Saturday, July 24, 2010

The Roar of Love

Here's an album I can't believe I almost forgot: The Roar of Love by 2nd Chapter of Acts!

The Roar of Love is a 1980 concept album by 2nd Chapter of Acts that was inspired by C. S. Lewis' The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. {One of my favourite books from one of my favourite series!} The story of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is told through the lyrics. Though, if you are not familiar with the story, you will be confused as not all the key details are included.

I remember hearing the record of The Roar of Love when I was young but I didn't really get into it. Then, a few years later, we started listening to the CD in the car and I was hooked. That started my "2nd Chapter of Acts phase". It was very exciting because, at that point, I had very few Christian artists I enjoyed. 2nd Chapter of Acts {which is siblings, Annie Herring, Nelly Greisen, and Matthew Ward} have been such an encouragement to me through the years. You can just hear their love for Jesus shining through everything they did!
I also love reading about the band and how they formed. {Read the short version here or the long version here.}


I am posting two songs from The Roar of Love: 'Turkish Delight' and 'Aslan is Killed'.
'Turkish Delight' was my favourite song when I used to hear the record as a child. It is sung from the viewpoint of Edmund and is about how captivated he is by the White Witch.
'Aslan is Killed' is about, well, the title is pretty self-explanatory. This song, with its synths and layered vocals, is very cool sounding. {The lyrics are kind of hard to understand, but they can be read here.}

Listen to 'Turkish Delight':




Listen to 'Aslan is Killed':



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And I almost forgot, but Clara gave me an award! *beams*

Thanks again, dear! :)

OH, and one more thing:

Tomorrow, armed with my pile of books, I am leaving for vacation! I'll be gone about a week. So, goodbye until then.

Okay, I'm all done now, I promise.

....I lied.

Now, I'm done. :P

Thursday, July 15, 2010

A Song for You

I thought I'd do a few more of my favourite albums since I got kind of distracted the last time I did it, hehe.
Alright, this album, released in 1972, is by one of my all-time favourite artists whom I'm sure you all have heard of: the Carpenters.


Though the album A Song for You contains many of their hits {'Top of the World', 'Goodbye to Love', 'I Won't Last a Day Without You', 'Hurting Each Other' etc.} my favourite song off this album is the title track, 'A Song for You', which was originally a song by Leon Russel.

A Song for You was intended to be a concept album, of sorts. It opens with the song 'A Song For You' and then closes with a reprise of it. There is also a short song in the middle called, 'Intermission'.
The rather humorous lyrics to 'Intermission', which were written by Richard Carpenter, are as follows:
"...We'll be right back / After we go to the bathroom".
In the liner notes Richard says:
"John Bettis wrote the great lyrics to 'Top of the World', 'Goodbye to Love' and many more of my melodies. I wrote the lyrics to 'Intermission' (Music inspired by the Crucifixus of Antonio Lotti [...]) This explains why John Bettis was chosen to write the great lyrics to 'Top of the World', 'Goodbye to Love', et al."
Haha. :)
Speaking of which, 'Goodbye to Love', another of my favourites, is said to be possibly the first love ballad to feature a fuzz guitar solo. The Carpenters got hate mail from some of their fans because of that solo! XD

Listen to 'A Song for You':



Listen to 'Intermission':




Karen Carpenter is one of my favourite female vocalists. It makes me sad to think of her untimely end at the young age of 32. And all because she though she was too fat. *sigh*

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

The Civil Wars

I've been in a bit of a blue funk lately. So, every time I come to write a blog post I write a few sentences then save it as a draft to "come back to later". {Whether I will or not is debatable!}
But today, I stumbled upon a band that made me want to write a post! Which is quite an improvement. :)

I was on some band's myspace, watching one of their videos. When it ended all the related videos came up. The first one showed an image of a woman and a man with a guitar. It looked promising! So, I clicked on it. And it exceeded my expectation.

Turns out, the band is called The Civil Wars and it is composed of Joy Williams and John Paul White. Apparently, this song, 'Falling', was the first song they ever wrote together!




I am inestimably glad that I found this band. They have definitely brightened my day! Their music really strikes a chord with me. {No pun intended. :P}
If you go on their myspace you can download their live album for free! {Something went wrong with my download, though. But thankfully, there was a provided solution.}

How is everyone's summer going? This summer my best friend has been our library. :)

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Trespassers William

Before I even heard Trespassers William's music, I knew I had to love them.
Why? Because of their name, of course!
Trespassers William got their name from one of my favourite books: "Winnie-the-Pooh" by A. A. Milne...
"Next to [Piglet's] house was a piece of broken board which had: "TRESPASSERS W" on it. When Christopher Robin asked the Piglet what it meant, he said it was his grandfather's name…it was short for Trespassers Will, which was short for Trespassers William. And his grandfather had had two names in case he lost one—Trespassers after an uncle, and William after Trespassers."

{Seriously, if you have never read either of the Winnie-the-Pooh books, go do so now!}

Thankfully, not only do Trespassers William have an awesome band name, they also make incredible music.Listening to a Trespassers William CD is like going into a trance... You then wake-up an hour later, having no idea what happened... but you feel like it was one of the most achingly beautiful experiences of your life! =D

Over the years, they have been joined by various musicians, but the main core of Trespassers William has remained Matt Brown & Anna-Lynne Williams, who sings the exquisite vocals.

I got their album, Different Stars, for my birthday. It has quickly risen to be one of my favourites. It's also a great album to listen to on those nights when I can't fall asleep. Though I usually only get to hear till about the third track... ;)

Listen to 'Lie in the Sound' {off of Different Stars}:



You just might have seen this coming, but, Trespassers William is the artist of the month for July. :)