Leading Off - There’s a lot a could talk about today. Sports, for instance. I could mention the Marlins pitcher throwing a no-hitter two days ago. I could talk about the Dolphins coming up short against the Steelers. I could talk about the things going on in my life. I could talk about the new job or the new roommates and how each of them is progressing. Or I could even go spiritual and talk about meeting one-on-one with Jacob or about Nav Night. But no. Today there’s only one thing to talk about.
Good Monsters - Let me be as clear as possible. If you only buy one CD this year, make it Good Monsters by Jars of Clay. I’m absolutely astonished. Now please, I know you’re likely to think I’m a little biased, and you’re probably right, but I’m trying to come at this from an objective point of view. True, I am a huge Jars fan (some call us jarheads) but I’m also a musician and I know what it takes to create even one good piece of music. And I’m telling you, this CD has twelve incredible songs.
First of all, don’t take my word for it. According to the Wikipedia entry, Good Monsters is the first CD to receive an A+ rating from CCM Magazine in several years and has been named their Album of the Year. As the CCM article explains, many of the tracks that were supposed to be “scratch tracks” (practice runs) ended up being final cuts. They recorded the CD together in order to make it feel like a live show. All of these things show up. Not to mention the emotion in the lyrics. You can sense there is a fiercely intimate story behind each song, that each verse has meaning to the members of that band, that they actually believe what they’re singing.
I admit, I forgot what day it was coming out. It released August 5, but I didn’t remember until the next day. Right after work I ran over to the local Christian book store, which thankfully is on the way home from work. I got in my car with it and refused to leave until I got the packaging off and put it in my car’s CD player. The first two songs left me utterly speechless. Work and Dead Man don’t sound anything like your traditional Jars songs. They’re not acoustic, they’re not hard like If I Left The Zoo, they’re just different. As the CD went on I couldn’t decide whether I wanted to listen to a track again because it was so good or if I wanted to keep on listening because what was coming could only get better. I listened through the whole thing once before repeating anything. I didn’t know where to go after that, there was too much to choose from; I just pushed play again.
I’m telling you, this is what mainstream Christian music has needed. This is its shot in the arm. Enough of the four-chord worship songs. Here are people singing about the Jesus they know, and writing incredible music to match their passionate lyrics. Critics would say that’s what all Christian music is; I would say it’s what all Christian music should be, but that by many it is not achieved. The only CD I can think of that has been released in recent years in this genre that could mirror this one is Switchfoot’s Beautiful Letdown, the way that it was universally hailed as an amazing creation of music. And I have to say this. The days of the belief (uninformed as it was) that the Jars’ self-titled CD was their best release are over. Let the debate rage on, but begin the debate today. Do yourself a favor and check this album out.
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