me in, because of how powerfully it moves without sounding like a typical worship band. Rock music and more ethereal styles blend with simple (but thankfully not cheerleading-driven) lyrics about God that ring with true reverence for God's all-encompassing mystery.

2. Delirious? - Glo
Out of all the worship albums I own, this is the one that perhaps makes the best case for rock music as a reverent, respectful, but also explosive way to communicate our worship towards God. The songs segue beautifully into one another (with several spontaneous passages as add-ons to the preceding tracks that don't seem to just be there to waste space), and the diversity of sounds is impressive while keeping a cohesive focus for the album as a whole. Delirious? has some other fine albums, but not all of them are corporate worship-focused as well as this one.

3. Jennifer Knapp - Kansas
Not strictly a worship album, but the confessional tone of all of these songs lends itself well to a mood of prayer and repentance. I like the raw folk-rock tone of this one, and it's refreshing to hear meditations both simple and profound coming from the pen of a fairly new Christian who hadn't yet learned how to phrase everything the way Nashville wanted to. This is the perfect "bummed-out-about-sin" album to put on as a catalyst when you and God just need to reconnect.

4. David Crowder Band - Illuminate
The quirky, somewhat restrained, but always joyful sound of the DCB had to grow on me a bit, as did David's slightly odd voice and sometimes repetitive lyrics, but the musicianship on this one is excellent. The songs can be easily learned, but that still leaves room for an overarching theme and some neat instrumental interlude. It's the crown jewel of the band's discography so far.

5. Jars of Clay - Redemption Songs
Despite my complaints about the unecessarily poppy rendition of "It Is Well with My Soul", this album deserves a lot of credit for putting a fresh spin on a lot of hymns that are either just plain obscure, or have never had music composed for them in the first place. It's not the typical "Cover every hymn that everybody grew up with" type of collection, and as a result, many of its selection comes across as if they were brand new classics original to Jars. It's folksy, but not entirely traditional - the band applies their own unique sound here without pepping every song up just for the sake of making the youth group like it.

6. David Crowder Band - A Collision
Another strong entry from the DCB - this one doesn't flow as well and takes more getting used to, but the ambition on this one is off the scale. The band was clearly intent on making a more artistic expression of worship while still having accessible congregational songs (the lyrics are a mix of that and the more personal, encouragement toward God type of songs, with a few covers thrown in for fun and contemplation), and they've got some real winnres dispersed throughout the 21 tracks found here.

7. Rebecca St. James - Pray
If you don't count "I'll Carry You", which is more of a person-to-person encouragement (and interestingly, my favorite RSJ song), every track on Pray is a vertical and honest expression of RSJ's love and devotion, at a time when she didn't have to cover super-well-known worship songs or try to tie in to the latest book or wristband craze to add something legitimate to the ongoing conversation of worship music. She adopts a more electronic-driven style for much of this album, with Tedd T. playing with all sorts of bells and whistles, and she makes a few interesting cover choices (Rich Mullins, Keith Green, the classic hymn "Be Thou My Vision") really work in this context instead of just feeling slammed in there. Take away the jarring spoken-word "Omega", and you've got an incredibly encompassing personal worship experience here.

8. SonicFlood - SonicFlood
In many ways, this is the album that started it all. They took the cue from Delirious? (even popularizing "I Could Sing of Your Love Forever" to the point where many assumed it was an SF original), who in turn took a cue from U2, and applied a fun, jangly pop-rock sound to a number of contemporary worship tunes in a way that we hadn't heard presented so addictively and warmly before. Christian radio was all over this, and suddenly, everybody wanted to do what SonicFlood was doing (including, ironically, the band that ended up keeping the name SonicFlood not two years later after a major fallout within the group). This album hearkens back to a time of innocence when doing something like this was a risk, not a safe, trendy maneuever. We'd never hear this group of people playing and writing together again, and none of them has sounded as strong on their own (Jeff Deyo, By the Tree, etc.) as they all were here.

9. Various Artists - Exodus
Another one of the albums that started it all - this one was a bit of a novelty when it released, but a solid novelty. Drawing together established favorites like dc Talk, Jars of Clay, Third Day, and Crystal Lewis, as well as then-lesser-appreciated , but critically acclaimed, artists like Sixpence None the Richer and Chris Rice, and even some new group called The Katinas, Michael W. Smith managed to tie it all together with his overall vision for a community worship experience (even bookending the album with a good early example of his instrumental work and a Rich Mullins cover). Looking back, some of it seems pedestrian in the context of today's modern worship trend, but at the time, this stuff was majorly refreshing.

10. Delirious? - World Service
A newer entry from Delirious? - it didn't spark the revolution or get as much attention as their earlier albums did, but it's still a good blend of rocking out and chilling out, with a uniformly worshipful tone throughout. Even when Delirious? is basically repeating themselves, they're still stylistically leagues beyond most of the bands who share the same pool of influences, so for simply doing what they've always done well, I have to give them credit for another solid entry.

[dgp11776]

Ah, excellent choices for the most part.  Kansas and Pray are two I couldn't include, but only because I'm not familiar enough with them.  I almost included Exodus - it would probably be like #21, and World Service would probably be right after that.

[Wildcatblue7]

RSJ's version of "Be Thou My Vision" is probably my favorite worship tune of all time.  Seriously.  Nothing beats it in Wildcat Land.

[murlough23]

RSJ's version of "Be Thou My Vision" is probably my favorite worship tune of all time.  Seriously.  Nothing beats it in Wildcat Land.

I'm not sure what my favorite recording of a worship song is any more. "My Refuge" by SonicFlood used to be my favorite. I guess the slot is up for grabs now. Let me think about this for a while...

NP: "I Won't Back Down", Mat Kearney

[bethany]

It's hard to choose a favorite. "Come Thou Fount" on Sufjan Steven's Christmas album is pretty high up there, though.

[Guest]

Sufjan...did a Christmas album?    How does one find it?

1. Rock 'N' Roll Worship Circus, The Listening
2. Anathallo, A Holiday at the Sea
3. CHL, The Fires of Life
3. Delirious... that one live album

R'N'RWC is awesome.  Even my pastor likes them.  It was the only CD he kept out of a mountain of sides I lent him besides Good Dog Bad Dog; and he even called OTR 'maudlin.'    

Has anyone heard of Anathallo?  It's not strictly praise music, but their music certaintly has a worshipful tone to it.   No real song structure, very emotional and theatric.  When I first heard Sufjan's trumpets in Michigan, it reminded me immensely of them, except they're less likely to lull you to sleep because their song structure is so unpredictable, and has more of a distorted edge.  In fact, I couldn't get into his music for a while because the emotional trumpet use was so similar for me.

Sometimes worship music sort of grates me.  I don't know.  

CHL is awesome, too.  Too bad they split up...   Their last two albums affected me very much, if not always well, and I looked forward to seeing what they would do next.  The close description of strangled spiritual epiphanies haunted me.  

[Escuchame]

Here are mine:

Vineyard UK - Hungry: The best worship album Vineyard has ever recorded.  A haunting, timeless recording with a British, Celtic flair.

Travis Cottrell - Alive Forever: Blended worship at its finest.  Gospel, modern worship, hymnody, choir music, et al. get represented here.

Israel & New Breed - Live from Another Level: A polyrhythmic, irrestistible mix of gospel, funk, rock, Caribbean, and even CCM sounds all into one.  And Israel's band is just sick.

Something Like Silas - Divine Invitation: Alternative worship that's inventive, unasumming, humbling, and just plain beautiful in spots.

Fernando Ortega - Storm: Not a "worship" album per se, but it offers some awe-inspiring moments of intimacy with God.  Nobody reinterprets hymns better than Fernando.

Kathryn Scott - Satisfy: Worship with an Irish touch, this one is congregational and simple, yet exquisitely sung and put-together.  A hidden treasure.

Hillsong - Blessed: The most "rocking" album the Hillsong adult team has recorded.  Nearly all are originals.  Quite epic, as well.

Lincoln Brewster - Lincoln Brewster: This one's such an underrated debut.  That dude can play the electric guitar like it's nobody's business.  It's gritty and quirky, but it works as a worship disc.

United - Look to You: The last Hillsong youth disc is chock-full of new "classics," it ain't even funny.  It trumps its dull adult counterpart by a long shot.

Kathy Troccoli - Draw Me Close: This one is just seamless, peaceful and beautiful.  She just uses a mix of piano, cello, and guitar to create one of the most arresting collections of covers I've heard.

Matt Redman - The Father's Song: Redman is so hit and miss with me, but this one just undid me.  It's basically a collection of conversations with God set to music.

Various - Exodus: One of the trendsetters when it comes to modern worship.  It's a historical must-have in many respects.  Cindy Morgan, Jars, and Sixpence in the same compilation?  Count me in.

###

That was tough.  I'm sure there's more.

[dgp11776]

Lincoln Brewster - Lincoln Brewster: This one's such an underrated debut.  That dude can play the electric guitar like it's nobody's business.  It's gritty and quirky, but it works as a worship disc.

Yeah, that is an underrated album, now that you mention it.  I also like Live To Worship, but wasn't all that fond of Amazed.

[ajyouthguy]

CHL is awesome, too.  Too bad they split up...   Their last two albums affected me very much, if not always well, and I looked forward to seeing what they would do next.  The close description of strangled spiritual epiphanies haunted me.

the last i had heard they hadn't officially split, right?  did i miss something?  i mean, i know it seems pretty inevitable, but i had never heard it was official.

their last two albums are two of the best albums i've gotten in the past couple of years.  they were sooooo underrated and underappreciated.  such a shame, the CCM world could use a LOT more bands like them.

 

[ajyouthguy]

actually, here is the latest, from October 14, from CHL's website...

I have been writing music for the past few months, and Brandon and I plan to start rehearsing again in November. That's all I will say for now, but don't give up on us and keep checking in to see what we're up to. Thank you to everyone who has written to encourage us and tell us how God has used our music in your lives. We continue to ask for your prayers as we seek God's direction for Cool Hand Luke. You are a blessing. Talk to you soon.

--mark

[murlough23]

the last i had heard they hadn't officially split, right?  did i miss something?  i mean, i know it seems pretty inevitable, but i had never heard it was official.

Sounds like they pulled a Telecast. We're breaking up... oh, not really.

Maybe they could get back together, put out a so-so CD, split up again, get back together again, and re-record some old songs in acoustic format just for fun. You know, the old PfR trick.

NP: "Sunshine", John Reuben

[ajyouthguy]

Sounds like they pulled a Telecast. We're breaking up... oh, not really.

Maybe they could get back together, put out a so-so CD, split up again, get back together again, and re-record some old songs in acoustic format just for fun. You know, the old PfR trick.

 

does that mean you aren't a CHL fan or are you just poking fun at the nature of bands to do that?  

[murlough23]

does that mean you aren't a CHL fan or are you just poking fun at the nature of bands to do that?

Mostly just poking fun. I liked PfR, I hated Telecast, and CHL is in my "I respect them, but can't really get into their music" category.

NP: "All I Have", John Reuben

[ajyouthguy]

Mostly just poking fun. I liked PfR, I hated Telecast, and CHL is in my "I respect them, but can't really get into their music" category.

 

got it...thanks for the explanation, i just wasn't sure.

[murlough23]

got it...thanks for the explanation, i just wasn't sure.

I think I'd get a pretty solid whipping around here if I started bagging on Cool Hand Luke. I might try to do a more in-depth critical anlysis of one of their albums and why I think they aren't living up to their potential one of these days, but the fact remains that I can see the potential, and I can see how they appeal to a lot of more intelligent Christian music fans. They do a good job of writing encouraging/challenging lyrics that are explicitly Christian in a believable artistic context. I just think that their music is rather boring (especially on The Fires of Life).

Having said all that, "Heroes Will Be Heroes" is an amazing song.

[Escuchame]

Yes, Wake Up O Sleeper is superior to The Fires of Life, which just gets dull past its midpoint.

 

[murlough23]

Yes, Wake Up O Sleeper is superior to The Fires of Life, which just gets dull past its midpoint.

Agreed. Wake Up was tedious at times, but there was a lot more complexity to the music.

NP: "Skin Is, My", Andrew Bird

[PaulDA]

Some more of my favorite worship albums are Robin Mark's three live albums.
Anyone like him?

[worldofcm]

I can't believe so many of you have enjoyed Glo so much.  That was the only album of theirs that I never connected with.  To me, World Service, King of Fools, and Cutting Edge were much more influential in the modern worship realm.

[murlough23]

I can't believe so many of you have enjoyed Glo so much.  That was the only album of theirs that I never connected with.  To me, World Service, King of Fools, and Cutting Edge were much more influential in the modern worship realm.

Most influential doesn't always mean best. Cutting Edge was way more influential than probably any of their albums will ever be. But it's not very professionally done. Not that I think everything should be totally polished or whatever, because the more independent spirit of that album is kind of a draw, but it's a really inconsistent and sometimes tedious collection (Disc 2 being much stronger than Disc 1). Still, it contributed more songs to the modern worship canon that will endure than probably any other album of theirs will. (And to be fair, King of Fools, Mezzamorphis, and Audio:Lessonover?/Touch weren't designed to be straight-up worship albums.) In any event, I can see why the first few albums are considered classic and influential, but World Service? Seems to me like that one didn't make such a huge splash. I liked it, but it's essentially Delirious? doing more of the same. Glo was a worship album that I felt really took what they were going for on Cutting Edge to the next level.

NP: "Inside My Heart", Iona

[murlough23]

Hey, kind of off topic, but speaking of bands who supposedly broke up... why does Bleach keep putting out albums?

[starhawk]

Hey, kind of off topic, but speaking of bands who supposedly broke up... why does Bleach keep putting out albums?

Are you talking about Farewell Old Friends released earlier this year?  The band announced that they were calling it quits sometime early summer of 2004, performed their final concert in I believe August 2004, and announced one final record for early 2005.  Thus the title of the record.
...unless they have something else coming out that I don't know of.

[murlough23]

Bleach had another album that just released. I forget what it's called.

[bdg13disciple]

Bleach had another album that just released. I forget what it's called.

it's a T&N Pimpdaddy greatest hits album...

like both of the supertones albums this year...

peace... love... bdg...

[Escuchame]

Bleach had another album that just released. I forget what it's called.

Yeah, it's a greatest hits record.

[murlough23]

Oh, OK. That's semi-annoying, but kind of makes sense. (I never cared much for Bleach anyway, so I guess I just kind of wish they'd go away already.)

But as I always say, if 2Pac is still putting out albums...

[Guest]

Oh, OK. That's semi-annoying, but kind of makes sense. (I never cared much for Bleach anyway, so I guess I just kind of wish they'd go away already.)

But as I always say, if 2Pac is still putting out albums...

I cared for Bleach.  
But if the new record is just a greatest hits collection, I'll pass on it.  

As far as worship albums go...my two favorites have been and still are RRWC and Delirious, even though RRWC's last lp, Beautiful Glow, was majorly dissapointing.

[starhawk]

oops, that was me, forgot to log in.  

[danny316]

I forget how the quote thing works exactly, but bear with me here.

(bethany) Indelible Grace, Pilgrim Days, For All The Saints - various artists. Jars owes a lot to these recordings for their hymn album.

I've heard a lot of good things about that series. I didn't particularly like the Jars album though - are these better than Redemption Songs?

(murlough)  I think it's an extreme stretch to call some of those P&W albums, but then maybe a few of mine were a stretch as well. I do think that it all worships God, but I guess I was trying to give due credit to albums whose lyrics specifically focused on stating that, as opposed to other topics. 

Yeah, I have a rather loose definition of P&W. The most questionable one there is Joshua Tree, but that influenced the genre the most, so it's excusable. I tend to prefer worship-oriented material that comes from a personal place over corporate-style worship. Most of these are pretty terrible as selections to use on Sunday morning, but they're powerful as albums that express something to God.

(dgp11776)  What the heck - a top 20. Mine are pretty conventional.

Not bad. I like downhere, and Audio Adrenaline too, and some of MercyMe and Tree63's stuff is pretty good. I had forgotten about them. I'd have a hard time picking albums to represent downhere and Audio A though - I don't prefer either DH album to the other, and Audio's more worship-py stuff just isn't as good as their earlier stuff. Lift and Worldwide are both guilty pleasures for me, but I don't know which I'd say is better.

(PaulDA) but I also love Sonicflood's live album (the grey cover).

You're one of a mere two other people I've heard admit to liking that album. I remember posting in a thread back on CMC that you started when you first got that one. I don't usually prefer live albums (although as corporate-style worship music goes, I guess I do prefer it to studio takes), but this one's good.

(PaulDA) I like 'The Joshua Tree' but I do not consider that a worship album.

Yeah, that's really the only questionable entry here. A few of the songs have worshipful meanings in the "proper" "Christian" interpretations of them that aren't really there. "Where the Streets Have No Name", for example, is often refered to as a praise song about heaven....but if I recall correctly, Bono wrote it because he was appalled at the division of rich people and poor people, and how you could tell who was rich or poor based on what street they lived on. It's a good album though, and it does seem to be mostly vertically-oriented (again, depending on the interpretation of the album you subscribe to, and how accurate that one is....)

(dgp11776) I almost included Exodus - it would probably be like #21

I don't really think of that as an album. I bought it because I'm a completist when it comes to Jars and Sixpence. I find it very bizarre that when two of my most-hated bands (Third Day and MWS) get together, I actually like the resulting song. Beyond that, it doesn't really stick out to me. Maybe Murlough's right about it being more meaningful because it was the first time a multi-artist P&W album had been done - to me it's just another entry into that overdone category.

(guest) Sometimes worship music sort of grates me. I don't know.

Same here. I don't like the idea of listening to explicit P&W material when I'm not in the mood to praise God. Perhaps that's why my top P&W album's not so nice to Him? I'd also go along with the worship music-as-porn line of thinking that was discussed here a while back. It's something intimate, it shouldn't be brought out at the wrong times or made cheap.

(Escuchame) Israel & New Breed - Live from Another Level: A polyrhythmic, irrestistible mix of gospel, funk, rock, Caribbean, and even CCM sounds all into one. And Israel's band is just sick.

Something Like Silas - Divine Invitation: Alternative worship that's inventive, unasumming, humbling, and just plain beautiful in spots.

Lincoln Brewster - Lincoln Brewster: This one's such an underrated debut. That dude can play the electric guitar like it's nobody's business. It's gritty and quirky, but it works as a worship disc.

United - Look to You: The last Hillsong youth disc is chock-full of new "classics," it ain't even funny. It trumps its dull adult counterpart by a long shot.

Matt Redman - The Father's Song: Redman is so hit and miss with me, but this one just undid me. It's basically a collection of conversations with God set to music.

I've heard quite a bit about that Israel & New Breed album, but it doesn't exactly sound like my cup of tea. I've never really understood what the big deal is about SLS, but I like Lincoln Brewster. I've seen him live a few times, he's very effective as a worship leader and quite the guitarist. Those other two sound interesting too.

(ajyouthguy)  the last i had heard they hadn't officially split, right? did i miss something? i mean, i know it seems pretty inevitable, but i had never heard it was official.

They're pulling a bit of a dc Talk or a Destiny's Child. They're insisting they're not breaking up, but they've been taking some time off as a band and they've been involved in other musical pursuits. Thanks for the update on them, BTW.

(Escuchame)  Yes, Wake Up O Sleeper is superior to The Fires of Life, which just gets dull past its midpoint.

Wow, I'm really not seeing that. I thought that The Fires of Life was much more cohesive, and that the title track was a good song. Sure, you could argue that the self-referencing "Rest for the Weary" and "The Zombie Song" shouldn't be so....self-referencing, but I think that they pull off both songs in spite of that flaw. I rather liked the Cinematic trilogy (I love the way that Cinematic leads into I'm Not Ready and Sequence #3), but I'll agree that Friendly Jas and I'm Not Running are low points. Still, I think that's a good album. At the very least, it's more worship-based than Wake Up O Sleeper.