March/ April 2005

What do you do when one of your CDs has become a favorite and everyone keeps asking for more? If you're Catholic artist John Michael Talbot you do it all over again! City of God is Talbot's long-awaited sequel to his popular Table of Plenty CD and contains songs that he has shared in parishes across the world during the last 30 years. Talbot chose favorite songs of the faith and then did a little experimenting with this CD. His style has always been meditative and contemplative in nature, yet this time he used more complex arrangements through the use of key modulations, expansive pop and classical vocal overlays and many different acoustic and electric guitars. In many songs you can almost hear the early days of Talbot's rock and roll roots. He says, "I always enjoy pulling out the steel string to add to my more traditional classical playing. I thoroughly enjoyed using the vintage electric guitars myself and calling in some of the finest session players, as well." This different style can be heard in tunes like "Sing To The Mountains," "Blest Be The Lord," and the title track "City of God." Also included is the song based on Psalms 23 "Shepherd Me, O God." To this reviewer the new mix of rock and contemplative works. For those who love the slower and more well-know style that Talbot is famous for, do not fret for it is here in songs like "Earthen Vessels," "We Remember," "Abba Father," and "Here I Am." A great song for the Year of the Eucharist is his version of "Gift of Finest Wheat."  City of God shows what an original artist John Michael Talbot can be.  We are surrounded by musicians who have added more acoustic sounds into their work, giving us more coffee-house performances. Talbot has gone 90 degrees and added a little more "plug" to the unplugged set.


If you haven't heard anything by Scarecrow and Tinmen-time for you to put your hard-earned cash down for the CD S&T: The Best of Scarecrow and Tinmen.  S&T have been together for almost 10 years and their music style still sets young hearts on fire with the love of God and a beat that is alternative and contagious. True story: I have been at gatherings lately in which I have been able to share the music of "The Best of Scarecrow and Tinmen." I would have at least 4 to 5 people come and ask who it was and where they could get a copy. These were not Christian gatherings, so the message is there after the music hooks them! Included in this collection are songs that are hard to find since some of the band's CDs are no longer in print. The CD is thick with electric and acoustic guitar, synthesizer, loops, programming and samples. S&T builds on the unique, quirky "techno-folk" sound on songs like "Big Mouth,"" Bionic Son," and "Superhero."  Famous for their high-energy pop, rock and hip-hop, they can also slow it down. "You Are My Son" and "Come and See" both employ a warm, acoustic sound and measured pace.  Lead singer Chris Pagett's straight-talking lyrics express awe for the love and forgiveness Christ freely gives us. S&T: The Best of Scarecrow and Tinmen makes a great gift for a youth of any age - 8 to 80.


Who better to speak to the youth in all of us than a group of teen singers who are on fire for God and the Catholic faith. This British group is called Faith Alive and is comprised of lead singer, Lauren Lewis, with Daniella Redmond and sisters, Therese and Susie Robertson. Their first CD is a limited edition release entitled, From One Generation to the Next. All the music is new and original and draws on a pop, folk, rock and gospel approach to give the music of the liturgy a modern upbeat feel. These are the songs and prayers that we sing at Mass arranged into a resource that is accessible to young people. It is an exciting way to spread the Catholic faith. For example, "Into Your Hands" explains the offertory, and "We Are Here to Receive" communicates the Catholic teaching of the Real Presence in the Eucharist.  The album has got a wonderful celebratory and uplifting feel to it. It's difficult to sit still when listening to tracks like "Bendito seas Señor (Blessed Be God Forever)", with its Spanish lyrics and rhythms, and "If We Can Live in Harmony."  "Go Out and Tell the World," the final song on the CD, is an appropriate ending to this album. It is a reflection on Christ's words to his followers to be "the light for the world" and "the salt of the earth" and to "go to the peoples everywhere and make them my disciples." From One Generation to the Next is an excellent teaching tool for Catholic schools and homeschool parents teaching the faith.


Dan Peris, the lead guitarist for the band the innocence mission has a solo CD called Ten Silver Slide Trombones.  The CD has the same sound that has made the popular, coffee-house band a favorite, but with a bit more personal feel. Peris has taken songs that he wrote while touring on the road to make this CD. It is an intimate portrait of 12 slow, simple, and slightly sad compositions rich with references to friends who have moved away, joy-filled memories, and the sustaining power of unconditional love. There are songs about God and reaching out for Him. The sacred music they explored in their album "Christ is My Hope" seems to have set the tone for this project. In the song "Help Me Out," Peris calls out to Jesus in a time of trouble admitting that he is lost without His guidance. During the hushed assurances of "Anytime," you can see the nursery lamp on, see Peris the father brushing some hair from the baby's face, singing "Your parents love you, Sweet Angels love you, Sweet Jesus loves you... there are shoulders that can carry you...anytime at all." It's a sweet lullaby for any child of any age. Another lullaby is called "Firefly." As the father tries to calm a crying child who was scared by a noise or a moving light in the sky, he lets his child know that the sunshine will be back in the morning.  Many of the other songs are about past friends including "Catherine-Anne," Your Friend," and "Pennsylvania." My favorite song is called "Spin." It lets you know that life has its ups and downs. No matter what happens in life, the world will keep on spinning around you. If all of your friends were to up and leave, it would not stop. Peris then compares us to the lambs of the field and that the great Shepherd is watching over us through those hard times. The songs tell us that He is there in the Body and Blood of Christ that we get at Mass. The minimal styling of Ten Silver Slide Trombones is magnificent.



John Angotti is back with a powerful new CD. Testify is a spirit-driven collection that challenges Christians with a new vision of the same God, through the eyes of a new generation. An adrenaline pumping CD for the young and young at heart!! The album is filled with Angotti's signature hip melodic hooks within musical styles that range from contemporary rock/soul praise music, along with spicey latin-inspired songs that get you dancing for the Lord.  "Thanks & Praise" is a pop song of praise, and Angotti adds a little bit of R& B to the sweeten the mix. "We Will Be The Light" has a Carlos Santana-sound containing that Latin American hook. The plus is a rap that praises God as the light of the world. Angotti gives another rap in the song "Jesus" in which he lets it be known that we are proud to shout His name. The tune also has wonderful backup singers that give it a R&B feel. This idea echoes out in the tune "I Will Praise Your Name." The soulful "Unless A Grain Of Wheat" demonstrate Angotti's vocal talents and he sings of the passage in John 12:24: "Except a grain of wheat fall into the earth and die, it abideth by itself alone; but if it die, it beareth much fruit." We know that Jesus had to die on the cross for us to have eternal life. Angotti slows down a bit and gives us a homily of sort on the life of Jesus in the end-song of the CD called "Here I Am." It is a great way to end a CD called Testify.