Top Ten (1-5) - Top Ten (6-10)
Had a hard time just limiting the list to 10. Various albums keep popping up from different times in my life, so I had to add some more. Some of these are significant for a song or two, some for the whole album.
Foreigner - 4
This album came out my Junior year of high school. One of my “oh god, if I could just ESCAPE” times. The album was decent, but the song “Juke Box Hero” was it for me. I was that boy, “standing in the rain, with his head hung low .” This song let me know I wasn’t alone in my dreams. I knew that if I played guitar and was in a band, then I could finally be “cool”. At 15, I was smaller than everyone, wasn’t super athletic, and I wasn’t smooth with the ladies. But I knew if I was in a band, I didn’t need to be smooth, because girls dug guys in bands… even if they were warthogs! So I dreamed…and practiced…(actually dreamed more than practiced), and I listened to this song about a thousand times.
Just one guitar, slung way down low…
Martin Sexton - Black Sheep
Wow! What an amazing voice. He played the Coffee Grind (RIP) in Rolla about 11 years ago touring in a beat up old van. I didn’t even get to see him, but everyone RAVED about his concert there. The owner of the grind bought a couple of CD’s and it was in the regular rotation on the cd player there. The arrangements are usually just guitar and voice and not much else. It’s a little Americana, a little soul, a little country and pretty much just amazing. It shows off his vocal/guitar talents incredibly well. This is a cd that Sarah and I listen to every time we drive across Kansas. And we have been across Kansas countless times. If I could only own 5 cd’s, this would without a doubt, one of the five.
Phil Madeira - 3 Horse Shoes
Phil is one Christian music’s unsung hero’s. Nobody has heard of him, but they’ve either heard someone else singing his songs or heard him playing on someone else’s record. He wrote this album at a Pub in Ireland where the locals took him in as one of their own. It’s loose and fun and great to listen to. Another great driving across Kansas record. It has an folk/rock vibe to it, and if I could be in a band with some buds and just play music, this is what I wish it would sound like.
I opened up my eyes and I walked into a dream…
Greg & Rebecca Sparks - Through Flood and Fire
I saw them open up for Bryan Duncan in Warrensburg, and they blew me away (they blew away Bryan too). A dude with a guitar and a girl with a VOICE. Lord have mercy, this girl can sing. She opens her mouth and her soul comes out. As I stood transfixed watching them, my friend An says to me, “you wanna do that, don’t you?” All I could do was nod “uh huh”. Christians who sang about how sometimes being married hurts, how sometimes being a christian hurts, and how somehow, Jesus rescues us. They kinda have an earthy hippy vibe to their appearance, but they can soul shout and rock with the best of them. I have their first 3 CD’s which are really hard to find. They have a couple of independant CD’s that I would like to get through their website.
Rick Elias & the Confessions - Confessions of Love
Released in 1990, this album stands the test of time for me. It’s just good rock and roll. A little bit of Stones, a little Bruce, and a lot of great songwriting. Rick’s was out playing in bars a decade before he became a Christian and cut a record and it shows. His songwriting is mature and solid without the trite, cliched turns of phrase associated with the Ghetto at that (or this) time. The intimacy and transparency in his lyrics hit me where I was at during that phase of my life. I’m not a FAN of too many artists Christian or otherwise, but I am a big fan of anything he has put out. And rarely do I think “this guy is so awesome, I want to be his friend”(stalker), but this is the dude I would love to have the opportunity to hang out with.
