Recent releases from Christian artists

Third Day: Live in Concert – The Come Together Tour (DVD, Essential Records)

The new Third Day concert DVD contains many interesting mini-documentaries on the making of the “Come Together” album and tour, but features them in the concert footage instead of the “special features” section as in most concert DVDs. While the concert itself is very well done and sounds great, I find the extra bits disrupt the flow of worship created by the concert. If you love Third Day, you’ll get to know them even better with “Live in Concert.” If you want to worship God with their music, you may wish there was an option to save the featurettes for their normal place: the special features.

Jars of Clay: Who We Are Instead (Essential Records)

This is the sixth studio recording from Christian heavyweight “Jars of Clay.” More impressively, it’s their second album in the last year. The band decided to self-produce this album and they hope it marks a return to their acoustic roots, intended to follow the footsteps of Johnny Cash. This record grabbed me from the start and kept me interested. The band covers 1970s AM radio stars “America” for the track “Lonely People” and it was immediately a favourite of mine, as was the opener “Sunny Days” and the first single “Show You Love”. I don’t normally show favouritism to a record just because it’s “Christian,” but this is a great album and stands up against any of its secular contemporaries. Just like the “Man in Black,” you don’t need to plug in for it to be rock ‘n’ soul.

Bec Abbott: Shine Like Stars (Signpost Communications)

This album definitely fell under the category of “Christian Entertainment” upon my first listen. Bec’s debut is a collection of heartfelt pop songs that could find a place on Christian adult contemporary radio. Do I listen to that kind of radio? No. The songs are catchy, but a little long for the genre; I usually like my cotton candy to last 3 minutes at the most. However, if you like Christian pop, this is an up-and-coming Canadian artist worth getting to know. I can see Bec Abbott’s first album being right up a lot of people’s trees; just not mine.

Skillet: Collide (Ardent Records)

Have you ever read statements in your youth group service notes like, “If you like Linkin Park, you should try Skillet”? Well, if you haven’t heard of Skillet (or didn’t see them at NYC ’02), that’s probably where you’d come across their name. Skillet is an industrial rock band with classic teenaged angst powering lyrics of personal faith. I wonder what the purpose of their music is? If it’s to draw disillusioned youth (the targeted demographic of this genre) to the Lord, why do they only choose to play Christian events (see skillet.org) and not seek the lost? Skillet is a talented band and can compete with anything you’ll hear from their peers on modern rock radio, and that’s what they should be doing. If you like Skillet, buy their disc and request them on your local rock station!

Robbie Mitchell is a musician and member of Jubilee Mennonite Church in Winnipeg. He is part of the band “Freeman” and plays guitar with Juno-nominated gospel artist Jon Buller.