Virtual Best-Of: Caedmon's Call

[murlough23]

OK, I'm going to give this one a try for round two, but since I'm unsure of how many folks here are really familiar with a lot of material from Caedmon's, I may change my mind and do Jars or Switchfoot instead if there isn't a lot of voting happening.

I get the feeling that narrowing down material for one CD is going to be harder here than with the Newsboys, since I know I'm strongly attached to many more Caedmon's songs than I am Newsboys songs. (But hey, I can always make my own 2-CD mix some other time; this one's just meant to be a quick primer/nostalgic look back for the Pub users.)

If more than one version of a song (generally a live vs. studio version) is getting votes, I'll lump the two together in order to not split the votes for that song. If the song makes the cut, we can vote on versions later.

With that in mind, vote away, for as many songs as you like!

EDIT: Initial nominations are closed. We're now voting to determine the final track list, out of the tracks available.

Definitely Making the Cut:
1. Lead of Love (3:55)
2. Thankful (4:18)
3. Shifting Sand (3:47)
4. Mistake of My Life (3:51)
5. This World (3:43)
6. Bus Driver (5:08)
7. Standing Up for Nothing (4:55)
8. Table for Two (3:31)
9. Somewhere North (5:28)
10. Ballad of San Francisco (2:49)
11. God of Wonders (5:07)
12. Mother India (5:26)
13. Wings of the Morning (4:38)
14. Close of Autumn (4:55)
15. Piece of Glass (4:06)
16. Not the Land (5:00)
17. There's Only One (Holy One) (3:46)
18. Daring Daylight Escape (3:37)
Total Time: 78:00

-----

My picks:

From Caedmon's Call
Lead of Love
Close of Autumn
Not the Land
This World
Bus Driver
Standing Up for Nothing
Stupid Kid
Not Enough
(phew... that's almost the entire album!)

From 40 Acres
Thankful
Shifting Sand
Table for Two
Petrified Heart
Somewhere North
Daring Daylight Escape

From Long Line of Leavers
Mistake of My Life
Masquerade
What You Want
Valleys Fill First
Piece of Glass
Ballad of San Francisco

From In the Company of Angels
(Nothing. Ha!)

From Back Home
The Kingdom

From Chronicles
I Will Sing/Hope to Carry On (live)

From Share the Well
Share the Well
There's Only One (Holy One)
Mother India
International Love Song
Volcanoland
The Roses
The Innocent's Corner
Sarala
Wings of the Morning
Dalit Hymn
(Again, that's nearly the entire album. I tried to narrow it down, but I just can't.)

From In the Company of Angels 2
Sing His Love

Fanclub/non-album tracks
Another 10 Miles (live version from The Guild Collection, Vol. 1)
In God's Country (live version from The Guild Collection, Vol. 2)
God of Wonders (from City on a Hill, because it doesn't sound as good without Mac Powell and the "Holy, Holy, Holy" snippets)

[Brenden]

From My Calm/Your Storm
Suicidal Stones
My Calm Your Storm

From Caedmon's Call
Close of Autumn
Not the Land
This World
Bus Driver
Standing Up for Nothing
Not Enough
I Just Don't Want Coffee
Center Aisle

From 40 Acres
Thankful
Shifting Sand
Table for Two
Petrified Heart
Somewhere North
Daring Daylight Escape
Faith My Eyes
Where I Began

From Long Line of Leavers
Mistake of My Life
Masquerade
What You Want
Piece of Glass
Ballad of San Francisco

From Share the Well
Share the Well
There's Only One (Holy One)
Mother India
International Love Song
Volcanoland
The Roses
The Innocent's Corner
Wings of the Morning
Dalit Hymn
Bombay Rain

Fanclub/non-album tracks
Another 10 Miles (live version from The Guild Collection, Vol. 1)
Famous Last Words
Almost Gone
The Truth
Open Letter
Lizinko

[plvarona]

Here goes:

From self-titled:
Bus Driver
Lead of Love
Not the Land
This World
Not Enough
Standing Up For Nothing
Center Aisle

From 40 Acres:
Table For Two
Somewhere North
Daring Daylight Escape
Faith My Eyes
Thankful
Petrified Heart

From Long Line of Leavers:
Mistake of My Life
Can't Lose You
Love is Different
Ballad of San Francisco
The Only One
Masquerade
Piece of Glass

From In The Company of Angels:
Thy Mercy
Before There Was Time

From Back Home:
The Kingdom
Awake My Soul
Mystery of Mercy

From Share The Well:
Mother India
Wings of the Morning
There's Only One (Holy One)
The Innocent's Corner
Dalit Hymn
Volcanoland
The Roses
Share The Well
Bombay Rain

From Other Projects:
God of Wonders (City on a Hill version.)

I think I may have listed enough songs for 2 CDs!

[ewok20t3]

I'm really only familiar with the first two albums but I love "Lead of Love", "Standing Up For Nothing", "Coming Home",  "I Just Don't Want Cofee", "Somewhere North", and "Where I Began"

[worldofcm]

Oooh - this one interests me MUCH more than the Newsboys one...

From Caedmon's Call
Lead of Love
Hope to Carry On
Bus Driver
Come Home

From 40 Acres (my personal favorite album)
There You Go
Thankful
Shifting Sand
Where I Began
Petrified Heart
Daring Daylight Escape
40 Acres

From Long Line of Leavers
The Only One
Prove Me Wrong
Prepare Ye the Way
Masquerade
Ballad of San Francisco

From In the Company of Angels
Who You Are
Before There Was Time
We Delight

From Back Home
Mystery of Mercy
The Kingdom
Awake My Soul

From Share the Well (their best)
Share the Well
There's Only One (Holy One)
Volcanoland
Mother India
Wings of the Morning
Bombay Rain
The Roses
International Love Song

From In the Company of Angels II
Great & Might
Draw Me Nearer

From other projects:

God of Wonders (from City On a Hill
Hallelujah Never Ending with Silers Bald (from City On a Hill: The Gathering)
Covenant Song (from City On a Hill)
Holy Is Your Name with Bebo Norman (from City On a Hill: Sing Alleluia)

[ajyouthguy]

From Share the Well:
Mother India
All I Need
Bombay Rain
Wings of the Morning
Innocent's Corner
Volcanoland

Back Home:
Hands of the Potter

In the Company of Angels:
Thy Mercy
Oh Lord Your Love

Long Line of Leavers:
Mistake of My Life
Valleys Fill First
Can't Lose You
Love is Different

The Austin Sessions:
The Rich Song

40 Acres:
Thankful
Shifting Sand
Somewhere North
Daring Daylight Escape

Intimate Portrait:
The Truth
Piece of Glass

Caedmon's Call:
Lead of Love
Close of Autumn
Not The Land
This World
Standing Up for Nothing
Center Aisle

Just Don't Want Coffee:
April Showers

My Calm/Your Storm:
There's a Stirring
All I Know

[NinjaRob17]

I Just Don't Want Coffee
Another 10 Miles
There You Go
Thankful
40 Acres

I only have the I Just Don't Want Coffee E.P. and 40 Acres, so that's my list...

[AldaForPresident]

Caedmon's Call:
Lead of Love
Close of Autumn
Hope to Carry On
I Just Don't Want Coffee

40 Acres:
Thankful
Shifting Sand
Table for Two
Somewhere North

Long Line of Leavers:
The Only One
Mistake of my Life
Masquerade
What You Want
Love Alone
Dance
Piece of Glass
Ballad of San Franciso

In the Company of Angels: A Call to Worship:
Before There Was Time (I guess. I'm not insane about that one either.)

Non-Album:
God of Wonders (City on a Hill 1)

I haven't heard anything after In the Company of Angels 1. I take it Share the Well is really, really good, though.

[Tom]

From Caedmon's Call
Lead Of Love
Close of Autumn
This World
Bus Driver
Not Enough

From 40 Acres
Thankful
Shifting Sand
Table for Two
Petrified Heart


From Long Line of Leavers
Mistake of My Life
What You Want
Ballad of San Francisco

From In the Company of Angels
Thy Mercy

From Share the Well
Share the Well
There's Only One (Holy One)
Mother India
International Love Song
Dalit Hymn

Fanclub/non-album tracks
God of Wonders

[danny316]

I'm annoyed that I missed the Newsboys one - my vote would have pushed "Spirit Thing" into the final round.

Anyway, for this one:

My Calm // Your Storm
Too Tender
Suicidal Stones
All I Know
(my other picks here are on the s/t)

Caedmon's Call
Lead of Love
Not the Land
This World
Bus Driver
Standing Up For Nothing
Stupid Kid
I Just Don't Want Coffee
Not Enough
Center Aisle
Coming Home

...my knowledge of Caedmon's Call songs that are good stops there.

Can we start a "working ahead thread" or some other such thing? I'd like to get the next few of these out of the way...

[MJanke]

Lead of Love
Hope To Carry On
Table For Two
40 Acres
Thankful
Shifting Sand
Where I Began
Love Is Different
Mistake of My Life
What You Want
God of Wonders (COAH version)
We Delight
Before There Was Time
Hands of the Potter
Holy Is Your Name

[murlough23]

I'm annoyed that I missed the Newsboys one - my vote would have pushed "Spirit Thing" into the final round.

What did you want, an Evite?

Can we start a "working ahead thread" or some other such thing? I'd like to get the next few of these out of the way...

Not quite sure what you mean, but for the sake of my sanity, I'd rather handle these one artist at a time. We'll probably do Switchfoot next.

[murlough23]

I haven't heard anything after In the Company of Angels 1. I take it Share the Well is really, really good, though.

Indeed. You're totally missing out.

[AldaForPresident]

In the Company of Angels was so boring and phoned in, plus Derek was gone; that combined with my sudden but nearly total disinterest in Christian music threw Caedmon's Call off my radar, but I would like to hear Share the Well some time. Any of their other post-Leavers music, not so much.

[murlough23]

but I would like to hear Share the Well some time. Any of their other post-Leavers music, not so much.

Ask, and ye shall receive.

http://www.f-forge.com?d=nu3tZLRgre58JBpQ0yfq

It's kind of crappy mp3 quality, though. But a speedy download.

NP: "Fly", Sanctus Real

[AldaForPresident]

Thanks! It'll probably take my computer an hour or so (as opposed to a year, which it usually does), but I'll listen and if I'm properly intrigued I'll order it. For some reason I find it humiliating to be seen near the Christian music section at Best Buy.

[AldaForPresident]

I really, really enjoy StW so far. I dig that there's so much switching up with the vocals; too much Cliff can get somewhat boring and monotonous after a while. (And it's the total opposite of my last exposure to them, ITCOA1, which really doesn't hurt.) Thanks again, murlough.

[murlough23]

I really, really enjoy StW so far. I dig that there's so much switching up with the vocals; too much Cliff can get somewhat boring and monotonous after a while. (And it's the total opposite of my last exposure to them, ITCOA1, which really doesn't hurt.) Thanks again, murlough.

You're welcome. And we share a common complaint about the band - it's that they don't use all 3 singers as much as they should. On every album, it's too much of Cliff. Not that I dislike Cliff; I think he has a great voice. But let's face it, he often gets the more mild-mannered songs, and Danielle and Derek often got the more poignant ones. On the first album, when I was brand new to CC, I couldn't always tell the difference between Cliff and Derek, so I just wished for more of Danielle. (But looking back, I love the interplay between Cliff and Derek on several of those songs, even when one of them leads, the other one is a very noticeable presence, and that rarely happened with those two after that album.) Then we got more of Danielle at the expense of Derek leaving, and that wasn't so cool (other than "The High Countries", her songs on Back Home bored me). Then we got Share the Well, and while I wish Andy led on more than just one song, all three singers really do seem to rotate in and out, and really work as an ensemble.

I actually have a similar complaint about Nickel Creek - as much as I love Chris Thile, it's too much of him singing lead, and not enough of Sean and Sara Watkins.

[murlough23]

OK, since the initial nominations appear to be all finished, it's now time to determine what songs make the final cut. The following songs got five or more votes or came out on top in the first elimination round, so they'll make the cut for sure:

Lead of Love (3:57)
Thankful (4:20)
Shifting Sand (3:49)
Mistake of My Life (3:53)
This World (3:45)
Bus Driver (4:57)
Standing Up for Nothing (4:56)
Table for Two (3:34)
Somewhere North (5:31)
Ballad of San Francisco (2:50)
God of Wonders (5:08)
Mother India (5:28)
Wings of the Morning (4:46)
Close of Autumn (4:56)
Piece of Glass (4:09)
Not the Land (5:04)
There's Only One (Holy One) (3:42)

These songs got four votes, so it's at this level that we have to make some decisions.

Daring Daylight Escape (3:39)
Share the Well (3:35)
Volcanoland (4:12)

Basically, we need to get rid of roughly half an hour's worth of music here. From this second list, I'd like everyone to choose their top three and their bottom three. Whatever ranks lowest after 24 hours will be dropped. If what's left can fit on an 80-minute CD, we'll leave it at that and work on track order. Otherwise, we'll do another elimination round.

Just as a personal observation, this part could get painful! It's interesting that absolutely nothing from 3 of Caedmon's Call's albums made the cut, but then, those are their weakest albums. Still, I felt that they at least shard a few strong songs between them, but then, the other albums have tons of classics. Anyway, here are my picks:

Keep:
Wings of the Morning (The fusion of Eastern and Western melodies here is pure genius.)
Close of Autumn (Derek writes and Danielle sings; pity they didn't use this combo more often)
Piece of Glass (This is the most deserving of "classic" out of all the tracks on LLOL)

(All Danielle songs. Interesting.)

Kill:
Masquerade (Lovely performance, but a bit sparse compared to the other fabulous Danielle songs on the list)
What You Want (Love the song, but the other Derek songs about relationships here are all stronger ones)
I Just Don't Want Coffee (Too whiny, and at 6 minutes, it's a major time-suck)

(This hurts, because I originally nominated two of those.)

[Brenden]

Top 3
Close of Autumn
Piece of Glass (4:09)
Not the Land (5:04)
Daring Daylight Escape (3:39)

Bottom 3
Not Enough (3:40)
Share the Well (3:35)
I Just Don't Want Coffee (5:59)

[ajyouthguy]

TOP 3:
Close of Autumn
Not the Land
Wings of the Morning

BOTTOM 3:
I Just Don't Want Coffee
Masquerade
Petrified Heart

[AldaForPresident]

Top three:
Close of Autumn
Wings of the Morning
Piece of Glass

Bottom three:
Not Enough
Daring Daylight Escape
Volcanoland

[worldofcm]

TOP 3:
Share the Well
There's Only One (Holy One)
Volcanoland

BOTTOM 3:
Petrified Heart (4:41)
Masquerade (4:52)
I Just Don't Want Coffee (5:59)

[plvarona]

Top 3
Wings of the Morning (!)
Daring Daylight Escape
There's Only One (Holy One)

Bottom 3
I Just Don't Want Coffee (Sounds good in concert, but the CD version is way too whiny.)
What You Want (I like, but many of the other songs on this list are better.)
Close of Autumn (For some reason I've never been crazy about this song.  I don't know why either.)

[murlough23]

Top 3
Close of Autumn
Piece of Glass (4:09)
Not the Land (5:04)
Daring Daylight Escape (3:39)

That's 4. Can't you count?

[Brenden]

That's 4. Can't you count?

No. There's a reason I hate math so much.

I meant to take Daring Daylight Escape off, so it would look like,

Top 3
Close of Autumn
Piece of Glass
Not the Land

[murlough23]

OK, round 1 voting is over. Here's what happened:

The following songs all got positive results in the voting, so they've been moved to the safe list:

Wings of the Morning
Close of Autumn
Piece of Glass
Not the Land
There's Only One (Holy One)

The following songs got negative results, and thus have been eliminated:

Not Enough
Petrified Heart
What You Want
Masquerade
I Just Don't Want Coffee

That leaves us with roughly 85 minutes of music. We're going to have to kill two more songs, because the three that remain (all of which got a net result of zero in the elimination round) are all under five minutes long:

Daring Daylight Escape (3:37) +++++
Volcanoland (4:12)
Share the Well (3:12) -----

Everyone choose one to keep, and one to kill. Voting ends at this time tomorrow.

My picks:

Keep "Daring Daylight Escape".

Kill "Share the Well".

[Brenden]

Keep "Daring Daylight Escape".

Kill "Share the Well".

I agree with that.

[ajyouthguy]

i'll jump on the same bandwagon...

KEEP:
Daring Daylight Escape

KILL:
Share the Well

[worldofcm]

I agree with that.

I'll go with this as well.

[plvarona]

My picks:

Keep "Daring Daylight Escape".

Kill "Share the Well".

Those are my picks too.

[murlough23]

LOL. Looks like I set a trend.

[murlough23]

Well, that appears to take care of the voting. "Share the Well" gets dumped, and since we still need to dump one more song after that and "Daring Daylight Escape" was noticeably more popular than "Volcanoland", we'll lose that one as well.

So that brings us to a final list of 18 songs. Now we just need to order them. My suggestion:

1. Thankful
2. Lead of Love
3. Bus Driver
4. Daring Daylight Escape
5. This World
6. Wings of the Morning
7. Not the Land
8. Table for Two
9. Close of Autumn
10. Mistake of My Life
11. There's Only One (Holy One)
12. Standing Up for Nothing
13. Piece of Glass
14. Somewhere North
15. Ballad of San Francisco
16. Shifting Sand
17. Mother India
18. God of Wonders

[plvarona]

Hate to end on a track that already ends its album, but it's the only appropriate ending I could come up with.

FWIW, I've actually used "God of Wonders" to close a compilation CD once, especially if we're talking about the version that has the brief instrumental at the end.  I thought that worked pretty well for the particular compilation I was burning at the time (which FYI were some CCM favorites of mine.)  Either way, it's just a thought.

[murlough23]

[danny316]

I gave a listen to the Share the Well mp3s somebody here uploaded. They're interesting enough that I'd pick it up if I saw it cheap. I was disappointed that several songs were straightforward acoustic pop tunes with only eastern percussion to set them apart. I liked it as a whole though.

I might have picked a few songs differently in this thread if I had heard it beforehand, but oh well. I'm fine with most of the finalists that I know.

Are people here interested in hearing "God of Wonders" performed by the original artist? It's a Marc Byrd song that he donated to his project for some reason or another. I have a rare bootleg of the only time he performed it in public (it's not just an acoustic guitar either - the Choir fills in for him, and Matt Slocum picks up the cello duties). I'd be willing to pub and mp3 of the song if people are interested.

[murlough23]

I was disappointed that several songs were straightforward acoustic pop tunes with only eastern percussion to set them apart. I liked it as a whole though.

I think the richness of that album is not in the "exotic" instrumentation (which is a light influence, for the most part, not something that radically changes their sound), but rather in the colorful sounds and words, even in the most "basic songs". Listen to the "straightforward" songs on that album, and then the ones from Back Home or even Long Line of Leavers, and I think you'll see that Share the Well's songs are more engaging and intelligently written as a whole, with better melodies, too.

I might have picked a few songs differently in this thread if I had heard it beforehand, but oh well. I'm fine with most of the finalists that I know.

It was painful for me to lose "International Love Song", but most of the others from that album, I can understand why they didn't make the cut. This is some pretty stiff competition, given all of the Derek Webb songs in their back catalogue.

Are people here interested in hearing "God of Wonders" performed by the original artist? It's a Marc Byrd song that he donated to his project for some reason or another. I have a rare bootleg of the only time he performed it in public (it's not just an acoustic guitar either - the Choir fills in for him, and Matt Slocum picks up the cello duties). I'd be willing to pub and mp3 of the song if people are interested.

I've heard the GlassByrd version, which is sort of by the original artist, and it was terrible. A live version probably won't change my mind about the fact that Marc Byrd is a terrible producer and songwriter who just happened to stumble across one memorable song.

NP: "Jesus Freak", 4th Avenue Jones

[danny316]

Hey, while I'm whining about percussion being the only unusual element in some Caedmon's Call songs, I should give you some props for recommending Iona. "Today" is a great song, and to my ears, a better example of mixing "tribal" percussion with more western musical elements.

"Volcanoland" and "Share the Well" would have fared better if I had been on top of voting. "Dalit Hymn" too. I only listened a few times, and I didn't give the lyrics as much credit as you do (from your epinions review, I got the idea that the lyrics were a huge part of that album for you, but they didn't do as much for me), so I'm having trouble picking further favorites right now. Oddly, "Wings of the Morning" and "International Love Song" were ones I liked least...and "There's Only One" falls a bit flat to my ears too.

No matter what though, I'd say it's a welcome album by them. You said I should listen to songs from Back Home and compare them - but frankly, no thanks. I'm not a Caedmon's fan, just someone marginally interested in them. I'll buy Share the Well if I see it cheap sometime, and I might splurge on another earlier album if I see it cheap, but I don't plan on getting much more into the band than I already am. I enjoy their self-titled though - that was a great album.

I haven't heard the Glassbyrd cut of "God of Wonders". I don't exactly agree with you on Byrd either - in fact, I'm on another board where that'd be considered heretical. I'm kind of ambivalent on him. I'm not sure what to make of that "Hammock" album, and I've both loved and hated his production at various times.

That said, I've only bought one City On A Hill album (the Christmas one, to fill in some holes in my Jars and Sixpence collections), and I haven't listened to it yet (I thought I'd wait for the holidays to try it). The WOW Hits CDs I bought cover the big hits from COAH pretty well, actually.

[murlough23]

Hey, while I'm whining about percussion being the only unusual element in some Caedmon's Call songs, I should give you some props for recommending Iona. "Today" is a great song, and to my ears, a better example of mixing "tribal" percussion with more western musical elements.

I don't even know if I'd qualify "Today" as having "tribal" percussion. I don't think most tribes beat on plastic buckets and stuff like that. But I get your point.

I don't think the point of the Caedmon's Call album was to put the percussion out there front and center and make it this big exotic showpiece. The people they spent time with in those various countries were poor, so they didn't use instruments such as the sitar that are normally associated with richer classes in India. That's why the localized influence was mostly limited to percussion, and a few Eastern-sounding elements, such as the way Andrew Osenga makes his guitar sound more sitar-ish on "Wings of the Morning". (Or whatever instrument that is; I'm probaly not naming the right one.)

What impressed me about the album was primarily how all of the acoustic elements and voices interplayed with each other. I found the sound of it to be very sharp and rich, and the lyrics to pack a lot of punch because they told more personal stories, for the most part, rather than pandering. They just talked about things the way they were, saving the political appeal for the end.

and "There's Only One" falls a bit flat to my ears too.

Probably because you hate anything that remotely resembles a worship song.

No matter what though, I'd say it's a welcome album by them. You said I should listen to songs from Back Home and compare them - but frankly, no thanks. I'm not a Caedmon's fan, just someone marginally interested in them.

Yeah, not worth wasting your time, then. Though you should hear the song "The Kingdom" - it's an interesting precursor to the Share the Well sound.

I haven't heard the Glassbyrd cut of "God of Wonders". I don't exactly agree with you on Byrd either - in fact, I'm on another board where that'd be considered heretical. I'm kind of ambivalent on him. I'm not sure what to make of that "Hammock" album, and I've both loved and hated his production at various times.

For all I know, Byrd did some great things during his time with Common Children. But all I ever heard from that band bored me in terms of how thinly it was layered and produced. Marc's vocals grate on my nerves, too. I'm mostly pissed at him for runing Christine Glass - I thought her first album was fascinating. Once he showed up, her music started to suck, and it's never recovered.

NP: "Between You and Me", Ayeisha Woods feat. Paul Wright

[danny316]

I don't even know if I'd qualify "Today" as having "tribal" percussion. I don't think most tribes beat on plastic buckets and stuff like that. But I get your point.

Were those really just buckets? Dangit. Well, it still sounds pretty cool. It's not often I can get hooked on a song by a rhythm (although I like the other parts of that one too).

I don't think the point of the Caedmon's Call album was to put the percussion out there front and center and make it this big exotic showpiece. The people they spent time with in those various countries were poor, so they didn't use instruments such as the sitar that are normally associated with richer classes in India. That's why the localized influence was mostly limited to percussion, and a few Eastern-sounding elements, such as the way Andrew Osenga makes his guitar sound more sitar-ish on "Wings of the Morning". (Or whatever instrument that is; I'm probaly not naming the right one.)

What impressed me about the album was primarily how all of the acoustic elements and voices interplayed with each other. I found the sound of it to be very sharp and rich, and the lyrics to pack a lot of punch because they told more personal stories, for the most part, rather than pandering. They just talked about things the way they were, saving the political appeal for the end.

Yeah...the lyrics and message are definitely part of the package. Which I respect, for what it's worth, but I'd enjoy an album a bit more exotic musically more.

Oh, and I think I just figured out how to play "Wings of the Morning" on the zither. It sounds close enough that it could be the same instrument.

Probably because you hate anything that remotely resembles a worship song.

That might be a bit of an overstatement, but that sounds about right. I like about half of Jars' more worshippy tunes ("Jealous Kind", "Love Song", "Amazing Grace", etc), and I also like some of U2, Ashley Cleveland, and Switchfoot's forays into that territory. And of course, there's always stuff like Chasing Furies and early Caedmon's, which isn't quite worship but seems to achieve some of the same things - I tend to like that type of stuff much more than more straightforward worship stuff.

Yeah, not worth wasting your time, then. Though you should hear the song "The Kingdom" - it's an interesting precursor to the Share the Well sound.

For all I know, Byrd did some great things during his time with Common Children. But all I ever heard from that band bored me in terms of how thinly it was layered and produced. Marc's vocals grate on my nerves, too. I'm mostly pissed at him for runing Christine Glass - I thought her first album was fascinating. Once he showed up, her music started to suck, and it's never recovered.

I could never figure out what the big deal was with Common Children (now THERE's something I could never say on the Northern board...). I don't think I've ever heard Christine Glass. Would it be worth my effort to track down her first album?