“I will live for another day to shine...” are lyrics to the title track of Janelle’s new CD  Livin' For Something, a CD that  does indeed "shine". It's a new 10-song collection that is a powerful ray of light that shines through the dark clouds that we may have in our lives.  Livin' For Something crosses the different musical genres, especially so in Canada, where Janelle is based. This new CD has a little bit more bite than her first one, New Day, musically, vocally and lyrically.  In “I’ll Be” we see Jesus telling us that He is with us always.  No matter what we can count on Him and His strength. This idea is echoed in the pop-sounding “In My Window.” God is watching out for us (check out the bonus remix track of this song). You'll get up and move with this one. Slowing the pace down a bit is the awesome “Dying To Be With You.” Janelle‘s vocals mix with beautiful keyboards in a song that is dear to her heart and is a ballad about her aunt who died of cancer in 1999, leaving behind a husband and two young children.  It's the song “Believe” that has made it onto the Canadian pop charts. This is an awesome danceable tune about regaining your faith and about how the world will change around you when you believe.  Livin' For Something is a spectacular collection of love songs for the Lord that you need to make your own!

How much longer are we Christians going to sit on the sidelines and watch others continue to mock and curse our God? We saw how they tried to take Christ out of Christmas. Now we have TV shows that not only promote immorality, but make fun of love for Jesus as well. How much more do we take? We used to have more of a say but now Christians are looked upon as the "weirdoes."  We are countercultural!  It's time to rise up and have a Sacred Revolution. This is the idea behind Cutis Stephan’s newest CD. Sacred Revolution has that modern, edgy sound that wonderfully defined Stephan’s first CD “Through the Storm.” The title track affirms much of what we as followers of Christ believe in and ends with the chant, “We believe , we believe, we believe in Jesus!!” I love the opening to “This Day,” a song that we should sing every morning as we get up and offer the day to Him. With this being the first song on the CD Stephan gave it that wonderful pop and hiss you get when putting on an old vinyl LP. That’s a classic noise. The hard-driving tune simply titled “Love” reminds us that God is love and that love never fails (timely, given the Pope's first Encyclical!) and will always be here when everything else will cease. Giving it that hard guitar riff found in most alternative rock, Stephan shines on the tune “To The Extreme.” The song deals with Christ giving His love to the extreme as He gave it all on Calvary. The music is fast and hard while the lyrics are to the point and in your face. Taking a complete 180-degree turn, Stephan offers the listener a medley of two softer songs that foresee the wondrous joys of entering Heaven. These songs are "In Paradisum” and “Pastures of the Lord." In "In Paradisum” we are treated to soft vocals a la Phillip Glass/Brian Eno in Latin. This chant is the one used at many funeral Masses. This fades into "Pastures of the Lord," a light song about our final reward. Oh yeah, there's a song on the CD with just that title, too. “My Reward” is about hearing The Master telling us: "Well done my good and faithful servant." Sacred Revolution is a CD that lets you know that you have to fight the good fight and live for God because the rewards are awesome.

“We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams…" If you know where that is from then you know where the band Cheer Up Charlie got their name (Willy Wonka). This new group has gotten quite a following.  They're really taking the pulse of Catholic youth and putting it to good use. Cheer Up Charlie is a "spin-off" band from Scarecrow and Tinmen that produces high-power, rapid-fire, alternative rock with lyrics of honesty and candor that come from the heart. It's true Catholic Rock! Caution should be used while driving a vehicle and listening to this CD, because your body will move to the raw energy that emits from it. The songs are of deep faith. “Only One" starts the CD off with a very Catholic message. We start out the day and no matter how many times we turn away from God, He is there for us. All you have to do is turn to Him. Cheer Up conveys this using the image of a dirty crown.  We get our crowns dirty all the time with the daily sin we do.  We must turn back to the “Great I Am.”  “Not Moving” is a beautifully written song about the humility of worship (I’m asking you humbly to change me where I am, and make a new creation of me"). I think the one thing that will surprise everyone is that there is a non-hidden, hidden track. What that means is that every rock CD these days has a track hidden minutes after the last song. Cheer Up Charlie is doing something different with fans. They are planning a piece of music and asking people to write lyrics to it to be used on their next CD. This is something I have never heard of before and I applaud the original idea behind it. Cheer Up Charlie is a CD that should be in every Catholic youth’s collection if they are listening to modern alternative music.

--Jeff Burson