Archive | —Music Reviews

New CD from Matthew Smith – All I Owe

By Bob Kauflin on October 4, 2006 in —Music Reviews

Matthew Smith has been involved with Indelible Grace for a number of years now. I hung out with him two times over the past couple years, and have been encouraged by his commitment to revitalizing hymns that expound both the theology and passion of Scripture. Of course, he’s following in the footsteps of his good friend, Kevin Twit, who has been one of the main proponents for modernizing many of the doctrinally rich hymns of the past. Here is one of Kevin’s articles where he makes a case for setting older texts to newer music. Matthew’s new CD, All I Owe, is now available for pre-order. I was able to get a pre-release download and wanted to …

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Random Question

By Bob Kauflin on August 23, 2006 in —Music Reviews

Someone wrote in to ask: Do you know of a *good* recorded version of Luther’s “A Mighty Fortress” that someone could buy? By this I mean it is sung by a large group of people who know why they are singing it, in as neutral a style as possible. I suppose a “neutral style” means one that won’t offend conservative musical tastes, but is still passionate. Since I don’t know of a recording like this, I thought I’d see if anyone else did. Thanks.

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WorshipGod Live – Reviewing the Reviews

By Bob Kauflin on July 13, 2006 in —Music Reviews, —Sovereign Grace Music

Last May 50 folks took me up on my offer to receive a WorshipGod Live CD and post a review on their blog. Thanks so much for participating! The comments were overwhelmingly encouraging, but I was even more grateful for the constructive feedback you gave us. Here are some of the comments, along with my thoughts. Most reviewers seems to think the songs were singable and easy to pick up. Dan wrote, “My personal opinion is that a strong song stands on its own even if stripped down to a solo instrument and a single voice…These are all strong songs, in my opinion.” Brian agreed. “No melody was too complex for any congregation to learn …

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New CD – The Apostles Creed

By Bob Kauflin on July 5, 2006 in —Music Reviews

Keith Getty and Stuart Townend. If you don’t know those names, you should. They are the co-writers of In Christ Alone, and as far as I can tell, are among the most gifted songwriters for congregational worship alive today. Stuart has been a friend for a number of years and I met Keith and his wife Kristyn this past year. My church had the joy of hosting all three of them for an event last September. I was challenged and inspired by Keith’s passion to equip the church through theologically rich songs. What makes his focus so impressive is that he doesn’t write the lyrics for the songs he composes with Stuart – he writes the melodies. …

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Reviewing Awesome God Children’s CD Reviews

By Bob Kauflin on April 12, 2006 in —Music Reviews

Near the end of 2005, I offered to send a free copy of the Sovereign Grace children’s CD Awesome God to the first 50 people who would post a review on their blog. THANKS to all of you who responded! We read every one and were grateful for the encouragement and helpful feedback. I wanted to let you hear what others are saying about the CD, partly to give you a better feel for the CD, but more importantly to provoke your thinking in the area of songs for children. Joshua Richie at Deception in the Church picked up on the intentional progression of the songs. “The whole CD seems like one complete message that flows from creation to the culmination …