Any Good Worship Music lately?

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TK
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Any Good Worship Music lately?

Post by TK » Mon Mar 22, 2010 4:30 pm

What have you all been listening to?

Anything interesting, or particularly good? (of course i know this may be a matter of taste).

TK

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steve
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Re: Any Good Worship Music lately?

Post by steve » Mon Mar 22, 2010 5:34 pm

I imagine that there is some good worship music being written by younger artists, but I have not been gripped by much that I have heard. Probably because I am an "old fogey," and tend to think "the good old days" produced the best music. I can recommend two older sources of music that I never tire of listening to, and which never fail to transport my spirit to a sense of the presence of God.

I have always loved the music of Chris and Laura Christensen. They describe themselves as "musicianaries," and have lived in Belgium since 1987. He was born in South Africa, and they met while studying music at Wheaton. They are a very sweet couple. There is great depth in the music he writes, though he is not vocally as strong as are many more-professional Christian artists. I had their albums in the eighties, but the cassette tapes wore out. My favorite album of theirs (and several I have not heard) can be purchased/downloaded from this website:

http://feic.org/updates/headlines/chris ... hristensen

If you would buy their "Time to Fly" album (No, it's not about the rapture. These people are postmillennialists), I can not imagine your not being rapturously happy with it.

Another artist who has written great worship music, as well as other inspirational music, is Kelly Willard. She is my favorite female vocalist, not just because of her great voice, but also because I can hear her love for God in her singing. She is much better known than the Christensens, having sung back-up for almost every other Jesus Movement artist—notably Keith Green, Bob Bennett, Paul Clark, and many others—and having nine solo albums of her own. Hers is probably the most recognizable female voice to people who were around twenty years ago or so. Her music is very worshipful, and is very likely to make you feel the presence of God while listening. Kelly has been below the radar for years (partly because 2004 was a year of horrible tragedy for her—both parents died, her 30-year marriage ended and her teenaged daughter committed suicide!). I was glad to find much of her music still available online from http://www.kellywillard.com/biography.html . If you order CDs from her, you will be helping her out financially. She is still recovering from those tragedies.

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TK
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Re: Any Good Worship Music lately?

Post by TK » Tue Mar 23, 2010 4:45 pm

Thanks Steve!

I by no means meant to limit the discussion to current artists only; in fact i am glad you mentioned these because I am really not all that familiar with older worship music.

I found a website for a canadian christian fellowship called "Christ our Life" a couple of years ago that has some free, very strong and biblical yet simple worship songs.

here is the link: christ our life- living sacrifice CD

All the tracks are good, but i especially like #1, #8 and #9.

TK

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RICHinCHRIST
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Re: Any Good Worship Music lately?

Post by RICHinCHRIST » Mon Apr 26, 2010 1:14 pm

Steve,

You're not just an "old fogey", the older music is still the best! Phil Keaggy's first two albums, "What a Day" and "Love Broke Thru" are still my favorite Christian albums of all time. However, I could be classified an "old fogey" at heart, due to my enjoyment of music of the late 60s and 70s. :)

TK,

I have struggled in finding new Christian music of exceptional quality and spiritual depth. As a musician, there are some Christian bands I respect musically, but unfortunately I find their music to be of little spiritual depth. However, I enjoy when old hymns are put to more contemporary music styles, which I think has a very good possibility of becoming the norm in the future (if good Christian music is to be made). For the past few decades in Christian music, it seems as if repetition and lyrical simplicity is their aim. Unfortunately, when there is so much repetition I find myself struggling to sing along or follow along due to the lack of spiritual progress in the lyrics (Interestingly, but sadly, this type of repetition actually reminds of Eastern mantras).

Also, I tend to classify Christian music with its prophetic power (or lack thereof). It seems that there is often a resurgence of influential, prophetic Christian music at times of spiritual revival (Wesley's hymns, Jesus Movement Music, etc.). Nowadays, it seems that only Christian hip-hop artists really have that kind of prophetic gifting (although I'm not a huge fan of the style). Unfortunately, some of the styles I enjoy(folk, singer/songwriters) are prevalent in bands with Christian members, but their songs are covertly written about God, in that they are written in a parabolic format(whether this is due to fear of being labeled "religious", I'm not sure; oftentimes, it is hard to "understand" their songs' meanings even from a Christian's perspective).

I'm sure there are still many unknowns out there to be discovered who are writing genuinely good worship and spiritual music, although I only know of a few.

A few newer artists I like:

Danny Donnelly (worship leader, singer/songwriter, blues influence) - good albums: Solo Worship I, II, and III (solo acoustic)... and "Open" and "Be Filled" (contemporary blues/rock).

Caedmon's Call (pop/rock alternative, mix of worship and spiritual songs, good renditions of old hymns) - I should notify you that they have a Calvinist leaning in a few of their songs, but it has only affected me slightly, and it doesn't really bother me because they are not overbearing about it. This band is full of great musicians, and they have a Hammond B3 organ player, which is totally awesome, and something I rarely hear in music today.

Enter the Worship Circle (folk rock worship) I like the vibe of this band. (I believe they are no longer together, but have morphed into a duo project with the lead singer and his wife called "Waterdeep".

Jimmy Needham (pop/alternative) - If you've ever heard of a secular artist named Jason Mraz, musically, this guy is the Christian version. I think he writes some great stuff. He said this regarding Keith Green: "When I listen to him [Keith] it's cool because I feel the Lord has given us the same spirit in what we're singing about. If music—especially Christian music—doesn't either cause me to repent or worship, then I don't know why I'm listening to it. And I think that's why I like Keith Green so much. He didn't sugarcoat things." (wikipedia)

Lecrae - popular Christian rapper with a prophetic message.

The Cross Movement - Christian hip hop group with vision same as above

Although I like all these artists, unfortunately I still have yet to hear the spiritual depth that is found in the old hymns. Although those hymns are a mouthful of lyrics, I find that they bring me to the throne of God much sooner than singing "Your love is amazing" 20 times in a row.

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TK
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Re: Any Good Worship Music lately?

Post by TK » Thu Apr 29, 2010 12:31 pm

thanks, Rich, for all the suggestions.

TK

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AaronBDisney
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Re: Any Good Worship Music lately?

Post by AaronBDisney » Thu Jul 22, 2010 6:20 pm

I love the old hymns, but I like them sung anointedly and with conviction and just a bit of an edge to them. Most of the time when I try to find one to listen to from iTunes (I hardly have anything loaded up on my ipod as of yet) I just get real good vocals and perfect harmony, all for the sake of real good vocals and perfect harmony seemingly.
Anyone know any new artists that sing old hymns with heart?

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TK
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Re: Any Good Worship Music lately?

Post by TK » Fri Jul 23, 2010 7:27 am

I recently got Misty Edward's "Relentless" and I think that's a very powerful worship CD.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsZCtzKNBEE

Aaron- if you find any artist like you are describing, let us know.

TK

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steve
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Re: Any Good Worship Music lately?

Post by steve » Fri Jul 23, 2010 9:49 am

One of my favorite young writer/artists is Rich Feola, who is here at the school and is "RICHinCHRIST" here at the forum. He has been writing new material from the Psalms even here at the school. I have never heard a song of his that was not excellent. Too bad recordings are not yet available of this brother. We might make some unprofessional recordings of him while he is here. If he wants to, he can post them for you (though I don't know much about the legal protection of his work if he does that prior to copywriting—it is a shame such things have to be considered, but if his work is not protected, someone else can copyright it in their own name and make him pay to sing his own songs!. There may be new rules now that Youtube exists. Perhaps simply posting a dated posting serves in lieu of a copyright—I don't know. I'll bet Darrin knows!).

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jwalsh
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Re: Any Good Worship Music lately?

Post by jwalsh » Mon Jul 26, 2010 3:25 pm

TK,

Have you tried Pandora.com? I'm constantly finding new artists on there, because it uses my preferences to suggest similar music.

A couple of my current favorites are Hillsong United ("From the Inside Out", "None but Jesus", and "More than Life") and Third Day ("Nothing Compares", "She sings in Riddles", "What Good", "Your Love oh Lord").

Hope that helps,
Jake

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TK
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Re: Any Good Worship Music lately?

Post by TK » Mon Jul 26, 2010 6:17 pm

Thanks, Jake- i'll have to check out Pandora. I think my son told me about that a while ago and i never looked into it.

I have a lot of Hillsong United stuff- i think most of it. "From the Inside Out" is one of my favorites- I like "sovereign hands" a lot too. Actually, I like about all their songs.

Sometimes i remember songs that coincide with a "hot" period in my walk (I wish I was hot all the time!) and "From the Inside Out" is definitely one of those songs.

TK

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