50 Greatest Christian Albums of All Time...

OK, maybe you won't think so, but I ran across this site last week. The guy is listing his top 50 Christian albums and giving his reasoning behind them being in his list. He used to manage Maranatha Village and has a ton of musical contacts apparently. Anyhow, the list is not complete yet, he adds a few titles every couple of days. There is a lot of amazing information and insight into some titles I had never really considered that great. Most of the titles so far are not metal, or even hard music, but the list is very diverse and I have had fun reading the author's insights. I thought I would share the link with you all.

http://greatestchristianalbums.wordpress.com/2010/02/05/the-greatest-christian-albums-of-all-time/

So far it contains a ton of alternative music. There is some rock and some metal. A good list for sure, so far. Would love to see where it goes.

That is a pretty cool idea. It'll be interesting to see where it goes for sure.

I wonder if we could all ever agree on a top 50! ...

Hard Music or not it sounds very cool. I will definately check it out.
Thanks Nazpastor.

So there are some more "rockin" bands on his list (so far)

49. More Power To Ya - Petra
48. Warrior - Jerusalem
46. Seeds of Change - Kerry Livgren
26. To Hell With the Devil - Stryper

But actually none of those titles surprised me, I think they probably all deserve inclusion (however I might have chosen a different Petra album).

But these titles surprised me very much (see below). I remember listening to a lot of radio in the 80's and while I was very much a metal head, I still heard tons of popular music and I remember all three of these bands from then (the 80's). I had no idea that the Christian music industry claimed them as "Christian artists".

45. Der Kommisar: The CBS Recordings - After the Fire
43. Declaration - The Alarm
24. Reconciled - The Call

I am just popping in real quick to, first of all, say thank you to the original poster for the kind words and link.

I also wanted to answer the question about the inclusion of secular artist with Christian members and content. I hopefully detailed within the body of each article/review the reasons and justification for including each one on the chart. ATF members were very vocal about their faith and Andy Piercy (lead singer) was part of a popular folk duo in the Christian market during the 70's and now is the man behind the Passion worship series and responsible for discovering Delirious and Matt Redman.

Michael Peters of the Alarm has also never had problems discussing his faith in music or in interviews. he has done one worship for his Church in Wales.

Michael Been of The Call got his start playing bass for Jesus Music pioneer Barry McGuire and has appeared on countless Christian albums by Mark Heard, Tonio K, Leslie Phillips, etc. He, like the others, have affirmed their faith both in print and most obviously through their content. In fact, three albums from The Call were directly distributed by the Christian arm of Warner Brothers called Warner Alliance that also had Caedmon's Call on their label.

Hope that helps a little.

I actually mostly wanted to thank the OP for the inclusion.

Blessing

David

You are very welcome David. I am a huge collector of all genres of Christian CDs. I have nearly all of the ones you have listed so far. What really intriqued me was your information about The Call and Michael Been's hand written affirmation of his belief in the Apostle's Creed. I am working on a Master's degree and the class I have a final project due next week in which I am researching the Apostle's Creed from its development up to how it is being used in worship today. That account, if you don't mind, will be included in my paper (with appropriate citation) as I found this very much in line with the unification that the Creed brings to Christian believers.

I would have chosen Petra's This Means War. That album was absolutley phenomenal. While Petra was good I don't think they ever got close to toping that album. Beyon Belief rocked but TMW was just classic

A lot of the music on this list is music I've never heard from.
Some names I really know.

Nazpastor, how is it going with your Master Degree?

rockerVu2 wrote:

Nazpastor, how is it going with your Master Degree?

I am doing well and learning a lot. I have one more week for the class I am in and then I have 3 more classes plus my final research project. I should be done by Dec. 2010 but won't get to graduate until April 2011 because of the time factor of approving my final research project. Thanks for asking how it was going.

Naz...is this your MDiv or ThM? Where are you going?

DLowman wrote:

Naz...is this your MDiv or ThM? Where are you going?

It is a Master's in Ministry with an emphasis in organizational leadership. It is through Indiana Wesleyan University. They do have an MDiv, but at the time I started they were still developing it. The degree I am pursuing is so perfect for pastors and leaders because it is very application oriented in how to lead and manage churches.

Great to see The Lost Dogs made the list. Hopefully some of their more recent work (particularly 2001's Real Men Cry) will make the top 20. They're one of my favorite bands and highly underrated.

Definitely a band to check out if you've never heard their music.

Don't have much time to comment on the rest of the list right now.

DLowman wrote:

.....I also wanted to answer the question about the inclusion of secular artist with Christian members and content. .....

David, first of all welcome to the CHM board, and thank you so much for adding to this thread about your blog.

I didn't mean to come across as questioning if those bands "belonged" on your list or not (it is your list, you can add any band you want). I just meant to say that I was a bit surprised to see them. My surprise can be easily explained by letting you know I have only been a Christian since 2003, and am relatively new to Christian music. Back in the 80's I was under the mistaken assumption that there where only 2 rock bands with serious Christians members, Stryper & Petra. I am actually pleasantly surprised to see that I was mistaken. Kind of anxious now to go back and re-listen to The Call and The Alarm with "different ears".

Nice list! I grew up listening to a lot of these albums.

It's cool to see albums like Prodigal's Electric Eye, Edil-Adahl's Alibi on the list. Two bands that I almost never hear anything about anymore, but were frequent players for me back then. And I'm intrigued by that Andy McCarroll & Moral Support album. Never heard of that, but it sounds good.

And I remember bands like The Call, ATF and U2 being considered Christian, or at least quasi Christian at the time. There was a radio station in Albuquerque called KLYT that had a newsletter called the Sonlight News (or something like that), that reviewed the ATF compilation and U2 - War.

Nazpastor, Indiana Wesleyan University isn't that the college that brought us Seriah?.

I remember a long time ago CCM magazine had one of these "50 greatest" type list. They had U2's Joshua Tree as the number 1 "Christian album". That always intrigued me considering I wouldn't neccessarily call U2 a Christian band. Anyways, it's a good list, mine would be different but we all have different list. For me, no christian rock/ccm/pop whatever album came close to touching WhiteHeart's Freedom. I don't think that album will ever fall from #1 on my list

ChosenOne wrote:

Nazpastor, Indiana Wesleyan University isn't that the college that brought us Seriah?.

I don't know about Seraiah, but Quinton Gibson did attend there. I didn't know that until you posted and I looked it up. I am doing my degree online from Illinois, so I don't get in on a lot of the stuff on campus. I have been there a couple of times, but it is about 5 hours from me, so I don't go except for specific reasons.

I think lead singer Brad Beckley went there as well.

ChosenOne wrote:

That always intrigued me considering I wouldn't neccessarily call U2 a Christian band.

A couple of good reads about U2 and Christianity are Walk On and One Step Closer.

ChosenOne wrote:

For me, no christian rock/ccm/pop whatever album came close to touching WhiteHeart's Freedom. I don't think that album will ever fall from #1 on my list

I really liked Freedom, but I never thought it was WhiteHeart's best. Although, for impact on the Christian market, it would have to be well up there just for that reason. Always thought Tales of Wonder was a better album, beginning to end.

Oh man, I knew that the Altar Boys would be on the list, but I would have thought it would be When You're a Rebel.

Anyone else feel like guessing which albums are going to appear on the top end of the list? My picks are:

Resurrection Band - DMZ, or maybe Colours
Vector - Mannequin Virtue
Randy Stonehill - Equator
The 77s - Ping Pong Over The Abyss
Undercover - God Rules
Barnabas - Approaching Light Speed
Daniel Amos - Vox Humana
Servant - World of Sand
Steve Taylor - Meltdown
Sweet Comfort Band - Cutting Edge

and this might be too obscure, but I'm really hoping for:

Malcolm and the Mirrors - Red Alert.

As we start the countdown to the final 17 albums, I think we are in for some surprises. Following are some of my favorite potential "contenders":

Arkangel - "Warrior"
It is difficult seeing this excluded. Groundbreaking for its progressive art rock direction.

Steve Scott - "Love In The Western World"
One of those overlooked alternative gems (sort of like "Pain" by Veil Of Ashes).

Chagall Guevara - "Chagall Guevara"
This would fit right in on a list with a lot of crossover releases.

The DeGarmo & Key Band - "Straight On"
You got to believe that something from these guys is going to get included.

Undercover - "Devotion"
It will be the crime of the century if this gets left off...

I also would not be surprised to see something from Michael Omartian, such as "White Horse" or "Omartian Odyssey".

Finally, it would be nice to see at least one more inclusion from the metal/hard rock category. Bride's "Snakes In The Playground" would be my first choice.

I'm definately not much of an expert on Christian rock music history, but I would be very surprised if Keith Green and Larry Norman did not make the list.

I agree- both are very deserving.

Dynamis wrote:

I agree- both are very deserving.

Very true. Can I ask why you think Undercover -- Devotion should make it? Love the album, but always liked Balance of Power a little more. Devotion totally showed they could pull off a third or fourth musical style, in a very dancy, upbeat, alternative style.