Kim Gentes

Back in July, I took a few days and traveled out to CBA convention, which is THE big "show" for anyone involved in Christian retailing. My purpose was find new vendors of worship related products and see what companies had a heart for worship by meeting the people of those companies. On one of the evenings I had the opportunity to meet several people from PDI Music, the worship and praise group from the PDI Ministries and local church movement. Prior to that, I had not much knowledge of them, or their music. That has definitely changed! This month we are very pleased to announce the addition of the entire "Come & Worship" series from PDI. When I got home to Arizona, I grabbed one of the recent PDI song samplers, duplicated it on to my cassette, and began listening to it on the way to and from work each day.

I got hooked! Soon, I was trolling our CD inventory for an indepth look at the PDI albums. My standout favorite? "Lift A Shout", which is a live worship CD with worship leader Bill Patton. I really liked the quality of songs on this CD! It was clear that they weren't just pumping out a CD to meet a deadline- no these were real worship songs, with real annointing! To start with, "Shout" (title cut) really groves! I liked the instrumentation, but you don't get lost with any of the songs on this CD. They are meant for worship, and they work for worship! I found my self muttering "shout, lift a shout" under my breath all day long.

Their are some very nice arrangements on this CD as well, and they do well with execution for those who are looking for good musicality. But what is the one single best thing about this CD? Fast becoming my new favorite song-

After hearing about a dozen songs with nearly the same title (Vineyard/Craig Musseau's "Good To Me"; Vertical Darrel Evan's "So Good To Me"; et al), I figured the topic was pretty much worn out with great songs. WRONG! Steve & Vicki Cooke (songwriters) have given the Body of Christ a wonderful gift in this song. I love a good hook when I hear it, and this song really have a good hook. You won't get this out of your brain, even if you want to (which you won't). The rest of the CD is laced with "Vineyard-esque" style songs, but with a notably more praise oriented slant.

One final note- the first 5 projects in the PDI Come & Worship series contains about 8 songs on each CD, not quite the "standard" number of songs on a typical praise & worship CD. the reason? They kept the good ones! Trust me, I have listened to far too many CDs that should have pared back the filler and been honest with people and present 6-8 excellent worship tunes, rather than milk a CD for extra songs that don't deserve to go "to the nations". I thank PDI for going through the process of giving us 8 excellent songs!

Product Link http://www.sovereigngracemusic.org/albums/category/sovereign_grace_music/lift_a_shout

Review by Kim Gentes

Welcome to a great worship music CD! When you strive for great music, worship is sometimes lost in the final "production" of a worship album. This can be especially true of independent projects that just don't have the time or money to make things sound awesome in the midst of recording true worship.

FEAR NOT! Casy Corum is a worship veteran who understands this and has put the components of a truly great project on to this CD. This project opens the windows of our hearts to the wind from heaven. This worship leader knows how to worship, and he isn't ashamed of it. I loved the energy and honesty of Alabaster Boxes

Alabaster Boxes parlays between the edgier Vineyard worship music and some groovier acoustic/rock. The songs are very usable and excellent for learning and doing in worship. Proof of that is the fact the Vineyard has been picking up many of Casey's songs and using them on the their Touching the Father's Heart and other series. Another proof is that I am using them at our church :)

Product Link Alabaster Boxes - Casey Corum

Review by Kim Gentes

It has been a while since a worship CD has really surprised me. I have heard lots of good music, and excellent worship examples. About 5 days ago, we got a new CD into our warehouse. The shipment of CDs came from our Canadian friends. The CD is the first project released out of the Langely Vineyard church in 6 years. This is the same church that gave us a parade of songwriters and worship leaders like Andy Park, Brian Doerksen, Craig Musseau, Daphne Radmaker, Loralee Theissen, and on and on. But the heritage of worship has only grown in Langely, this new release makes that point very vividly.

I'll be honest, my first listen to this CD had me rolling my eyes thinking 'yikes, this is too far'. But over the last several days I have listened to the CD over and over again. The more I listen, the more I really am being captivated into worship by this project. Let me be very clear- this is all out gen-x worship. At times, it seems more 'gen-x' than anything else, but it all goes with who's listening. The opening 2 cuts are excellent style and musicianship, reaching to God with a gritty, full sound, but wrapped in the warmth of real worship. Make NO MISTAKE- this project is unparallelled with production and musicianship for an indie 'LIVE' project. This is world class stuff on the praise & worship scene. After complaining about all the studio indies I was hearing, I was delighted to finally hear a live indie! It is clear that the efforts of Philip Janz, producer, have completed this CD as the new high-water mark for cutting edge praise & worship.

I remember listening to the TFH release by Brian Doerksen 'Light The Fire Again'. I remember thinking- 'who are they kidding, how many worship teams will be able to play like this'. The more I listened to Light The Fire Again, the more I saw the incredible usefulness of the songs and joy in the excelling of bringing increased musicianship to our church music to properly play the songs.

Listening to 'The Well' has been a very similar experience, thus far. I started off being Slightly taken back, even surprised. It seemed to go to far. But the more I listen and join in, the more it makes sense and the more I worship. When that happens I know it is an album that will grow on me. And 'The Well' has! You will LOVE the song 'Freedom', and be blissful in 'Take Me Now'. You'll jump to 'Here We Stand' and you'll lay back and sing a lovers song to God as you join with 'You're All I Want'. My guess is that this is one CD that will have incredible staying power, selling and reaching in new churches for many years. We aren't all ready for this yet, but we will be sooner or later.

If you have a youth service, a gen-x church, or a very progressive leaning for music, you MUST check this CD out. If you are just getting over the huge transition from 'He Has Made Me Glad' to 'Lord I Lift Your Name On High', you might want to save your money. This is one CD that you will either love or dislike. No one is going to think it is 'ok'.

Half the album is lead by Mike Larson and his band Flood, who headlines the now classic song Freedom, which has been cut and recut by many other worship leaders and artists. This is the beautiful raw original, and it flies sky-high above other versions, if only because of the intense connection of the songwriter/leader to the song. The rest of the album is led by Melanie Theissen, a worship leader with the 1999 sound of Alanis Morsette. She attacks the vocals with passion and yet shows moments of real patience in letting the songs build (kudos to the arrangements from producer Philip Janz).

The CD can't be found extensively online at this point, so I found some audio samples here for you to get a taste of this. Here is the track list (sorry, audio samples are low res).

The bottom line- if you live on the edge, get this CD. If you're scared of the edge, buy it anyways and give it to your kids or grandkids! They will thank you for it!

With its daring approach, strong new songs, great live production and musicianship, this CD won the WorshipMusic.com 2000 Album of the Year  and Editor's Choice Awards.

Product Link : http://amzn.to/wTet0H 

Review by Kim Gentes

When Kingsway songs and albums from Matt Redman, Delirious and Tim Hughes began flooding across the Atlantic to the US, it was a blissful time of music discovery for many in America. Here was some progressive rock sounds that held values of praise and worship as their core lyric content. During that time, there was no more surprising and innovative album that "King Of Fools", the sophomore release from Delirious?.

On initial introduction, many churches who had been receptive to the "Cutting Edge" project and Redman's "Heart of Worship". found "King of Fools" to be too progressive for their local church music repetoire.  And indeed it was lightyears ahead of most chorus-filled praise and worship band repetoires or music skill. The layered U2-esque and washy sounds of multi-electric guitar arrangements, added to pop vocals of Martin Smith and intricate rhythmic progressions of drummer Stew Smith were for full-on, radio-ready bands, not Sunday morning ensembles.

That said, "King of Fools" was one of the absolute best musical treatments of the modern worship genre.  While the songs were slower to gain acceptance from general Sunday morning church, youth groups were quick to begin using this amazing cache of songs. The slamdunk favorite of this album was Deeper, which was a plaintiff cry with great pop motif, infectious melody and musical groove.  Youthful lyrics that hinted whimsically at Biblical allusion while being passionately a human prayer. Deeper, along with White Ribbon Day, where both released to general market UK as singles and reached #20 and #41 respectively, a huge landmark.  This was not a tiny dent in a Christain market- it was the beginning of a legitimate rock band in the general UK market, making chart noise with blatantly Christian lyrics, even worship lyrics.

Beyond the commercial, radio and industry accolodates, listening to Delirious? on their "King of Fools" release is such a blissful journey, it became a long time favorite of mine personally.  In this 13 track epistle, Smith and co., communicate with some of the best written lyrics in all of Christian pop music. Combined with Stu Garrard's guitars, ethereal and crisp keys of Tim Jupp, brilliant drumming of the aforementioned Stew Smith, and the extended range of Martin Smith's haunting vocals, every track on the album is a keeper. No kidding, really! There isn't a single bad song on this project. What is beautiful about this album is the range it crosses in its progression. From wall of sound, washing reverberations in Sanctify, Promise, King or Cripple to pop-anthems like Deeper, Revival Town, Louder Than The Radio and History Maker to gallant balads like White Ribbon Day and August 30th  to pensive prayers of Hands of Kindness and What a Friend I've Found.

It is almost impossible to pick a favorite tune on this project, but if forced to, I can list my top 3 songs from this album: Deeper, White Ribbon Day, and What A Friend I've Found. These three very different songs reflect the skill, lyrical genuis and musical diversity that Delirious? brought fresh into Christian music and birthed in the modern worship movement.

If you don't have this album, get it. It's that simple. An unbelievable album in every respect.

Product Link :  King of Fools (MP3 Album) and King of Fools (Songbook)

Review by Kim Gentes

I remember getting my original copies of the UK released Cutting Edge CDs in the mail. Cardboard jackets with plastic inset trays for the CD. They were sent to me from a friend at EMI CMG. They were working on a launch the new Delirious? website to promote them in the US and I was helping with some online marketing and giving feedback on songs for a 3 song promo demo CD. It was 1996. I remember listening to great songs like Did You Feel The Mountains Tremble?, Find Me In The River and Happy Song. Wow. Unlike anything I had heard on a "worship" recording.

Then I heard I Could Sing Of Your Love Forever. I knew, in that moment, that "church music" had changed. Songs, they say, can have a life of their own. When songs can communicate something so relevant that we all want to join in, but say it in a unique way that awakens our emotions, those songs become "ours". As I listened to I Could Sing Of Your Love Forever, tears began to roll down my face. I was singing that song because it was truth captured in well-crafted art. Within a year, millions of other people across North America would learn that song and join in. It became an anthem of God's love for many of us.

The Cutting Edge CDs were eventually released in the US in 1998 as a double CD. Cutting Edge not only impacted worshipers and leader across the world, they inspired other writers. I remember a year or so earlier at a worship conference, Brian Doerksen talking about how he was being inspired by these same UK songs from early EP versions of the CDs he had gotten while in UK.  He was impacted, as were we were all impacted by what Martin Smith and crew brought to church music. Today, it's hard to imagine modern worship without the profound impact of these songs and the breakout sound of the band.

The songs on this collection are recorded crisp, clear and in the studio. While Delirious? would become known for their layered U2-esque sound, Cutting Edge highlighted arrangements that were brilliant more for their sparse intention than their "wall of sound" attack.  If you are one of those people who didn't get a copy of the Cutting Edge double CD, make sure to check out the CD on Amazon, or get the entire 25 song MP3 album there for a fraction of the cost.

These songs and this album are now classic, but remain some of the most popular songs in modern hymnody.

Product Link :  Cutting Edge (Double Album) and Delirious? - Cutting Edge (Songbook)

Review by Kim Gentes