Released on this day 23 years ago, this is the fourth studio album from rock/pop/Americana band Jars of Clay. It's not my favorite of their albums, but they also don't have a bad album either. The band stays squarely in the pop/rock territory on this album, with songs like "I Need You" and "Something Beautiful" being more pop and songs like "Disappear" and "Revolution" being more rock. In the song's lyrics, they definitely have lots of spiritual imagery, but also focus on relationships among people and getting to know, understand and love each other. It's a great album to listen through and showcases the band's excellent musicianship.

Release Year: 2002
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Released on this day 8 years ago, Army Of Bones is the first and only album so far from this English rock group. In 2009, the rock/worship band delirious? played their last gig, and front man Martin Smith of course continued to write music, though with other individuals and groups. With a new group of musicians, Martin and company recorded this album and rocked a few clubs in the UK on limited dates in the late 2010s while Smith also released solo pop/worship albums. This is a quality rock album, with soaring guitars and the occasional keys, an ever-present bass end, and excellent drums, plus Martin's vocals in the mix, sometimes a whisper, and sometimes a yell. Lyrically, it's a lot of love songs, probably most written to God, though in some cases you might not be able to tell if it's that or to a lover. The first two songs that were released before the album came out were "Batteries" and "River", and I think they're the most rockin' part of the album. And I'm a sucker for a six-minute, epic closing track like "The Day The Fire Went Out". I hope this isn't the only Army Of Bones album that we get, but I don't hear much in the rumor mill about another one.

Release Year: 2017
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I'll admit, I've not listened to all the classics in modern music. About 20 years ago, I think I first heard a reggae cover of this album called Dub Side Of The Moon with a friend before I heard this album. But I found the cover album so interesting, I had to hear the original, so I bought a CD of Pink Floyd's album shortly thereafter. Released on this day 52 years ago, this is one of the most well-known albums from a legendary English rock band, Pink Floyd. Many of the songs such as "Time" and "Money" talk about universal themes and sound like pretty standard rock music. Other tracks, like the opening parts of "Speak To Me/Breathe" and "On The Run", are more experimental, more instrumental and using synthesizers and other things not-so-standard for rock bands to use. The band even performed the whole album on tour before the album came out. This album is definitely a part of rock music history, and is designed to be listened to the whole way through as the songs work really well together.

Release Year: 1973
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When this was released, it ended up near the top of best album lists of the year of a number of Christian music fans, including mine (if I made a list). Taylor Leonhardt sometimes writes hymns and worship songs, but that's not what she's doing as a solo artist here. She's instead being a singer-songwriter, writing honest and introspective songs on her struggles with relationships with friends and family, understanding the nature of God, and more. It's a lot of ideas that many of us can identify with, though maybe it's a bit too honest for some listeners who want to hear only encouraging, positive music that glosses over life's hardships. The music is beautifully recorded with a full band pop/rock and maybe a bit country sound. Taylor's lyrics and heartfelt vocals are the focus, though, and this album is deserving of all the praise it got. I was happy to support this artist's Kickstarter campaign to make this album, and I'm so happy with the album she released.

Release Year: 2021
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