Released 35 years ago today, this is the ninth studio album from pop singer Amy Grant. It is one of the best Christian pop albums of the '90s and has some of the best pop anthems from the early '90s, in my opinion. "Every Heartbeat" was a favorite of mine and I like it even more these days as co-writer Charlie Peacock does his slightly slower, bluesy version. "Baby Baby" was one of Amy Grant's biggest hits ever and made her known even outside of Christian music. Songs like "I Will Remember You", "Good For Me" and "That's What Love Is For" are ones I definitely remember fondly as well from being a kid. I didn't really own or listen to a copy of this album as a kid, but my sisters definitely had a cassette tape of it and listened to it often, and I heard it a lot because of them. It's fun to listen to this over 30 years later and reminisce, but also it's just a really good pop album too.

Release Year: 1991
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Released 10 years ago this coming Wednesday, this is the 18th studio album by Steven Curtis Chapman and his third album released through Provident Music. Steven Curtis Chapman has been primarily known as a Christian pop singer/songwriter from the 1980s to today, although he has taken detours into other genres such as country/bluegrass. In this release, he takes a detour into worship-focused music, music that could be used for prayer and praise at modern church services. Instead of his normal stories of life and love that point to God as the savior and creator, these are songs praising God and drawing the singer and listener closer to God. Unlike many others who jumped into the worship genre, Chapman does not cover other worship songs by others; he delivers 11 new studio tracks of worship written by himself with only a few co-writers. As far as I'm aware, none of them have been hits at churches, but I remember giving this album a first listen almost 10 years ago on a train ride and finding connection with these songs. There are a few guest singers with SCC on this album on songs they co-wrote, Matt Maher on "Hallelujah, You Are Good" and Chris Tomlin on "One True God". This album is honestly a lot better than I would expect from someone who was not known as a worship artist, though it's not his best work. Like many modern worship albums, for whatever reason there needs to be both studio and live recordings of these songs, so the CD version has 4 live recordings of the same songs as well as the studio versions, and the streaming deluxe version includes live versions of 6 songs. (I don't understand why to have both, since both the live and studio versions sound very similar.) If you want to get an introduction to Steven Curtis Chapman's music, look for his greatest hits or an older album, but this worship project is surprisingly good though I don't listen to it very often.

Release Year: 2016
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Released 5 years ago today, this is the soundtrack to an independent film called Electric Jesus. It's a comedy film about a group of teens in 1986 who start a Christian metal band and go on tour to spread Jesus across America (and make their manager some money). The fictional band is called 316 and they perform 6 tracks on this album. There's also appearances by other bands made up for this film, with fun names such as Bloody Mass, Satan's Clutch, Joy Explosion, and Soul Exhumation. Most of the music is new songs written and performed by Daniel Smith and friends, a.k.a. Danielson. A few classic rock songs are covered along with the originals, one by Fleming & John, and Steve Taylor & The Danielson Foil also appears for one new song as well. It's mostly pretty silly music, as the band 316 is eager but very inexperienced and often don't really understand that their songs like "Commandos For Christ" may be taken the wrong way. But it's also well-written and expertly performed music, so it is fun to listen to as it pokes fun at Christian youth culture and '80s rock. There's also some instrumentals from the movie performed by Familyre Friends and a few songs that didn't appear in the movie peppered throughout as well. It's mostly a fun listen if you've seen the film it's based on, but I suppose if you haven't seen the movie, it might pique your interest.

Release Year: 2021
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Released 27 years ago today is the third album from The O.C. Supertones and my favorite album of theirs. Some of their albums may be a bit more ska, a bit more rock 'n' roll, or other things, but I like this one. Don't get me wrong, songs like "Grounded", "One Voice" and "Sure Shot" are definitely rockin'. But songs like "Hallelujah" and "Chase The Sun" have a bit more of a surf rock mixed with reggae vibe. The instrumental track "Revolution" near the end goes full on surf rock jam too. As with all their albums, The Supertones keep the Christian message front and center with songs like "In Between" and "Old Friend". "Away From You" is a beautiful pop/rock song featuring excellent background vocals from Christian pop singer Crystal Lewis and is one of the best tracks of the band's career. It's not their most rock or ska release though it does have plenty of horns and rock music, but it's overall their best in my opinion and I highly recommend a listen.

Release Year: 1999
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