The Listening Project–Week 3

Well another week has passed by and I was able to get through a few CDs in my listening project.  Tuesday of last week was a travel day as the family headed to Texas.  They vacationed the rest of the week while I headed into the Plano office (external hard drive containing my music in tow).  Because of Tuesday I only listened to 16 CDs this week.  I am still slightly ahead of my 20 per week pace though.

You can reference this blog entry for details about this project.  Here are the CDs I knocked off of my list this week.

#	Artist	Album	Date	Again?
49	Strawmen	At Home	8/8/2011	Yes
50	Various Artists	Awesome God: A Tribute to Rich Mullins	8/8/2011	Yes
51	Clannad	Banba	8/8/2011	Yes
52	4 Him	The Basics of Life	8/8/2011	No
53	Meat Loaf	Bat Out Of Hell II: Back Into Hell	8/8/2011	Yes
54	Keith Urban	Be Here	8/8/2011	Yes
55	Al Denson	Be the One	8/10/2011	No
56	Petra	Beat The System	8/10/2011	Yes
57	Switchfoot	The Beautiful Letdown	8/10/2011	Yes
58	Superchick	Beauty From Pain 1.1	8/10/2011	Yes
59	Chris Rodriguez	Beggar's Paradise	8/11/2011	Yes
60	Clash of Symbols	Begging at the Temple Gate Called Beautiful	8/11/2011	Yes
61	U2	The Best Of 1980-1990	8/11/2011	Yes
62	U2	The Best Of 1990-2000	8/12/2011	Yes
63	Lost Dogs	The Best Of Lost Dogs	8/12/2011	Yes
64	Resurrection Band	Between Heaven 'N Hell	8/12/2011	Yes

Here are my thoughts on a few of these CDs that I have listened to over the past week…

• Strawmen “ At Home”: This band is related to one of my favorite groups, The 77s (though I forget exactly how).  Several of the songs on this CD are either covered on CDs by the 77s and Michael Roe (The 77s lead singer).  Of course it could be the other way around (these guys are covering 77s tunes).  Either way, a good CD and a great way to start the week.
• Various Artists “Awesome God: A Tribute to Rich Mullins”: I own a few tribute albums (Steve Taylor, Stryper, U2, Larry Normal, Mark Heard, etc.).  Sometimes it is nice to hear alternate versions of old favorites.
• 4Him “The Basics of LIfe” / Al Denson “Be the One”: I fear both of these artists will get all No’s in the right column as this project moves forward.
• Petra “Beat the System”: I could do without the song “Computer Brains” and the re-remake of “God Gave Rock-n-Roll To You” but this is sill a good Petra album.
• Switchfoot “The Beautiful Letdown”: It is good to revisit this one as I had not heard it in a while.  I listened to it constantly when I first bought it.  I think I even paid close to retail for it (shocking, I know).  This is still my favorite album by this band.
• Chris Rodriguez “Beggar’s Paradise”: I heard this artist on a CD that I will get to in the S’s and had high hopes when I found this CD in the bargain bin.  It is still good but not as good as I had hoped.
• Clash of Symbols “Begging at the Temple Gate Called Beautiful”: This is Mike Stand’s band after the Altar Boys broke up and he did a few solo albums.  Still good but not as good as the 80s Altar Boys albums (most of which I only have on LP).
• U2 “The Best Of 1980-1990” / “The Best Of 1990-2000”: I have all these songs on the normal release CDs but I bought these for the disc 2 that was included (both of which are coming up in next week’s listening list).  I am not a fan of “Best Of” albums in general mostly as I am used to songs appearing in a certain order and not having “Bullet the Blue Sky” follow  “With or Without You” always sounds wrong.
• Resurrection Band “Between Heaven 'N Hell”: As I recall I got this at a used record store in Utah when I was there for a bowling tournament.  I almost always prefer the songs where Glenn Kaiser is the lead singer to the times his wife (Wendy) sings.  Sadly I think I only own 2 of there (over 20) releases.

Until next week.

Jon