no matter when you began your own love of the greatest band in the world, the time is nigh to snag a copy of this amazing show.

having just listened to NPR’s All Songs Considered podcast entitled: “The 1980s: Were They Really That Bad?” (to which Boilen emphatically answered “yes!”) I let out a little hallelujah hum for U2’s stand-out work - from 1983.

can this really be 25 years old? doesn’t sound like it (could be the 5.1 mix).

the dual CD/DVD set releases on Sept 30, with pre-ordering available on several sites. bestbuy.com offered the best price (after factoring in tax & S/H).  here’s the blurb from Amazon:

The remastered Under a Blood Red Sky album was originally released in November 1983, and consists of live recordings from three shows on the band’s War Tour through Europe and America. Recorded at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado on 5th June 1983, Live at Red Rocks will be available for the first time on DVD, and will include 5 previously unreleased songs, a director’s commentary, digitally re-graded pictures and a 5.1 mix.

you can check out the track listing on the product page. be blessed.

by far one of the best free apps out there, iConcertCal (v2.1) integrates with your iTunes library as an alternative Visualizer:

presented as a calendar, iConcertCal informs you of upcoming shows based on your zip code. you can even adjust the mileage radius around your zip code if you’re willing to drive 75, 100, 150 miles to a good show? just the other day I realized that The Roots will hit The Palladium Ballroom on Oct 11. who knew?

what I really love is the CD Releases tab. week by week it lists new albums and even reissues, linked up to the respective Amazon page so you can get the low-down. just today I learned about several new discs coming out:

Sara Groves (Oct 21)
Snow Patrol (Oct 28)
Bruce Springsteen (Oct 28)
Rod y Gab (Oct 28)
Chris Cornell (Nov 4)

incredible. how did I ever survive without this?

Project 86 has cranked out killer album after killer album for the last 10 years. just when I turned the corner on faith, they showed up on the scene and gave me the grace to be me. i.e., having sobered up and settled down, I feared my faith embrace would force me to hold hands with the characteristically pathetic CCM.

thanks be to God I was wrong. hardcore wrong.

each album displays explosive growth and an appreciation for intelligent music. on top of their tight theology and stunning instrumentation, they’re literate. “Hollow Again” from Truthless Heroes gives a growling nod to T.S. Eliot.

their last release, Rival Factions, masterfully studies the various angles on family feuds. within Christendom, that is. one particular song simultaneously grieves and relieves me - “Sanctuary Hum.”

the song pictures the pain of the oppressed suffering from silence. in other words, church is often the last place on earth that we feel comfortable bearing our pain. or shame. or anything that doesn’t fit into a CCM video.

by God’s grace, my church is a safe place, and our pastor models integrity, grace, and compassion. but I still fear being real. it hurts to hurt publicly. as I’ve mentioned before, we’re studying Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell. movement four: tassels, calls us to come out of our darkness and be real. Andrew Schwab, lead singer and poet for Project 86, says of the following song:

And when violence prevails in the hidden sanctuary of the church, it can cause the followers to cry out for relief from heaven itself. But when those who have been oppressed find meaning not in secrecy, but in revealing their dark secrets, there is healing. No matter the wound.

tune in, rock out, and be free.

Smile, wave
Convince the sanctuary, our charade
Though you’re the object of my deep rage
Just counterfeit this holiness for me
And everything will be OK…

My sweet one
You tell no lies
The greatest reason to be despised

But we must pretend
Your broken wrist
Just happened when you fell off your bike

So this is
The reason
The sanctuary hums
God save us
God save us
From your chosen ones

Smile, wave
Protect his pulpit from all suffering
He’ll make celebrity the end game
So much more valuable than family
Not even violence can betray…

As long as
You keep your lips
Locked up til the end of this age

And even
If you won’t
It’s your word up against what he’ll say

So this is
The reason…

Cry, Girl
Become the wails of victims unheard
Your tears have given you the calm nerve
So if they’re asking you to hide your bane
You just keep screaming to the grave…

So this is
The reason…

You’ll be
The reason
The helpless celebrate
He takes us
He takes us
From our violent shame

I buy my mp3’s on amazon, now, whenever possible. usually, I find what I’m looking for, even indie stuff. God bless iTunes for starting the digital download revolution, but “move over bacon, make room for something better!”

simply…

amazon offers mp3’s, which are cross-platform…

…iTunes forces you to use mp4’s.

amazon offers DRM-free downloads…

…iTunes makes you pay more for DRM-free, and doesn’t even offer it for most titles.

amazon offers a 256kbps bit rate…

…iTunes gives you 128kbps.

the match goes to amazon, 3-0.

I’ve been listening to Charlie Hall’s stuff for years, now, and have worshipped with him in concert on many occasions. his music helps tame my mind when it devours itself with anxiety, and helps me spin with joy when I have eyes to see and ears to hear the Lord’s handiwork.

each new album requires a few walk-thru’s before I get it. Hall has a way of putting an odd sonic touch on his songs that takes some adjustment. within a few weeks, however, I always come around not only to appreciate them, but to love them. really love them.

with his newest, The Bright Sadness, he pulled off the most masterfully simple song to date. he’s outdone himself.

a year or so ago, a good Episcopalian friend of mine took a course on eschatology at Dallas Seminary. she commented that her tradition doesn’t particularly emphasize eschatology to the extent that she encountered in the course. in fact, she said her eschatological creed was virtually limited to:

Christ died.

Christ rose again.

Christ will return.

this confident simplicity blessed me beyond (or in spite of?) belief. “on these three we agree,” I thought. and by “we” I mean all Christendom. I mean every respect to Episcopalians, and other traditions, who possess a compact eschatology. this creed has cred.

I sketched out a song to put these three phrases to music, but Hall beat me to it. and, he soundly beat me. his outweighs mine significantly. . .

Mystery

Sweet Jesus Christ my clarity
Sweet Jesus Christ my sanity
Bread of heaven, broken for me
Cup of salvation, held up to drink
Jesus the mystery

Christ has died,
Christ is risen,
and Christ will come again.

NPR’s All Songs Considered, with host Bob Boilen, is brilliant. two of my favorite episodes are:

Iron and Wine: Live (10/2/2007)
Guest DJ T-Bone Burnett (5/15/2008)

this morning I finally caught up on one from 1/10/2008 that included Vampire Weekend, a 1952 recording of Bille Holiday live from The Apollo, and this killer indie band, Fire on Fire. they’re hard to find, but check iiTunes.

this song, “Hangman,” is from the NPR podcast. I cut the track out and converted it to an mp3 for your downloading pleasure.

download

any band introduced as offering a “sound combining the baroque psychedelic pop of the ’60s, sacred harp singing, gospel, and folk music” requires full attention.

especially when they back it up by selecting Pieter the Elder Bruegel’s “The Blue Cloak” as the album cover. these guys are arteests.

God blessed me in the most fantastic way of discovering Fleet Foxes, too. I spent an unmeasured time in Good Records, in Dallas, TX, floating through the aisles of discs. one of the listening stations highlighted their self-titled LP, and I stopped to soak it in. the last time I remember the awe of discovery so fondly was when the Virgin Music store was still in Mockingbird Station and I imbibed Iron & Wine’s Woman King EP. Fleet Foxes contains a band full of Sam Beams; haunting harmonies, layered and textured instruments, and lyrics laced with mesmerizing narratives (”Tiger Mountain Peasant Song”).

one notes the echo of Jim James’ vocals throughout the album, but Robin Pecknold’s lead quickly billows into much more as his bandmates join the effort (”White Winter Hymnal”). some of the grooves also ring of My Morning Jacket (more Z than Evil Urges), but ultimately Fleet Foxes’ depth and range of sound outstrips MMJ. on “He Doesn’t Know Why,” whispers of the actual band James thread through the measures.

clearly, though, the standout track is “Your Protector.” hearing this the first time I thought, “This must be what it was like the first time ‘The Battle of Evermore’ spun on your turntable.” yes, I really said that. the track can withstand that comparison. try it.

anticipating your fear that you don’t have time to listen to all these tracks, I endeavored to cut the list down to five solid pieces. I found, however, that deciding which tracks would remain was much like deciding which of my ten fingers I would choose to keep, had I the responsibility to sever the others. trust me - just listen to the whole set: