In the early-to-mid 1990s, delirious? was a part-time worship band called "The Cutting Edge Band". During that era, guitarist Stuart Garrard (aka Stu G) released his own EP of rock/worship songs titled Have You Heard. The 6-track EP was remastered for it's 20th anniversary and is presented with some remixes and a new live-in-studio recording of some of the original songs, to make it more of a full album. It's a fun look at independent Christian rock from the mid-90s as we near its 30th anniversary. I only started listening to this EP on the 20th anniversary re-release, but I love the songs. It's a snapshot of early solo work from my favorite bands and one of my favorite guitarists.

Release Year: 1995 / 2015
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Released on this day 14 years ago, this was the soundtrack to Disney's sci-fi sequel of the 1982 film TRON. Daft Punk is a secretive electronic/remix/pop duo, so not exactly the group you'd expect for a movie soundtrack, but it works really well here. Orchestral moments are mixed with pounding drums and bass, synths, and other sounds. It sounds as cinematic as many other big-budget films of the last few decades, but it also has a modern, electronic edge. It's not exactly Daft Punk's normal fare, but it turns wherever you are into a drama-filled movie at one moment and a dance club the next moment.

Release Year: 2010
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Darrell Evans is a Christian musician that became popular making long, sometimes spontaneous modern church music. His musical influences on his studio albums seem to be rockers like Bruce Springsteen and U2, but the lyrics are all about a personal relationship and praise to God. You Are I Am is his first studio album, which repeats some of the songs on his more acoustic live album from the previous year. I like these more rock-focused arrangements and how most of the songs are 5+ minutes long, musically expressing passion and thanks for God. Darrell Evans has continued to put out new music, but I still keep coming back to his 1997 and 1998 albums which are full of now-classic songs that inspired a whole generation of worship leaders in the years after, I imagine.

Release Year: 1998
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Although I got my copy of this record a few weeks ago, this album officially releases today. Malcolm Guite is an English poet and on this album he recites his poetry, ruminations on the scripture, the works of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, and more. Underneath Mr. Guite's poetry is laid acoustic guitar and the occasional other instruments from Phil Keaggy and friends. What results is a great fusion of poetry and music from two masters of their respective arts. 16 poems are read with music to go with the reflective poetry. After the poetry (on side B of the record), 20+ minutes of the same instrumental music is presented without the sonnets. I'm not sure when it will be available on streaming, but you can buy it digitally or on vinyl or CD directly from the artist.

Release Year: 2024
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