Released 25 years ago this past Friday, this is an album of four songwriters performing their own versions of the songs they wrote, many of which were popular songs by other artists. Most well-known by a wide audience is the album closer, "Change The World", which Gordon Kennedy wrote with Wayne Kirkpatrick and Tommy Sims and was a big hit for both Wynonna and Eric Clapton. Wayne Kirkpatrick gets to perform his own version of "Place In This World" which was a hit single by Michael W. Smith. Phil Madeira is a songwriter who wrote "Everywhere I Look" made popular by Phil Keaggy and "Hunger And Thirst" recorded by Susan Ashton. And Billy Sprague and Wayne Kirkpatrick wrote "Man After You Own Heart" which was recorded by Gary Chapman, and Sprague also co-wrote "Via Dolorosa" for Sandi Patty. They also recorded one new, original song, "Coming From Somewhere Else", written by all four together. While most of these were '80s and '90s Christian pop radio singles, here they find much more of a Nashville folk-country, somewhat jazz-y vibe with more acoustic guitars and the vocals of the songwriters themselves, which is cool to hear. Recording their own versions of these hits is not always something these songwriters get to do, and it's fun to give it a listen especially if you are familiar with the original recordings of some of these songs. The album cover says "Rocketown Writers Series" on it, but unfortunately, I don't believe that Rocketown Records ever released another album in this so-called series, though I certainly would have given it a listen had they done so.

Release Year: 2000
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Released 25 years ago this past Friday, this is the first album released in the USA by Tree63, a South African rock band with Christian lyrics. In the late '90s, the band was known as "Tree" and released two albums, Overflow and 63, and this album is a compilation of the best songs from those first two albums and the first album to use their new name, Tree63. If you didn't get the imported albums on CD like I did 25 years ago, you didn't hear the other songs, though all those old songs are currently available on streaming if you want to now access the classic songs you never heard. But the band took "Joy", "Look What You've Done" and "Worldwide" from the Overflow album and re-recorded them to sound more like the production style of their 63 album. And then half of the tracks from 63 were joined with those three new recordings to make this 10-song best of early Tree63 self-titled album that introduced the band to the North American market. John Ellis and his bandmates created great rock music with honest and sometimes worshipful lyrics. Songs like "1*0*1", "Treasure" and "Can I See Your Face?" are excellent rock music with quality Christian lyrics. If you're a fan of Tree63, I recommend you check out the original two albums and their 26 tracks, but this 10-track compilation is a great look at the band's early songs and works well together as an album.

Release Year: 2000
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Released 30 years ago this year and probably released 30 years ago today to mainstream US markets, this is the much-beloved debut of Jars of Clay. The band came out of the gate with some great songs and an acoustic-rock style that was unique at the time and has been imitated many times by bands since then. Some might not like the electronic drum loops, but I think it makes the album a bit of a unique release. There's also beautiful strings, fiddle work and even female vocals on a few songs. "Love Song For A Savior" may be their most-played song ever on Christian radio, and "Flood" got them onto non-Christian radio and MTV a bit at the time. But the best song of this album in my opinion is the 5-minute "Worlds Apart", a beautiful musical and poetic prayer of surrender to God. It's not my favorite Jars of Clay album, but it's their beginning and it's a top-notch album that continues to be a favorite so many years later.

If you want to hear me and a few others talk about this album for a while, Caleb invited me on his podcast and we talk about it for, wow, nearly 2 hours. It was a fun discussion and you can certainly find it wherever you listen to podcasts. Just look for "The Album Anniversary Podcast" and find the Jars Of Clay episode. Here is where to find the episode on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Release Year: 1995
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Released 23 years ago today, this is The Elms's second album and it cemented the band as one of my all-time favorite bands. Their first album was good, but on this album, they definitely dialed up the excellent guitar tones to 11 and I love it. From the opening riff of "Speaking In Tongues" to excellent rock songs like "You Saved Me" and "Come To Me", the guitars are definitely a highlight of this album for me. The whole band does a great job, though, with excellent bass, drums, and vocals as well. Lyrically, this band does a great job of writing love songs and being honest but positive about the struggles of life. This album was my personal soundtrack for many, many years and it continues to be played very regularly by me to this day. It was so much fun to see them play these songs live a month ago at a reunion show and meet other fans!

Release Year: 2002
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