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Album Of The Day: Mezzamorphis by delirious?
I think this is my favorite album from delirious?. When this released in spring 1999, delirious? was pretty new to the USA and was known for their early days doing modern worship, a kind of updated version of church music, but their latest albums turned out to modern rock albums instead. Mezzamorphis found the band putting the music sung to God on hold though still talking about a relationship with God in their lyrics. The band experimented with their sound a lot and added more strings, guitar effects, theremin, and overall Brit-rock styling. At 50 minutes, it's actually their shortest album, which may be partly why it's their most focused album. I love this rock band and although the band did not last forever, I continue to enjoy their music and the memories of seeing them play live a few times over the years.
Release Year: 1999
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Album Of The Day: Revisiting This Planet by Kevin Max
In 1972, Larry Norman released Only Visiting This Planet, one of the most successful Christian rock albums of the '70s. On this day four years ago, Kevin Max (formerly of dc Talk) released a cover of the whole album in homage to his friend Larry Norman. Revisiting This Planet is lovingly recreated by some of Nashville's best musicians and Kevin's vocals bring the rock vibe to Norman's classic album. It's certainly interesting to bring modern production methods and quality to these sometimes dated lyrics, though in other moments the lyrics feel like they could have been written today. The album does include an original song, "God Part IV", in which Max comments on previous thoughts about God from John Lennon, U2 and Larry Norman.
Release Year: 2020
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Album Of The Day: Goliath by Steve Taylor And The Perfect Foil
Released 10 years ago yesterday, this is the return of '80s Christian rocker/satirist Steve Taylor. This Steve Taylor spent a few decades being a record label executive, movie director, and songwriter and finally came back to writing and recording his own music with his friends. It's a guitar-based rock album with lyrics that takes a bit of dissecting. The lyrics include lots of references to religion and finding the humor in religion and culture. It culminates with "Comedian", an epic six-minute ode to God, the best comedian of them all. It's non-stop energy and entertainment from a master songwriter who tells you like it is.
Release Year: 2014
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Album Of The Day: Free At Last by dc Talk
Released on this day 32 years ago, this album made dc Talk a household name among Christian music fans. At this point, dc Talk was mostly Toby McKeehan rapping on the verses and Michael Tait and Kevin Max singing on the choruses. With Free At Last, this was definitely still the case, but the band experimented with sounds and repertoire. "Free At Last" veers into Gospel, while "Time Is..." gets a bit more rock edge. Covers of "Jesus Is Just Alright" and "Lean On Me" with new rapped verses are highlights as well as the original tunes. A number of the songs challenge mainstream cultural norms promoting abstinence and modest clothing, which was kinda weird to me both when I first heard this and still today. This album is definitely a time capsule of where Christian music was in the early '90s, for better and worse, and a lot of fun.
Release Year: 1992
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Album Of The Day: For All The Saints by Fernando Ortega
Released just 2 days ago, this is a new EP from veteran singer-songwriter Fernando Ortega. On this 5-track release, Ortega leans into hymns and setting sacred texts to music. I like his version of "How Can I Keep From Singing" and the "Gloria" is classic-sounding Fernando Ortega with beautiful piano and vocals. And "Jesus, Bread of Life" is a great new song of praise. All of these songs are solid. It's been a number of years since he has released new music, so it's great to hear from him again.
Release Year: 2024
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Album Of The Day: Lesson Of Love by Ashley Cleveland
Ashley Cleveland is one of my favorite voices in music. She can really belt out a vocal and her deep alto is such a contrast to many other female artists. Ashley Cleveland's third album, Lesson of Love, is a rock album that mixes in a lot of Gospel influences and also includes a few hymns from other Christian traditions. But even though it's got a few hymns, it still is a rock album. Ashley's husband, Kenny Greenberg, does great guitar work throughout and songs like "He Is", "Revive Us Again", and "You Are There" keep the album energetic. I love all these songs and never tire of hearing Ashley's voice and her perspective on the world.
Release Year: 1995
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Album Of The Day: Everything As It Should Be by Andy Gullahorn
I love how Andy Gullahorn's lyrics go from serious to very tongue-in-cheek. If you're at home, you might not even notice, unless you're paying attention to the words. At an Andy Gullahorn concert, people at first nervously laugh and then keep laughing. For example, on this album, "Death Without A Funeral" talks about a tough break-up. And then the next song sounds much the same musically, a beautiful acoustic/folk/pop song, but it's "Teenagers", a hilarious lyric lamenting all the things that are annoying about parenting teens. Andy Gullahorn mixes the serious, the humorous, the spiritual and the communal on this, his latest album. I've gotten a chance to see him play a few times and it's full of life, stories, and lots of fun, just like this album.
Release Year: 2018
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Album Of The Day: Rivers In The Wasteland by Needtobreathe
This is my favorite album from southern rock band Needtobreathe. It's got a bit of everything: southern rock, some gospel influences, and some real honestly about love and relationships. Brothers Bear and Bo Rinehart started this band over 15 years before, and at this time were struggling to have a good, healthy relationship. They tried to write through this struggle in songs like "Brother" and "Wasteland". This album, I think, has their best sound and the most variety of types of songs, and every song is a solid one. Most of these songs are still played at their shows regularly 10 years later, at least on occasion if not every show.
Release Year: 2014
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Album Of The Day: Mission House by Mission House
Both Jess Ray and Taylor Leonhardt have their own solo careers doing singer-songwriter music, but sometimes they perform together as Mission House, a modern praise and worship duo. While their solo works are more personal, artistic songs in nature, Mission House is more about modern music for churches. Although a bit short for an album, this 7-track studio recording has some powerful songs of praise. Personally, I found that this music speaks to me a bit more than the stuff the mega-churches are churning out, for whatever reason.
Release Year: 2019
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Album Of The Day: I See Things Upside Down by Derek Webb
Singer Derek Webb was one of the original members of Houston-based folk-rock band Caedmon's Call. But in the early 2000s, he left the band and started his own solo career. I See Things Upside Down is his second album and my favorite of his albums. Released on this day 20 years ago, it's much more rock than most of his other albums, which are more acoustic or Americana. This albums an exquisitely-produced folk-rock album with a full band sound and lengthy songs full of beautiful instrumentation. Lyrically, Derek Webb calls the American church on to higher standards and loving our neighbor better while also speaking to our imperfect nature, which are things I've tried to take to heart. More recently, Derek has personally gone to places that don't resonate with me, but I definitely enjoy this album and his earlier works regularly.
Release Year: 2004
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