A Glimpse of Starlight

Ah, music.  I love it.  Who doesn’t?  One of my desk drawers is (almost) completely taken up with CDs because, yes, I’m old-fashioned, and I still use a CD player (and it plays casette tapes too! *gasps*).  There’s always a song stuck in my head, and when I do chores, I either sing or listen to others singing.  For today’s Miscellaneous Mondays, I’m going to share the two CDs that I’m currently obssessed with.

1) Until We Have Faces ~ RED.  I love RED.  There’s no other way to put it.  I love how they combine drums and an intense beat with beautiful strings and piano playing. I love the wide range of styles in their songs — in this CD, there’s the rocky, screaming Feed the Machine and then the somber, soft Hymn for the Missing.  Most of all, I love their lyrics.  Most Christian bands have either a) Jesus-is-my-boyfriend lyrics, where any song could just as easily be sung to a boy/girlfriend, b) repetitive, unoriginal praise songs that eventually start sounding like the same thing, or c) no Christian allusions whatsoever, and you’re not really sure if they’re Christian at all, besides the fact that they mention God in the “thank-yous” and don’t use bad language.  RED, however, does none of these, and is one of the best quality Christian bands out there.  In Until We Have Faces, I am inspired by the war cry Watch You Crawl when I’m tired of fighting sin and encouraged by The Best is Yet to Come when my mistakes threaten to darken the future.  Let It Burn‘s desperate questions hurled toward heaven followed by Not Alone‘s beautiful message comfort and hope never fails to leave me in tears. (Note: While they do have some slower songs, most of it’s pretty rocky, so if that’s not your thing … consider yourself warned.)

2) The Fellowship of the Ring ~ composed by Howard Shore.  Of course, everyone knows the Lord of the Rings soundtracks are the best, but that doesn’t mean I can’t mention them anyway.  I love all of them equally, and they each have their own special delights, but right now FotR has captured me.  I mean, first of all there’s May It Be — the inspiring lyrics combined with Enya’s gorgeous voice is stirring.  (And you get to hear Enya twice more in Lothlorien and Many Meetings.) Then you’ve got the treat of In Dreams in The Breaking of the Fellowship — a sad, aching song that fully embodies my emotions when I read that part in the book.  There’s adventure and drums, too, in The Bridge of Kazad-dum and The Treason of Isengaard, and the eerie Ringwraith theme in The Black Rider.  Plus, this CD has lots of the sprightly, frollicking hobbits theme, especially in Concerning Hobbits.

So, enough of my ravings.  What are you currently listening to?  Have you listened to either of these CDs, and do you agree with my opinions?