The Home of the Platinum Vinyl Awards. Reviews of New CD releases, mostly CCM but also mainstream releases that may interest the Christian Music listener. Music News and Commentary, especially when there's a CCM connection.
Once Again we close out a quarter with Modern Worship. Twenty-Five entries is 3 years of Finals plus. Let's close this wrap out and move on to the 4th Quarter.
Modern Worship
Antioch Music - Live at World Mandate
Awaken Worship - Wont Stay Silent EP
Canyon Hills Worship - As Long as I Live Volume 2 (Live)
Christ For The Nations Worship - Taste of Heaven
Elevation Worship - Paradoxology
Lou Fellingham - Made For You (Live)
Free Worship - Already Done
Hillsong United - People
Hillsong Young and Free - III (Studio Sessions)
Kellie and Kristen - In The Name
Life Church Worship - Death of Death EP
Life Worship - Collection
Dawn Michelle - Surrender
Nashville Life Music - Taylor House Sessions EP
Open Heavens - Revival Rising
Brian Ortize - Never Late
Planetshakers - Rain, Part One EP
Red Rocks Worship - Spark (Come Alive)
Red Rocks Worship - Spark (No Other Love) Live EP
Red Rocks Worship - Spark (On Earth as it is In Heaven) Live EP
Shane and Shane - The Worship Initiative, Volume 17
Thrive Worship - A Thousand More
29:11 Worship - Marble and Mortar, Volume 2 (Live)
Phil Wickham - SIng Along 4 (Live)
Woodlands Worship - Live Worship
That closes the third quarter of 2019. The Fourth Quarter is already roaring. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.
Live Recorded Album was responsible for a baker's dozen worth of entries, and is also our penultimate genre for the quarter. Once again, Modern Worship is first, but you knew that if your were genre counting.
Live Recorded Album
Joshua Aaron - Live At The Tower of David
Canyon Hills Worship - As Long As I Live Volume 2 (Live)
Steven Curtis Chapman - A Great Adventure (Live)
Lou Fellingham - Made For You (Live)
Hillsong United - People
Red Rocks Worship - Spark (On Earth As It Is In Heaven) (Live)
Red Rocks Worship - Spark (Come Alive) (Live)
Red Rocks Worship - Spark (No Other Love) (Live EP)
Switchfoot - Live From The Native Tongue Tour EP
29:11 Worship - Marble and Mortar, Volume 2 (Live)
Phil Wickham - Sing Along 4 (Live)
Paul Wilbur - Roar From Zion: Recorded Live In Jerusalem
Woodlands Worship - Live
Modern Worship Closes it out with 25 Entries. I am Awaiting Your Reply.
Adult Contemporary and Inspirational accounted for a full dozen entries this quarter, which is good, but isn't enough to grab the top prize. Not even close. Let's get to it.
Adult Contemporary/Inspirational
Joshua Aaron - Live at The Tower of David
After Grace - You Know EP
Anthem Lights - Hymns Medleys
Caleb and Kelsey - Hymns
Steven Curtis Chapman - A Great Adventure (Live)
Sean Curran - Bigger Than I Thought EP
Craig Duncan - Colonial Hymns
Sarah Kroger - Bloom
Dave Pettigrew - Faith and Gasoline
Chris Rice - Untitled Hymn: A Collection of Hymns
The Sing Team - Live On
Kevin Winebarger - Courage
A very diverse mix of new and old. Only two genre remains, and next up is Live Recorded Album with a bakers dozen (that's 13 for the unhip). Until then, I am Awaiting Your Reply.
We are heading into the final turn. There are only four more genres left. Lo and behold that takes us to the end of the week. First up is Pop Music. The best Christian Sugar out there.
Pop Music
The Afters - Fear No More
Erskin Anivitarte - Love Moves EP
Chris August - Everything After EP
Battledrums - Breakthrough
Riley Clemmons - Fighting For Me EP
Danny Gokey - Haven't Seen It Yet
Mallary Hope - Out of My Hands
Spencer Kane - Acoustic Sessions EP
Newsboys - United
Michael Hughes Watson - Wait EP
Shae Wilbur - Unmoveable EP
Adult Contemporary is up next. Until then, I am Awaiting Your Reply.
Welcome back to an all new edition of Music Video Monday. Looks like we are going for three weeks in a row. That's got to be some kind of record these days, and that is not a pun. We begin our musical tour with We Are Messengers. I go hot and cold with this band (Case in Point Maybe its okay. It really seems to make excuses for things that are wrong with your life. Just my opinion). I am going hot with their latest single. This is the lyric video for Power. Next up, it's time to wake up Oh, Sleeper. They just released a new album entitled Bloodied/Unbowed, which received a perfect 5 Emerald rating. This is the music video for fissure. Finally we move on to Skillet. They will be releasing Victorious on AUGUST 2, that's only 11 days away. From the songs released so far this is going to be an awesome album. This is the music video for Legendary. That does it for this edition of Music Video Monday. We return to our 3rd Quarter rollout tomorrow. Until then, I am Awaiting Your Reply.
The ties are over and we move on to Alternative Rock, which had a complete final quota of 7 entries this quarter. From this point on all the remaining genres smash through the finals in one quarter.
Alternative Rock
Craig's Brother - Devils In The Details
Empty Isles - For When You Need Me
Kings Kaleidoscope - Zeal
Leem of The Earth - Chapter Three EP
Elle Limebear - Elle Limebear EP
Starflyer 59 - Young In My Head
Switchfoot - Live From The Native Tongue Tour EP
Rock Music is the next up. Until then, I am Awaiting Your Reply.
What would a quarterly wrap be without a tie. And we get it out of the way right away. It's a two way tie, and first up is Gospel Music.
Gospel/R&B
Kirk Franklin - Long Live Love
Gloria Gaynor - Testimony
Byron Juane - Hopeful Soul EP
Karlos Nichols - Be Alright EP
Titus Showers - Who? EP
And we are underway. I know there are a lot of the older folk out there who say, "Gloria Gaynor is Christian?" Yes, she's come a long way from "I Will Survive". The second part of our tie is Hard Rock and Metal. Until then, I am Awaiting Your Reply.
Or The Big One, if you must be grammatically correct. We have finally come to our third quarter wrap during eligibility year #PVX. Also those with me from the start know that I start out with a megapost, because I have a minimum bar of 5 entries for a genre to have a solo post. This quarter we ran into a problem. Four genres have only 1 entry, which even combined would not make the minimum bar, and then we have a three and a four. So here it is a 6 genre, 11 album post. I wont even try to come up with a cutesy title. Let's get to....the big one.
Children's Music
Gateway Kids Worship - All of Me EP
Compilation Album
FixT Neon - After Dark
Electronic - Industrial
Dear Gravity - The Pilgrimage Series: Departure
Instrumental Music
Dear Gravity - The Pilgrimage Series: Departure
Rap/Hip-Hop
Brinson - Reversing Tomorrow
5ive - Family Business
J-Heir - Headstrong
Remix Album
August Burns Red - Constellations (Remixed)
Jesus Loves Electro - Made To Be Remixes EP
TobyMac - Scars (Come With Livin) Remixes EP
Branan Murphy - Coming Home Remixes EP
And We are underway. We move on to our single genre posts right away. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.
Welcome Back to Music Video Monday, where we play the best Music Videos out on the web. It looks like we will get on to a weekly schedule for once. Unlike last week, however, we have videos from different artists and genres.
We begin with a video of pure beauty. Hannah Kerr is taking the Pop world by storm. This is the David Hamilton arrangement for Split The Sea.
"This life is Hell without you." Brutal honesty from War of Ages. This is the video for Miles Apart.
A blend of country, metal and industrial. It sounds like a discordant mess, but it's actually the harmony that is White Collar Sideshow. This is I didn't come here to die.
That does it for this edition of Music Video Monday. Two weeks in a row. Things are looking up. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.
"Soldiers, Soldiers, Under Command. Fighting The Lord's Battle Plan". Thus begins the sea change in the Christian Contemporary Music industry know as STRYPER. REZ may be the Father of Christian Metal, but STRYPER took it Worldwide. The true beginning was The Yellow and Black Attack, a six song EP released in 1984 (released again two years later with two more songs to make it an official album) making Stryper one of My Bands which started in the year I graduated from High School. Soldiers Under Command released in 1985 really got things moving, but most people never got on the Yellow and Black train until they told the Devil to go You Know Where, and caused plenty of heart palpitations among Christian College Administrators. The Album is hard rocking, and introduces the listening ear to hard rocking harmonies, as well as high screaming tones. And love songs. Soldiers under command has two back to back: Waiting For A Love That's Real and Together As One. And, not surprisingly from a band named after a Bible verse (Isaiah 53:5) we have the Gospel According To Stryper, part one. From The Song Together Forever: "One Big Family, that will live eternally. Together, Forever, All You Have To Do, Is receive the one who died for you" And that's the truth. All that is required to go to heaven is to receive the gift of Jesus. Sorry to you religious works people but there is no such thing as "Hyper-Grace". All we have is due to the Grace of God. The Gospel is that easy. We have the official music video for Soldiers Under Command on VH1. They look so young back then. And how did Stryper get on VH1. They did Heavy Metal? With Flashback Reviews it is easy to hand out 5 Emerald ratings like candy. After all, these are the albums that shaped your life. Realistically speaking, though, as the first full length album, I think a rating of 4.50 Emeralds is appropriate. Good enough to get an initial nomination to the Platinum Vinyl Award Pool, but probably not good enough to make the final nominees, and not enough to win. We are underway with Flashback Friday reviews. I will try to make this a regular feature, but, as with Music Video Monday, that's easier said than done. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.
Welcome to an all new edition of Music Video Monday. We share the best videos in Christian Contemporary Music and the Fringe here. And we seem to be in a every other week schedule. Hopefully we will get on an every week session soon. It is the Summer, and it will be a Rocket Summer. The band will be releasing a new album entitled Sweet Shivers on August 2, and he has been dribbling out the singles, and Music Videos. So, in the spirit of laziness, we shall do an all Rocket Summer edition. We begin with the Music Video for Shatter Us, which came out a month ago, and was the first song released. The Second Song, which Missed My attention (I Know, Shocking), is Morning Light. And the final song for the week is Peace Signs. In the every other week pattern we seem to be in I caught the release for this one. That does it for this week. Let's try to keep it all on track. We will return with other artists next week. Until then, I am Awaiting Your Reply.
