Recently Added: Billy Joel

Since he turned 64 the other day (cue the Beatles!) it seemed appropriate to showcase some Billy Joel songs I’ve been enjoying recently (which you may or may not recognize) and to try to capture in one humble little blog post why I’m such a fan.

As a child, I never listened to secular radio, and my knowledge of popular secular music was shaky beyond the 1940s. So my earliest memory of hearing Billy Joel’s music goes back a mere 5-7 years. I was hanging out with a neo-classical composer friend at a university roadhouse. We took turns making fun of the songs on the radio. Then the first few bars of “Scenes From an Italian Restaurant” started playing. My friend paused, listening intently. “This…” he said, pointing to the speaker. “This is a great song.” 

SG vs. CCM Smackdown: “Your Love Broke Through” and “Love Was in the Room”

Pitting southern gospel songs against similar songs from the world of contemporary Christian music. I think I’ve done precisely one of these so far. High time for another installment.

Both of these songs use some of the same language and imagery to refer to God’s redemptive love. But stylistically, they couldn’t possibly be more different. Keith Green’s “Your Love Broke Through” may be a blast from the past for some of you. It’s the epitome of light 70s pop. Karen Carpenter could have sung this one and it would have been a perfect fit. “Love Was In the Room” is a warm, country-styled harmony vehicle, done to perfection by the Booth Brothers.

This might come down to a matter of taste, but surely some objective comparisons could be made. I’ll just say, to kick things off, that a big strength of both songs is melodic richness. Let’s see what y’all think:

Southern Gospel vs. The Rest of the World: Sisters and The Andrews Sisters

This one occurred to me the other day, and my instant thought was “Duh! Of course!” So here’s a family harmony installment of Southern Gospel vs. The Rest of the World.

First, The Andrews Sisters. I have a special fondness for these gals because I grew up on them. My folks gave me a greatest hits collection and a double-disc collection of their duets with Bing Crosby for Christmas one year when I was a little girl. That was around the same time they put The Great Gershwin Decca Songbook in my hands. For months on end, I was in jazz heaven, honing my Patti Andrews, Judy Garland, and Ella Fitzgerald impressions to perfection. (I also tried to mimic Louis Armstrong’s trumpet, with mixed success.)

Phil Vischer On Christian Music

Well, I tried and tried to embed this video, but it looks like I’ll need to consult the wordpress.com embed code gurus again because Godtube’s code is defying me. However, I strongly encourage my readers to hop over to this link to hear VeggieTales creator Phil Vischer’s take on this (awful) article. The topic is Christian music, specifically CCM. The author of this article lays out five reasons to “kill” it. In this 18-minute clip from his podcast, Vischer pretty much nails it as he systematically breaks down this writer’s arguments and why they’re flawed. His two co-hosts play devil’s advocate to some extent, but by the time he’s done making his case, one of them says  that she has done a 180 after initially being impressed by the article. He makes many points that I have frequently made myself in discussion with friends and family, and I think it is well worth a listen. (Note: The author of the article includes a rather frightening image of two heathen metal musicians, so be prepared for that if you choose to read it, though Phil reads the most relevant portions verbatim as he rebuts them.)

I am personally very alarmed by this spirit of destruction that I see among certain liberal Christians when it comes to things bearing the “Christian” label. People like Steve Taylor, Derek Webb and this Catholic writer are not afraid to say in so many words that they want Christian music, movies, etc. to “die,” be “killed,” and other charming sentiments. It’s hateful, it’s bitter, it’s self-righteous, and it’s not building up the body of Christ. Combine all that with shallow reasoning and false claims, and you have a lethal combination.

I’m thankful to Vischer for popping that bubble. Although, there was a bit at the end of this podcast, not included in this clip, where I definitely found myself in disagreement with him. He said that although he supports Christians who make art for the church, they shouldn’t expect to reach any non-believers with that art, be it music, film, or whatever. I wanted to say, really? None? Well, tell that to the people who still hold tent revival meetings. Tell that to the people who got dragged to a Christian rock concert by their church friends and made a choice for Christ. Tell that to the thousands of non-Christians who saw The Passion of the Christ. Such people do exist. It’s a needless exaggeration to say that no unchurched folk will ever hear/see/be affected by a piece of contemporary, explicitly Christian media.

But I still agree with virtually all of Phil’s points. If you have a chance to listen to the clip, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Or if you don’t have time but still have a thought, feel free to share it.

Play It, Piano Kid!

This story has been exploding all over the news for the past week or so, and I think it’ll warm the cockles of the hearts of any pianists among my readership.

First, the background: One of the nicer things about legendary rock musician Billy Joel is his passion for music education. For decades, he’s held seminars, master classes and Q & A sessions where he shares his personal knowledge and experience in a relaxed audience setting.

Recently, he visited Vanderbilt University, and one lucky college kid in the audience was itching for a chance to fulfill a life-long dream.

Two Articles for Retuned

Interested readers can read two more pieces I’ve posted at the site The Retuned since I was invited to be a guest contributor there. One of them examines the biblical symbolism of justice and mercy in a song from Les Miserables entitled “Who Am I?” The other discusses secular love songs that are beautifully written but offer a vision of romantic love/passion that their authors themselves feel is too good to be true. I view the songs from the biblical framework of our longing for Eden and the joyful fulfillment of that longing in God’s perfect design for marriage and sexuality.

So, unless you hate Les Miserables (or musicals in general), Simon & Garfunkel, or Marc Cohn (or secular love songs in general), I hope you can take something good away from my thoughts on all of the above.

“Who Am I?”: Harmonizing Grace and Justice in Les Miserables

Whenever I May Find Her: A Song for Paradise Lost (Note: The image for this post depicts the creation of Eve. If a Dore engraving of Eve in her original created state would bother you… then don’t click on the post.)

Britain’s Got Talent 2012: Who Were My Favorites?

Jonathan and Charlotte

Simon Cowell may consider his life’s work complete, but I was a tad disappointed that this year’s BGT was won by a dancing dog act. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge dog lover, and Pudsey is adorable and talented, but with so many deserving acts that placed below the dapper canine and his trainer… it was just a bit disappointing, if predictable.

So I thought I would write a little post about a few of my favorites from this season, because I really think this was one of the best “batches” yet. I think I’ll work my way backwards and end this post with who my personal top three would have been. Hopefully that will keep you reading to the end.

First, I’ll mention one semi-finalist who didn’t make it to the finals: Hope Murphy. This 16-year-old girl was pretty quiet, but she was classy and really had a great voice. In her semi-final, she covered Bob Dylan’s “Forever Young,” and even though she messed up some of the lyrics at the beginning, it was an impressive moment. Because she literally left out a whole phrase in verse one, and because her accompaniment was minimal, it’s impressive that she was able to get back on track. Watch her performance here. I would have definitely preferred to see her in the finals over one of the boy bands or dancing acts who did make the cut.

Next, there were two similar contestants who both happened to fit the “clean-cut heartthrob/crooner with a guitar” image: Sam Kelly and Ryan O’Shaughnessy. I enjoyed both of these guys. I thought they were sweet, likable and had actual talent. Sam’s voice is somewhat squeaky/emotional for my taste, but all three of his performances were good, and my favorite was probably his cover of “Bless the Broken Road” in the final. Even though this song is a standard in America, neither Rascal Flatts nor the song is well known in Britain, so it was refreshing to see them getting some exposure “across the pond.” Sure enough, I went over to a video of Rascal Flatts doing the song and saw British viewers saying, “Sam Kelly brought me here!” So this is a very good thing. Watch his performance here. (Be warned though—looks like he’s been raiding Ernie Haase’s closet recently. The shirt is fine, but the pants…)

However, I preferred Ryan, both because he has a cleaner voice and because he’s a songwriter too! The Irish 19-year-old had the guts to perform exclusively original material throughout the show. There’s a bit of a sad story surrounding the song he auditioned with, “No Name,” a heartfelt expression of love for a certain girl he’d fallen for. The judges pressed him to reveal her name, but he shyly refused. Later she came forward and revealed herself, but then the story didn’t have a happy ending because she told Ryan she had another boyfriend and couldn’t go steady with him. I felt bad for him because he just seems like the nicest guy, and he wrote the sweetest songs for her. Everyone agrees it’s her loss. Here is his audition. When he puts out an album, I’ll check it out for sure. A very warm, folksy sound.

Now for my top three. In third place, I would have put child singer Molly Rainford. She’s only 11 years old, but she has an amazingly pure, mature, well-rounded voice. It’s an old-fashioned pop voice, not opera in a Jackie Evancho vein, but very impressive in its own way. And she’s an absolute dear as well. Sadly, I can’t help feeling it will be bad for her if she does become a star, since the industry always seems to take the innocent girls who enter into it and spit out ruined, sexualized young women on the end. We’ll pray that’s not Molly’s fate. Meanwhile, enjoy her innocence and sweet voice while we have it. Here is her breath-taking semi-final performance of “It Must Have Been Love.” (I had never heard the song before, and then I discovered her arrangement was COMPLETELY different from the original. Her arrangement is light-years better.)

In second place, I would put the Welsh boys’ choir Only Boys Aloud. Now these lads did take 3rd, so that wasn’t so far from where they deserved to be, just a little behind IMO. This 133-voice choir is easily one of my FAVORITE acts ever to take the stage on this show. They gave me goosebumps, they gave Britain goosebumps, they were classy and inspirational to the max. There’s nothing like over a hundred fresh-faced teenage boys singing Welsh hymns fit to burst. It’s everything I love about male singing and male bonding rolled into one. Hats off to their director and the men who have mentored them. Watch their brilliant audition here, which also provides the group’s inspiring backstory. Here are the lyrics with English translation to the hymn they were singing, “Calon Lan (Pure Heart)”.

Finally, some of you may have heard of the act I would have placed first. They came so close, but they had to be content with second: Charlotte and Jonathan. The two teenagers  (16 and 17 respectively) came on the show together to sing pop/opera duets, Charlotte being the pop half and Jonathan being the opera half. Their friendship is a really special thing, because Charlotte has encouraged Jonathan in his struggle for self-confidence as he battles obesity. His gift is truly remarkable, so remarkable that when the pair first auditioned, Charlotte was somewhat lost in his shadow, and Simon even wondered if Jonathan should “dump her.” But Jonathan determined to stick by her, and it paid off, because I saw Charlotte grow vocally as she sought to prove herself through the remainder of the competition. She could definitely have a future in musical theater. Meanwhile, I just hope Jonathan has the emotional strength to deal with his newfound stardom. Break out the tissues, prepare to be blown away, and watch a couple of their performances—their semi-final here (this was where Simon officially ate his words from the audition) and their final here.

What do you think?

CCM vs. SG Smackdown: “Wish You Were Here”

I’ve decided I’d like to start a new series. Here’s the idea: I take two songs, one drawn from Southern Gospel, the other drawn from a different genre like CCM or country,  that have very similar themes (maybe even similar titles)  and ask my readers which one they vote as better. Now, it would be all too easy to just pick a favorite either way and then choose something that’s obviously dreadful for the other side, but I’ll restrain myself to make it as fair as possible (although obviously I will have my own preferences). I should make it clear that my intention is not to set off a “SG versus x or y” flame-war among my readers. Rather, my hope  is that this series will ultimately showcase some of the best of all genres.

I thought I would start with two songs that happen to have not merely similar, but identical titles: “Wish You Were Here.” My readers will I’m sure be familiar with the song of that name that was recorded by the Kingsmen and became a big hit for them in the 90s. But there was also a beautiful song of the same name by CCM singer Mark Harris.

So, who wins this round? The Kingsmen or Mark Harris?

Make your choice and leave a comment!

Rare Old Dove Awards Footage: Bill Gaither, Mark Lowry, Twila Paris, Vestal Goodman, 4Him, and Many More…

Well, it’s that time of year again. This week, the GMA will supposedly recognize the brightest and best in Christian music (tee-hee!) At this point I am unsure whether the mediocrity of the Dove Awards is due to the fact that a lot of talent is being ignored, or whether there just aren’t that many good artists anymore. I think it’s some of each.

As you can probably guess, I am hardly on the edge of my seat in anticipation of this year’s installment of said awards show. But perhaps my readers would like to take a little journey back in time with me… say, to the mid-90s. Aaaaaaah, the mid-90s. Excuse me while I get a little misty-eyed. You see, the 90s hold some of my first musical memories. This is the stuff I grew up on. This is the stuff my radio used to play. And best of all, it was a time when the worlds of CCM and gospel were much closer than they are today.

So, I present two videos which aren’t the best in quality, but nevertheless are priceless little time capsules of this golden age in Christian music. First, we’ll send our Delorean back to 1994 and watch a little montage of presentations and interviews, in which Twila Paris interviews Vestal Goodman on the 25th Anniversary of her win of the first ever Female Vocalist Award, Steven Curtis Chapman wins Long Form Music Video for his classic concert The Live Adventure, the Mark Lowry Vocal Band wins Southern Gospel song of the year, and more:

And this is the opening of the 1995 show, in which Mark Lowry gets himself disinvited from co-hosting with Bill Gaither, after which 4Him comes out for a slightly pitchy but infectious rendition of their latest hit as of 1995, “Real Thing.” Unfortunately the video is a little choppy on this one, though the audio is constant. Be sure to stick around for the announcer’s reel of featured artists for the evening at the end—if watching the videos hasn’t already brought back a ton of memories for you, just seeing all those names read off in a list is sure to do the trick.

What’s the Big Deal With Michael Buble?

I originally wrote this post when Michael Buble came out with his new Christmas album. It had been brewing for a while, but I kept forgetting to write it. Then when I started to see people talking and tweeting about the new project, it reminded me of him, so I wrote it. Then I forgot about him again and this post got forgotten in the process. I’m posting it now for no particular reason, except the fear that I might forget… again.

Basically, here’s my question: What’s all the fuss about with this guy? For those of you who may not know, he’s a crooning swing-pop sensation who sings “throwback jazz” in the style of Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. And he appears to have quite a few fans within Southern Gospel. In fact, I don’t keep up with the secular music scene, so that was how I first heard about him. And it was all rave reviews. So I thought I would check him out.

My conclusion was that he has some nice chops. But let’s just say his personality and ideas of comedy leave a lot to be desired.

I’ve browsed through numerous concert reviews from all different venues where people have consistently described his jokes as “R-rated.” On several different occasions, he’s even singled out small kids in the audience in some way (pointing them out, getting a picture with them, etc.) and then turned right around and done “the finger” or dropped the f-bomb. He also jokes about the fact that people think he’s gay, sometimes saying that even though he isn’t, he would be “very proud of it” if he was. And all that is just the tip of the iceberg. I should add that this kind of behavior has been noted even by people who are giving him positive reviews—they seem to think it’s funny.

There’s another thing I know some people might be able to brush away, but I think it’s worth mentioning as well. Granted his music and music videos may be tame by certain standards, but the vid for the song “Haven’t Met You Yet” features Michael lounging around with some cute chick on a bed in the middle of a grocery store. Fully clad, but still. I’d feel weird if my 10-year-old put it up for her Facebook status (which a 10-year-old I know of actually did).

However, whatever your opinion may be on that, I think a lot of his Christian fans who’ve never been to a concert of his (or who’ve caught him on a good night, as one gospel singer did) may simply be unaware of the kind of show he consistently delivers. The consensus: NOT a family-appropriate one. And I don’t know about you, but that really lowers my respect for him and makes me disinclined to listen to his music, even if I think he has some talent. It just makes me appreciate performers who have real class all the more.

Now let me clarify something before going further: I’m not against listening to secular artists. My ipod is loaded with them. Sure, Billy Joel isn’t exactly a model of morality. But he’s not aiming for the demographic Michael Buble is aiming for. And I can’t appreciate the kind of artist who markets himself to a wide age range, attracts families with children to his concerts, and then proceeds to frat-boy his way around the stage with no regard for that demographic whatsoever. If you’re going to be crude and obscene, at least don’t pretend to be the classy, family-friendly type in the image you project to the market.

And you know, the sad thing is that I can see why he’s popular. I can see why a lot of people like his music, and the reason is that his style hearkens back to a more innocent time. It’s different from the junky hip-hop and club disco and electro what-not that’s circulating around these days. People associate his music with class, elegance, and style. Would that he personally embodied those characteristics in the way he acts when he’s not singing. And tell the truth, it’s difficult not to sense that he’s immensely pleased with himself even when he sings—very much of an “Anything you can sing, I can sing smoother” attitude.

So bottom line is… if you see some of your favorite gospel singers tweeting about Buble, and you don’t happen to recognize the name… it’s a lot of hype over a guy who doesn’t deserve it. Take my word for it.