Greatest Christian Albums EVER

[Ian]

what are they

christian music can be defined loosely here btw

ps: the answer is shine the hits

[bloop]

ps: the answer is shine the hits

I'm assuming that you're joking there, right?

[Ian]

 

[bloop]

OK, just in case you were serious, I'm not saying the Newsboys suck or anything, but:
a) a greatest hits compilation isn't really an album.
b) it wouldn't be too hard to do better than the Newsboys.

[Ian]

well post some damnit!!!!!!

[murlough23]

True story. When Napster got in trouble for allowing copyrighted material to be downloaded in 2001 and enforced censorship of the filenames available for their users to download, I tried to get around that by making all of my filenames sthingyerisms (yeah, I had a lot of time on my hands). So anything from "Shine - The Hits" had its album renamed "Hine - The Shits".

Making a list of favorite Christian albums would be difficult for me because I don't even know where I'd define the boundary line for myself. I actually think it'd be OK to include a greatest hits album if you felt that it did such a good job of representing the artist's best work that you'd recommend it over any individual album (as a non-Christian music example, I feel this way about the Barenaked Ladies' Disc One). The Newsboys' GH album was a less than stellar selection, though - I can't take any compilation of theirs seriously that claims to be their best work if it excludes "Lost the Plot".

#1 on my list would probably still be Jars of Clay's Much Afraid... unless we consider Sufjan Stevens "Christian music". In that case, Illinois.

[bloop]

I would add Mercury by The Prayer Chain, pretty much anything by mewithoutYou, and, if we're defining it more loosely, U2's The Joshua Tree and several OtR albums. I'm sure I'm missing a lot.

[ewok20t3]

Jars of Clay's Much Afraid... unless we consider Sufjan Stevens "Christian music". In that case, Illinois.

I would add Mercury by The Prayer Chain, pretty much anything by mewithoutYou, and, if we're defining it more loosely, U2's The Joshua Tree and several OtR albums.

I agree with those. I would also say any later Rich Mullins albums, and early-mid Starflyer 59 albums should be in consideration. Control by Pedro The Lion should probably be in the discussion (although not my favorite PTL album, it's generally considered the best).

I'm sure more will come to me throughout the day.

[Aaron]

i assume this was another drunk Ian post

[Ian]

i assume this was another drunk Ian post

way to assume the worst m8

it's actually hungover depressed ian post looking for something uplifting to listen to

so far these are all kind of depressing though.  except jars i guess.

[murlough23]

Nah, the worst would be that you were dropping acid when you posted it.

[bloop]

it's actually hungover depressed ian post looking for something uplifting to listen to

Now it is complicated. Most Christian music I associate with "uplifting", I also associate with being sort of crap. The more thoughtful albums don't tend to be as chirpy syrupy. I'm sure if I think about it a bit, I may be able to deliver something a little more uplifting that is also well-crafted and artful.

[murlough23]

Actually, Much Afraid can be kind of a depressing album for some people. But that cuts both ways. Sometimes when you're depressed it's good to know that someone can relate and you're not a freaky misfit for feeling that way. I think JoC does that well. "Portrait of an Apology" is actually specifically about depression. I didn't know that for years despite it being one of my favorite songs. (On a related note, "Heaven" from The Long Fall Back to Earth is apparently about sexuality. No joke.)

Anything that I personally would put on a "best" list and recommend to others wouldn't be something full of shallow fake happiness (or shallow angstiness, for that matter, though that's less of an issue in CCM). Generally the "happy" songs that I like come from albums where there's some struggle present to give it a little context.

[ewok20t3]

so far these are all kind of depressing though.

Maybe try some All Star United, David Crowder Band, Deliriou5?, or Sonic Flood's first album. I doubt any of those will blow you away, but they're solid enough.

[murlough23]

Maybe try some All Star United, David Crowder Band, Deliriou5?, or Sonic Flood's first album. I doubt any of those will blow you away, but they're solid enough.

Be careful with Delirious? and SonicFlood because some find them to be really insipid. Glo is an artfully crafted worship album for Delirious?, with interesting spontaneous instrumental sections between some of the songs, but you may find the lyrics to be simplistic/repetitive (the same goes for any David Crowder Band record even though I think they're perhaps the most inventive worship band ever to attain popularity in CCM - I'm just talking about potential first impressions for folks who are sensitive about lyrics).

SonicFlood, of course, is absolutely worthless after their first album. Even that one sounds more than a bit youth-groupy to me now, though I loved it back in the day.

ASU's first album was rock solid - "La La Land" is one of the most deliciously sarcastic skewerings of Christian subculture ever to be committed to tape, and the album in general is just a constant party. International Anthems is pretty good as well. After that I think they went downhill.

[ewok20t3]

Be careful with Delirious? and SonicFlood because some find them to be really insipid. Glo is an artfully crafted worship album for Delirious?, with interesting spontaneous instrumental sections between some of the songs, but you may find the lyrics to be simplistic/repetitive (the same goes for any David Crowder Band record even though I think they're perhaps the most inventive worship band ever to attain popularity in CCM - I'm just talking about potential first impressions for folks who are sensitive about lyrics).

SonicFlood, of course, is absolutely worthless after their first album. Even that one sounds more than a bit youth-groupy to me now, though I loved it back in the day.

ASU's first album was rock solid - "La La Land" is one of the most deliciously sarcastic skewerings of Christian subculture ever to be committed to tape, and the album in general is just a constant party. International Anthems is pretty good as well. After that I think they went downhill.

I agree with all of that. Those are the best I can come up with at the moment. I was going to suggest Caedmon's Call's first couple of albums, but they have their depressing moments here and there. It's really hard to think of a good album that's totally uplifting. Five Iron Frenzy maybe?

[murlough23]

I agree with all of that. Those are the best I can come up with at the moment. I was going to suggest Caedmon's Call's first couple of albums, but they have their depressing moments here and there. It's really hard to think of a good album that's totally uplifting. Five Iron Frenzy maybe?

It depends on your definition of "uplifting", I suppose. Some people take that to mean "happy"; I happen to prefer "approaches matters of faith with honesty and insight while still offering hope". In that respect I think both Caedmon's Call albums are fine, with a possible caution regarding the song "Center Aisle", which I think is a great song, but I can see how it could be a potential trigger to someone who is in a really bad place emotionally. I'd also throw in Share the Well, my personal favorite CC album, which I think is uplifting and challenging at the same time, in terms of putting our problems in perspective at least.

FIF is great. Most of their albums are uneven for me, though, and run the gamut between hopeful, sharply critical of Christian subculture, and just plain silly. "Every New Day" is just about one of the most incredibly uplifting songs that I can think of at the moment.

[ewok20t3]

I happen to prefer "approaches matters of faith with honesty and insight while still offering hope".

The first album I think of with that sentence in mind is Broken Voice by My Epic. In case you haven't heard it, here's a sample lyric:
"There's a garden my brother started months ago
Though he prayed for harvest, it now lies overgrown
He shuffled earth but never sowed a seed
Only his doubts took root and they chocked his faith like weeds
But when his nerves returned, he went to face those empty beds
And found the earth had given birth despite his promises unkept"

[murlough23]

That is indeed a brilliant lyric. Raises all kinds of interesting questions just in a mere six lines. My favorite songwriters always find a way to say volumes in between the lines they've actually written.

[ewok20t3]

That is indeed a brilliant lyric. Raises all kinds of interesting questions just in a mere six lines. My favorite songwriters always find a way to say volumes in between the lines they've actually written.

I think you'd enjoy the album (EP). It has all kinds of thought provoking, yet uplifting, lyrics similar to those.

Sorry, I have a bad habit of trying to push albums I like onto other people, as you probably know by now. I really do think you'd like it, though. 

[murlough23]

I think you'd enjoy the album (EP). It has all kinds of thought provoking, yet uplifting, lyrics similar to those.

Sorry, I have a bad habit of trying to push albums I like onto other people, as you probably know by now. I really do think you'd like it, though. 

No need to apologize. The Music section of the Phorum would be rather useless if it was just a bunch of us posting in a vacuum about stuff we liked only for everyone else to completely ignore or disgregard it. I have a list somewhere enumerating all of the artists I own CDs by, and who got me into each artist. Since about 2003 or so, I owe a very large chunk of that list to the Phorum.

So yeah, I'll check it out.

[Aaron]

some of my personal favorites:


Adam Again - Dig
The 77's - Pray Naked
Phil Keaggy - Crimson and Blue

[bloop]

No need to apologize. The Music section of the Phorum would be rather useless if it was just a bunch of us posting in a vacuum about stuff we liked only for everyone else to completely ignore or disgregard it.

That sounds . . . strangely like the music section of the phorum. 

[murlough23]

That sounds . . . strangely like the music section of the phorum. 

Hey now. I listened to that St. Vincent album you recommended a few weeks back. I just need some time to digest it, is all.

[enemy anemone]

it's actually hungover depressed ian post looking for something uplifting to listen to

Drunkard's Prayer, perhaps?

[bloop]

Hey now. I listened to that St. Vincent album you recommended a few weeks back. I just need some time to digest it, is all.

Haha - I was half-joking, and wasn't thinking only of my own recommendations. I know I'm plenty guilty of sitting on suggestions for a rather long time before getting to them (if I ever do).

Also, some of it is expected. Does anyone really expect anemone to listen to xcore, or me to listen to most worship albums? I don't think a generally agreed-upon intersection of musical tastes is going to come up all that often, though I try to mention it when I hear something that might come close to such an ideal.

Drunkard's Prayer, perhaps?

Nice. 

Why don't we just recommend The Downward Spiral? Gnosticism is a Christian heresy, so if we're defining it loosely . . . 

[murlough23]

I'm pretty sure that once it falls under the actual definition of "heresy", it's not "Christian", even in the remote sense of being made by an artist who happens to have Christian beliefs.

Though it can be interesting to listen to artists who you're pretty sure aren't Christians but still include a lot of religious imagery/references in their work (Iron & Wine, for one).

[bloop]

A Christian heresy as opposed to an Islamic heresy or a Hindu heresy.

Obviously, though, I was kidding, and that album is depressing and meant to be.

[bloop]

http://ccms500bestalbums.wordpress.com/

List is full of dinosaurs (and I think #3 is certainly > both the albums above it, but is it really CCM?), but you may be able to mine something here.

[Aaron]

http://ccms500bestalbums.wordpress.com/

List is full of dinosaurs (and I think #3 is certainly > both the albums above it, but is it really CCM?), but you may be able to mine something here.

I interact with that guy on another christian forum. He has a lot of misses in the list but it's an impressive undertaking.

[bloop]

Yes. I'll start with calling Who We Are Instead and Much Afraid "misses" (bzzzt!) next to the oh-so-glorious self-titled debut. But, I appreciate the rather wide perspective.