Kim Gentes

This is a tremendous new indie CD that we are very excited about. This CD is a studio recording of a worship leader from the Valparaiso, Indiana Vineyard church. Frankly, this CD has the absolute best sound and production of any indie CD I have ever listened to. The musical presentation is arranged and mixed on par with ANY "big" company CD I have listened to, and eclipses most of those.

But the best part of the CD is the content of the songs. Musically enjoyable, and very accessable for churches, the list of songs is almost entirely authored by the worship leader, Sheri Keller. She has a gift for writing, and this project makes that point. The opening cut is just awesome (called "new song"). Only one song is not authored by Sheri, and that is the wonderful Doug Horley song "We Want To See Jesus Lifted High".

I have also heard 3 editions of that song on various projects. This CD is far-and-away the best, most inspirational rendition of that.

The clincher for this CD is the lead vocals, on which Sheri Keller unleashes some serious worship. My first question when I listened to this CD was "why isn't this person signing on with a CCM label?" Her voice and execution on the songs is easy that good. I guess that is what impressed me alot about the project- while the artistry level is way beyond what is usually heard in churches, the intensity of worship is at an equally high level.

Product Link http://www.worshipmusic.com/sk-btld.html

Review by Kim Gentes

Back in July, I took a few days and traveled out to CBA convention, which is THE big "show" for anyone involved in Christian retailing. My purpose was find new vendors of worship related products and see what companies had a heart for worship by meeting the people of those companies. On one of the evenings I had the opportunity to meet several people from PDI Music, the worship and praise group from the PDI Ministries and local church movement. Prior to that, I had not much knowledge of them, or their music. That has definitely changed! This month we are very pleased to announce the addition of the entire "Come & Worship" series from PDI. When I got home to Arizona, I grabbed one of the recent PDI song samplers, duplicated it on to my cassette, and began listening to it on the way to and from work each day.

I got hooked! Soon, I was trolling our CD inventory for an indepth look at the PDI albums. My standout favorite? "Lift A Shout", which is a live worship CD with worship leader Bill Patton. I really liked the quality of songs on this CD! It was clear that they weren't just pumping out a CD to meet a deadline- no these were real worship songs, with real annointing! To start with, "Shout" (title cut) really groves! I liked the instrumentation, but you don't get lost with any of the songs on this CD. They are meant for worship, and they work for worship! I found my self muttering "shout, lift a shout" under my breath all day long.

Their are some very nice arrangements on this CD as well, and they do well with execution for those who are looking for good musicality. But what is the one single best thing about this CD? Fast becoming my new favorite song-

After hearing about a dozen songs with nearly the same title (Vineyard/Craig Musseau's "Good To Me"; Vertical Darrel Evan's "So Good To Me"; et al), I figured the topic was pretty much worn out with great songs. WRONG! Steve & Vicki Cooke (songwriters) have given the Body of Christ a wonderful gift in this song. I love a good hook when I hear it, and this song really have a good hook. You won't get this out of your brain, even if you want to (which you won't). The rest of the CD is laced with "Vineyard-esque" style songs, but with a notably more praise oriented slant.

One final note- the first 5 projects in the PDI Come & Worship series contains about 8 songs on each CD, not quite the "standard" number of songs on a typical praise & worship CD. the reason? They kept the good ones! Trust me, I have listened to far too many CDs that should have pared back the filler and been honest with people and present 6-8 excellent worship tunes, rather than milk a CD for extra songs that don't deserve to go "to the nations". I thank PDI for going through the process of giving us 8 excellent songs!

Product Link http://www.sovereigngracemusic.org/albums/category/sovereign_grace_music/lift_a_shout

Review by Kim Gentes

Welcome to a great worship music CD! When you strive for great music, worship is sometimes lost in the final "production" of a worship album. This can be especially true of independent projects that just don't have the time or money to make things sound awesome in the midst of recording true worship.

FEAR NOT! Casy Corum is a worship veteran who understands this and has put the components of a truly great project on to this CD. This project opens the windows of our hearts to the wind from heaven. This worship leader knows how to worship, and he isn't ashamed of it. I loved the energy and honesty of Alabaster Boxes

Alabaster Boxes parlays between the edgier Vineyard worship music and some groovier acoustic/rock. The songs are very usable and excellent for learning and doing in worship. Proof of that is the fact the Vineyard has been picking up many of Casey's songs and using them on the their Touching the Father's Heart and other series. Another proof is that I am using them at our church :)

Product Link Alabaster Boxes - Casey Corum

Review by Kim Gentes

It has been a while since a worship CD has really surprised me. I have heard lots of good music, and excellent worship examples. About 5 days ago, we got a new CD into our warehouse. The shipment of CDs came from our Canadian friends. The CD is the first project released out of the Langely Vineyard church in 6 years. This is the same church that gave us a parade of songwriters and worship leaders like Andy Park, Brian Doerksen, Craig Musseau, Daphne Radmaker, Loralee Theissen, and on and on. But the heritage of worship has only grown in Langely, this new release makes that point very vividly.

I'll be honest, my first listen to this CD had me rolling my eyes thinking 'yikes, this is too far'. But over the last several days I have listened to the CD over and over again. The more I listen, the more I really am being captivated into worship by this project. Let me be very clear- this is all out gen-x worship. At times, it seems more 'gen-x' than anything else, but it all goes with who's listening. The opening 2 cuts are excellent style and musicianship, reaching to God with a gritty, full sound, but wrapped in the warmth of real worship. Make NO MISTAKE- this project is unparallelled with production and musicianship for an indie 'LIVE' project. This is world class stuff on the praise & worship scene. After complaining about all the studio indies I was hearing, I was delighted to finally hear a live indie! It is clear that the efforts of Philip Janz, producer, have completed this CD as the new high-water mark for cutting edge praise & worship.

I remember listening to the TFH release by Brian Doerksen 'Light The Fire Again'. I remember thinking- 'who are they kidding, how many worship teams will be able to play like this'. The more I listened to Light The Fire Again, the more I saw the incredible usefulness of the songs and joy in the excelling of bringing increased musicianship to our church music to properly play the songs.

Listening to 'The Well' has been a very similar experience, thus far. I started off being Slightly taken back, even surprised. It seemed to go to far. But the more I listen and join in, the more it makes sense and the more I worship. When that happens I know it is an album that will grow on me. And 'The Well' has! You will LOVE the song 'Freedom', and be blissful in 'Take Me Now'. You'll jump to 'Here We Stand' and you'll lay back and sing a lovers song to God as you join with 'You're All I Want'. My guess is that this is one CD that will have incredible staying power, selling and reaching in new churches for many years. We aren't all ready for this yet, but we will be sooner or later.

If you have a youth service, a gen-x church, or a very progressive leaning for music, you MUST check this CD out. If you are just getting over the huge transition from 'He Has Made Me Glad' to 'Lord I Lift Your Name On High', you might want to save your money. This is one CD that you will either love or dislike. No one is going to think it is 'ok'.

Half the album is lead by Mike Larson and his band Flood, who headlines the now classic song Freedom, which has been cut and recut by many other worship leaders and artists. This is the beautiful raw original, and it flies sky-high above other versions, if only because of the intense connection of the songwriter/leader to the song. The rest of the album is led by Melanie Theissen, a worship leader with the 1999 sound of Alanis Morsette. She attacks the vocals with passion and yet shows moments of real patience in letting the songs build (kudos to the arrangements from producer Philip Janz).

The CD can't be found extensively online at this point, so I found some audio samples here for you to get a taste of this. Here is the track list (sorry, audio samples are low res).

The bottom line- if you live on the edge, get this CD. If you're scared of the edge, buy it anyways and give it to your kids or grandkids! They will thank you for it!

With its daring approach, strong new songs, great live production and musicianship, this CD won the WorshipMusic.com 2000 Album of the Year  and Editor's Choice Awards.

Product Link : http://amzn.to/wTet0H 

Review by Kim Gentes

After listening to this album repeatedly, I couldn't believe I was listening to an independent release. I have listened to hundreds of songs by independent worship leaders, publishers and so on. Many of them are good worship, but most are clearly not meant for "the nations", instead are God's gift to a local body. Not so with this new albums from Seth Peterson (Angels Dancing). This guy is clearly gifted and the project has superb lyrical craftsmanship. This project which will go to the nations, not just because of the skill level involved, but because of the creative gifting and anointing on this worship leader.

I loved the passion and grittiness of Angels Dancing. This project is clearly "Gen-X" worship with a edge and passion that will be loved by youth up through baby boomers. Great vocals, haunting themes and lyrics. Some wonderfully thoughtful worship songs.

Product Link: This project is not available online anywhere, but if you are interested in it, send me a note (Contact Us) and I will put you in direct contact with Seth Peterson, who still has some copies of this great project.

Review by Kim Gentes