Secular Music Faves of 2007

Honestly, I liked all of these about equally, but for different moods and different reasons. You might be wondering why I did a separate list for these, instead of putting them in with the rest, and honestly I’m not even totally sure why I did but here they are anyway. I, obviously, don’t listen to a lot of secular music, though many bands are crossing and blurring the lines between “secular” and “Christian” which I think in all is a good thing.

Call Me Irresponsible by Michael Buble

Songs of Mass Destruction by Annie Lennox – man, I wish I could sing like her

Raising Sand by Alison Krauss & Robert Plant – Led Zepelin lead singer with bluegrass music’s queen, who’d have thought how good this would turn out to be.

Who We Are by Lifehouse

Not Too Late by Norah Jones

Long Road Out of Eden by The Eagles – a little disappointing, compared to their old stuff, but enjoyable just the same

Sky Blue Sky by Wilco – I’m just getting into them, based on some other artists I like recommending them.

I also really got into The Fray, Daughtry, and Mute Math this year, but their CDs were released in 2006 and therefore not eligible for this list.

 

Classical & Soundtrack Faves of 2007

In case you didn’t read about it in my earlier post, I just finished recording and producing a Christmas CD called All I Have To Give At Christmas. What I tried to do with it was record some carols and Christmas songs that are not as well known from both contemporary and historical times, and are beautiful and in praise of God and His indescribable gift of His son. I mention it here in this post because there are a few classical pieces on there as well, that aren’t necessarily for Christmas-time only but still speak to the true meaning of Christmas – Christ’s Mass.

One might wonder why this Protestant-born & bred girl is recording Ave Maria, Laudate Dominum, and Dona Nobis Pacem, but thankfully my musical education included singing with choir directors who felt it was important for us to know and experience sacred choral literature from all periods of music. I deeply love and appreciate the rich history of music in the church back even to Judaic worship before Jesus’ coming to earth.

The Painted Veil Soundtrack with Lang Lang, piano; music composed by Alexandre Desplat – Beautiful. Haven’t even seen the movie yet, but just for the soundtrack I will soon.

Amazing Grace Soundtrack by David Arnold

Beethoven Piano Concertos 1 &4 – Lang Lang, piano – Can you tell that I like this guy? He makes me so jealous.

Piano Moods: A Collection of Romantic Melodies with Various Pianists

And On Earth, Peace by Chanticleer – a little too 20th century for me…give me Mozart or give me death. Ha ha!

Another group I really enjoyed this year was Anonymous4, especially their Gloryland CD, but it was technically released in 2006 so doesn’t apply to this list in the normal way. They sang some of the vocals on the soundtrack for The Nativity Story movie, plus they are very versatile in singing both baroque and folk song & spirituals like in Gloryland and American Angels.

 

Favorite Christmas CD’s of 2007

Well, first has to be, of course, my very own Christmas CD All I Have To Give At Christmas I recorded and produced! Sadly, however, it is just now finished. I started in October planning to be done the beginning of December, and it just took WAY more time than I thought along with silly things like moving and such sometimes keeping me from working on it. All of the tracks will be available to download for a very short amount of time on my website, and then I have to take off the ones that I honestly need to figure out how to pay mechanical royalties on because they are copyrighted. I am really, really hoping that I can afford to pay the royalties and allow them to stay up.

Here’s the best of the “rest” LOL

Christmas From the Realms of Glory by Bebo Norman - the first song is just awesome

Christmas Songs by Jars of Clay

It’s a Wonderful Christmas by Michael W. Smith

Let It Snow by Michael Buble (sorry I don’t know how to do the little accent thingy in html) A great late edition to my Christmas music diet.

Noel by Josh Groban - I can’t believe I didn’t love this one, but I didn’t. I liked it, but I think the Bebo Norman CD kind of crowded it out. However, “Little Drummer Boy” with guitarist Andy McKee is outstanding.

Let It Snow by Chanticleer – it was hard for them to live up to their past Christmas CDs. I did like the jazz flavor, though.

Christmas Song by Mannheim Steamroller – ditto, it was okay. Just okay.

And did I mention my very own Christmas CD All I Have To Give At Christmas? I may not be Jay Rouse, Mannheim Steamroller, Andrew Peterson, Josh Groban, Fernando Ortega, Jill Phillips, John Tesh, Jim Brickman, or anybody else you can think of, but I used or was inspired by some of their great music and I’m hoping the greatness wears off on me. I’m not nearly as good as they are, either, but I can actually listen to this one without gagging.

 

My Almost Top Faves of 2007

Glory Revealed: The Word of God in Worship by Various Artists

Painting The Invisible by Vicki Beeching - to me, it was hard for her to equal Yesterday, Today & Forever. It is a great CD, just didn’t quite make my Top 12

Holding Nothing Back by Tim Hughes – to be honest, I didn’t give this one as much play-time as it probably deserves. I shall have to remedy that this year.

The Twenty-First Time by Monk & Neagle - this one was given a hard time in several reviews I read, but I like it.

The Blessing by John Waller

Twilight by Future of Forestry - I was glad to see this re-forming of Something Like Silas, and while there is some similarity in the overall sound there are some differences.

All others of 2007 that I enjoyed, in no particular order
Waking Up by Bethany Dillon
The Ringing Bell by Derek Webb
The Trumpet Child by Over the Rhine – I heard of them before, but just now am getting into them. Their Ohio CD is the best I’ve listened to.
Scattered Pieces (Live) by Shawn McDonald
This Moment by Steven Curtis Chapman – I need to listen to this one some more
We Are Not Alone by Storyside B
Chronology 1 & 2 by Third Day – Their concert at the House of Blues in Cleveland (I won tickets from 95.5 The Fish) was hands-down the best I saw this last year. I say this when I got to see some really great concerts at the Alive Festival!
True Beauty by Mandisa
Whispered and Shouted by Aaron Shust
The Altar and The Door by Casting Crowns
Liquid Worship by Chris Nesbitt
Live-A Deeper Level by Israel & New Breed
I Believe In You by Joel Engle
Make You Known by Lakeview Worship
You Are Good by Matt Papa
No Greater Audience by Michael Neale
Worth It All by Rita Springer
Burn For You by Steve Fee – he re-released this CD with his band just called “Fee”
Open The Door by Take No Glory
Better Questions by Todd Agnew
Take A Chance on Something Beautiful by Half Past Forever (this is Chris Sligh’s, of American Idol fame, band)
Five Score and Seven Years Ago by Relient K

 

My Top Twelve Favorite CDs of 2007

Overdressed by Caedmon’s Call – I love this band, and this album is truly one of their finest. I’m so glad Derek came back! Speaking of, his new solo CD, Ringing Bell I’m finally getting around to listening to and it is pretty darn good, too.

Pages by Shane & Shane – great worship music, but not really for congregational singing except for a couple of songs. These guys are amazing.

Door Way by Ron Block – I found out about this gem from Christian Musician magazine. He is the banjoist for Alison Kraus & Union Station, and this is a great solo effort that has gotten a lot of play-time on my ipod.

Portable Sounds by TobyMac – This is so far my favorite CD from a member of DCTalk since their last record together. As much as I enjoyed it, I have one request – PLEASE get back together guys, you are all at your best when you are doing it together!

RCVRY (a.k.a Recovery) by Jeremy Casella – I kept hearing good things about this CD around the internet, and I finally gave into the hype and got it. They weren’t wrong, this is some great music.

Remedy by David Crowder Band – A highly anticipated new release from DC*B didn’t disappoint one bit.

Full Attention by Jeremy Riddle – Some great congregational worship songs, and some songs for private worship.

On Promenade by Doug Burr – He is also new to me this year, thanks to a tip from Colossians3:16. While I really enjoy the disc, I’m really disappointed that because I downloaded it from iTunes, I don’t have the lyrics and they are nowhere to be found on his website or any other place on the net. His style sometimes makes him a little hard to understand, so I’d really like to be more sure that I am hearing the words right.

All For Love by Lenny LeBlanc – some great new music from an “elder statesman” of worship music. He hasn’t lost his touch, and his love for Jesus shines brightly through.

Every Reason Why by Mark Roach – boy, am I glad I finally got this CD. Like Jeremy Riddle, there are some great congregational worship songs that I intend to use at church, and some great songs for personal reflection.

Our God Saves by Paul Baloche – he just keeps writing one great worship song after another. His willingness to teach and to guide worship leaders is so reflective of his life of worship.

Paper Skin by Kendall Payne – Her music is thoughtful and beautiful.

 

CDs of 2007

Okay, I’m not hugely fond of “best of year” lists, because they always leave something out that I liked alot. Just because one person really thinks a CD was great, or terrible as the case may be, doesn’t mean that I think the same thing. I’ve discovered that there are CD’s I passed up on several years ago because of a lackluster review in a magazine only to discover it recently and really love it.

So, I’m going to do several categorical lists of the CD’s of 2007, with some commentary of what I thought about it. They may or may not be in a particular order, when it is I’ll make a note of it.

First, I’ll list my Top Twelve Favorite CDs of 2007. 12 because I’m a huge NASCAR fan, and I figured if they can have the top 12 drivers in the Chase, I can have my top 12 CDs.

Then my Almost Top faves and the honorable mentions.

Lastly, there is some separate lists of other CDs – Christmas, secular rock & pop, classical & soundtracks, that are in order of like the most to like the least.

Now, these I only recently acquired (Christmas presents from my mom or bought recently) and I can’t make a decision yet because I’ve not hardly listened to them:

Tell Me What You Know by Sara Groves – I’m already starting to love this one!
I Belong by Kathryn Scott
Everyone Overcome by Desperation Band
All That Is Within Me by MercyMe
Cannons by Phil Wickham
Peace Like A River by Chris Rice

 

New Position!

It constantly amazes me how God works out the right thing at the right time. Very soon I will be minister of music for Faith United Methodist Church in Brimfield, Ohio. I’m so excited about what God has planned for me there, and about how the church is transforming and turning their eyes on God. It really just fell in my lap, through a friend, all of the sudden and the reason I didn’t start right away in November is because we had already made plans at the church where I’ve been for music for Christmas and I didn’t feel right about bailing on them.

I think it interesting that I’m going to be working for another church named “Faith”, and I’m quite sure that God has a particular reason for that “coincidence”.

 

This is so funny, and so true…

 

Introduction to Christian Worship by James F. White

Well, I don’t have a clue how to do a review, and while I might say something about what I learned and what I think about the book at the end I’m mostly going to summarize it for my own benefit. I read this book originally for Seminary, though I think I skimmed most of it and I don’t remember much, so I thought this would be a way that I can read it more indepth, interact with it and what I have read elsewhere, and hopefully remember what it says better. This’ll be in several parts so that no one post is super long, and I will probably be quoting a lot because I don’t feel like being in school again and having to try to figure out how to say the same thing in different words when I think how he puts it is pretty clear already.

Chapter 1: What Do We Mean By “Christian Worship”?

Dr. White chooses to mainly approach defining Christian Worship by describing what Christians do when they come together for worship, and he will be describing “the devlopment, theology, and use of actual structures or services.” (pg. 22) Secondly he will also explore definitions of greater abstraction, and thirdly he will “examine some of the key words Christians choose most often to express what they experience as worship.” These things are consistent aspects of Christian worship throughout the history of the Church, despite many changes in world culture and how the Christian Church functions in it.

When describing what happens in Christian Worship, it is helpful to look at structures and services to describe the forms in which Christians operate. Structures are things like the calendar which organizes a year’s worship, which begins in the New Testament with a sense of having a weekly structure of time, and then annual calendars commemorating events that are important to the Christian community (Christmas, Easter, etc.), and there have also been daily schedules of public and private prayer developed in some communities. Dr. White will be looking at these more closely in Chapter 2, and in Chapter 3 he will be looking at the structures which shelter and enable Christian worship (things such as buildings, furnishings, etc.).

Services, then, are the actual gatherings of believers, and these take place daily (chap. 4) and weekly “service of the word” (chap. 5). Then there are other occasional services – baptism (and confirmation) to mark the “initiation” of outsiders becoming a believer (chap. 7), the Eucharist or Lord’s Supper (chap. 8), and then a variety of pastoral rites which mark life’s journey, such as services for healing and weddings, (chap. 9).

 

Rich Mullins – In Memory

I wrote this Monday, and saved it as a draft so that on Wednesday (the anniversary of Rich’s passing away) I could simply tell it to post. Well, Wednesday came and went and I completely forgot. So, here it is, two days late. On another note, I’m saddened by the guilty verdict that came out yesterday against Floyd Landis, because I believe that he won the 2006 Tour de France cleanly and fairly. They just didn’t want to have another American win, and they allowed a clearly incompetent lab bungle the testing without having them properly back up their test results. If you are interested and want to read up on it, go to either Floyd’s website or to the Trust But Verify blog.

Well, it’s been 10 years since the passing of an amazing poet, songwriter, and lover of Jesus, Rich Mullins. His influence on the Christian music world is still felt – more than a typical ripple of a rock being thrown in a pond. More like a tsunami, but not in a destructive way, but an amazingly long-lasting way for better honesty and craft in songwriting.

Just a couple of weeks ago I had the most amazing image in my mind of Rich jammin’ up in heaven with the likes of J.S. Bach, G.F. Handel, Charles Wesley, Isaac Watts, John Newton, Felix Mendelssohn, Asaph, and King David. Just imagine what they talked about, how they fellowshipped with one another, and then Jesus is right there being so wonderfully glorified! I hope I get to hang out with them someday, and actually when I read the Psalms and these others’ hymn lyrics and play their music I think in some ways I am able to know them a little even this side of heaven. Much of a person’s soul comes out in the music and words that they write.

God, I know you wanted Rich up there to be with you, but we sure do miss him down here.