Hatrack River Forum: Dear Mr. Card

This is topic Dear Mr. Card in forum Discussions About Orson Scott Card at Hatrack River Forum.

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Posted by Nathan2006 (Member # 9387) on :

Please, please, please listen to some Sara Groves. Start with an earlier album like 'Conversations' or 'All Right Here'.

This is prompted by your review of some Christian Pop, most of which I sadly agree with.

But Sara Groves is awesome. Seriously. Please. Listen. To. Her... Now.

Posted by Stephen Sunday (Member # 10466) on :

As a former partaker of Christian music (I gave up on a lot of the music due to the lack of quality control, but I have never relinquished my faith, for the record), I gotta say... There's a lot of really hackneyed/weak stuff out there; not all of it, please don't take me the wrong way.

I won't speculate on motives, but the common themes I've seen are either sub-par musicianship/songwriting skills, or, in the higher budget acts, session cats backing really trite sounds.

A lot of those groups profess evangelism as a goal, but I maintain that this is the most literal example of "preaching to the choir."

I think that unless your goal as an artist is to sell music to other Christians, fully aware of the limitations (self-imposed, by and large, if unspoken yet established as convention in so very many cases), that one should focus on one's art without having to wave the flag of faith JUST TO SELL RECORDS.

Without sounding mean or trolling, the staggering majority of popular Christian artists fail to bring anything worthwhile to the table, and would not be successful WITHOUT the added benefits of the built-in fanbase that the genre contains.

I want to reiterate, before anyone blows up, that I am not trying to flame, and I am most assuredly not speaking of all artists in the genre. I think that truly amazing art in the world of Christian music, though, remains the exception rather than the rule-- by a whole heck of a lot.

I'm done. I just wanted to say.

Posted by kacard (Member # 200) on :

OK, he's downloaded four of her albums because after sampling the songs, he liked them. So, we'll see after living with them for a while.

Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :

I don't think he'd like Norma Jean.
They actually are a Christian band, but they sound so....

loud and aggressive.
Very metal core-y, but if a person can take longer than 5 minutes of it, it's interesting stuff in terms of rhythm and pure screamage.

Posted by Shawshank (Member # 8453) on :

I think he'd like the sound of Andy Gullahorn- more of a Christian folk artist. But his songs titled "If I Were" and "Holy Flakes" would especially appeal to his interests from what else I've read about how he views faith and music.

I mostly listen to various types of Christian music- not because it is so technically proficient but just because it makes me happy.

Posted by Nathan2006 (Member # 9387) on :

quote:
Originally posted by kacard:
OK, he's downloaded four of her albums because after sampling the songs, he liked them. So, we'll see after living with them for a while.

I'm trying to resist the urge to turn around and go 'Who, me?' So far, I've searched the other posts for any other possible 'hers' and come up with nil (Is that spelled with one 'l' or two? never mind)

So... Just like that. He's got four albums... That so cool. [Big Grin]