Kim Gentes

I remember getting my original copies of the UK released Cutting Edge CDs in the mail. Cardboard jackets with plastic inset trays for the CD. They were sent to me from a friend at EMI CMG. They were working on a launch the new Delirious? website to promote them in the US and I was helping with some online marketing and giving feedback on songs for a 3 song promo demo CD. It was 1996. I remember listening to great songs like Did You Feel The Mountains Tremble?, Find Me In The River and Happy Song. Wow. Unlike anything I had heard on a "worship" recording.

Then I heard I Could Sing Of Your Love Forever. I knew, in that moment, that "church music" had changed. Songs, they say, can have a life of their own. When songs can communicate something so relevant that we all want to join in, but say it in a unique way that awakens our emotions, those songs become "ours". As I listened to I Could Sing Of Your Love Forever, tears began to roll down my face. I was singing that song because it was truth captured in well-crafted art. Within a year, millions of other people across North America would learn that song and join in. It became an anthem of God's love for many of us.

The Cutting Edge CDs were eventually released in the US in 1998 as a double CD. Cutting Edge not only impacted worshipers and leader across the world, they inspired other writers. I remember a year or so earlier at a worship conference, Brian Doerksen talking about how he was being inspired by these same UK songs from early EP versions of the CDs he had gotten while in UK.  He was impacted, as were we were all impacted by what Martin Smith and crew brought to church music. Today, it's hard to imagine modern worship without the profound impact of these songs and the breakout sound of the band.

The songs on this collection are recorded crisp, clear and in the studio. While Delirious? would become known for their layered U2-esque sound, Cutting Edge highlighted arrangements that were brilliant more for their sparse intention than their "wall of sound" attack.  If you are one of those people who didn't get a copy of the Cutting Edge double CD, make sure to check out the CD on Amazon, or get the entire 25 song MP3 album there for a fraction of the cost.

These songs and this album are now classic, but remain some of the most popular songs in modern hymnody.

Product Link :  Cutting Edge (Double Album) and Delirious? - Cutting Edge (Songbook)

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

I recently took a trip to Canada where I spent several hours in a rental car driving through rural Canada. I had originally thought I placed several CDs in my pack to listen to during the drive. Just one CD was found, however, and it was Danny Steyne's "Live At Blood N Fire". I listened to this CD and worshiped along for not just minutes, but a couple of hours! It is anointed and well executed. The songs are also excellent for use in worship. What I really liked about this CD was the heart after God that comes through so powerfully in every song. And it isn't just a musical passion either, as Danny has led this energy into the ministry of poor and broken lives. This is one indie CD that is definitely worth getting.

Product Link : http://www.themountain.org/apps/store/default.asp?view=profile&itemid=28747

Review by Kim Gentes

Welcome Mark Miller! The exclamation is for a reason. This guy has a wonderful CD! We hope that everyone will get a chance to listen to Mark's newest CD called "Threshing Floor". The style is retro acoustic to rock. If you like Darrel Evans, this CD will be a total blessing to you. These songs are edgy on some, and blissful clear through. Mark's not just a newbie either, he has had songs published already that have appeared on Vineyard's Touching the Father's Heart series. This indie CD by Mark is a powerful musical and worshipful trek into the heart of our generation's cry for unrelenting honesty.

Mark's CD is not linkable easily to a sales site any longer, but I have managed to find some old links for audio samples (sorry only 96kbps).

Product link: If you are interested in getting a copy of this CD, write Mark directly at  mmiller@grace2you.org 

Review by Kim Gentes

There is no other single local church that has had a more profound impact on the song repetoire of the Christian church in the last 20 years than Hillsong Church in Australia. With a series of phenomenally gifted leaders, a catalog of amazingly popular songs, and a staff of skilled musicians, producers and vocalists, Hillsong Church has become nearly synonymous with praise and worship music across the English speaking world.  The landmark, breakout album from Hillsong was the 1996 release of "Shout To The Lord". While Hillsong had become moderately popular through a series of its own releases, "Shout To The Lord" was a unique release made under Integrity Music's Hosanna label. Produced under their label, marketed and distributed via the Integrity system throughout the US and other global territories,  "Shout To The Lord" became the foundational pivot from which its legendary title track rose to one of the top songs in the world wide church, staying in the top 10 of CCLI rankings for many years.

The album itself contained other songs which would also go on to be worldwide favorites, including: I Believe the Promise, Jesus, Lover of My Soul and The Power of Your Love. The phenomenal success of this album was no one-hit-wonder. For 15 years (and counting) Hillsong Church and its music leaders have produced multiple albums per year, many of which have had some of the highest sales rankings in the genre. The Hillsong song catalog has produced 12 of the current top 100 songs in the Christian church, a phenomenal feat. 

One of the primary writers of its early songs was Geoff Bullock (writer of The Power Of Your Love). Bullock was followed by Darlene Zschech who wrote the title track Shout to the Lord and several other songs. More than any other musician /vocalist, Zschech's gifted vocal stylings and leadership charisma made the "Shout To The Lord" album and many of its later successor projects a standard of musical and songwriting excellence. The original "Shout To The Lord" album was released in 1996, but was released again in 1998 with a new cover, as its popularity retained it in print for several years.

While other leaders have come to the Hillsong stable and met the challenge of writing stellar songs with top notch recordings (such as Reuben Morgan and Joel Houston, both of whom have songs in the CCLI top 100), those and other Hillsong writers did so only due to the huge opportunity given to them by the success of "Shout to the Lord" and astounding leadership of Darlene Zschech.

If you are not familiar with this album or its songs, you should learn.  This is truly a historic album on which the Hillsong legacy was largely built.

Product Link: Hosanna! Music: Shout To The Lord

Review by Kim Gentes