Monday, October 27, 2008

Doing the Impossible

I wonder if it's possible to create a best of Andrew Peterson CD. Seriously. How can you choose 1 hour and nineteen minutes worth of goodness when (if you own most of his CDs) you have over 5 hours of stuff that more than qualifies. 

From Carried Along, you've got to include "The Chasing Song" and "Faith To Be Strong." Okay, so far not that bad. Two songs that represent that CD are reasonable.

From Clear to Venus, you've got "No More Faith" and "Isn't It Love" and "Loose Change" and "Alaska or Bust" and "Hold Up My Arms" and now you see why I have problems. I really love Land of the Free too. This CD is just too good. But even I wouldn't say this is his best CD. 

From Love & Thunder. It would be painful to lose any of the ten. If I had to choose a favorite? That is surprisingly easy. Just As I Am is my favorite, favorite, favorite, favorite Andrew Peterson song of all time. Maybe just maybe because this was my first Peterson CD. I just love, love, love Tools. It gets me every time. Just like "Alaska Or Bust" from the previous CD. And High Noon, The Silence of God, and After The Last Tear Falls....they're among the best of the best of the best. And there's something about Canaan Bound that I can't live without.

From Behold the Lamb Of God. This is my favorite year-round "Christmas" album. One Amazon reviewer years and years ago called this the Silmarillion of Christmas albums, and it's stuck with me. So so so true. I just *love* this CD. And I do listen to it all twelve months of the year. I absolutely love Matthew's Begats and So Long Moses and Behold the Lamb of God. I love the whole thing really. 

From The Far Country. Loved all of this one. Listened to it nonstop for months and months. Not something that happens often UNLESS it's Andrew Peterson. (Or Caedmon's Call.) Loved The Far Country. Loved Little Boy Heart Alive. Loved Lay Me Down. Loved it. And Mystery of Mercy? Of course I was first familiar with the Caedmon's Call version, but this one is just as good. And More is just a necessity.

Appendix A. I *love* this one too. It was worth the price of the album just for the gem that is The Cheese Song. So many songs that I love. So many treasures. So many essential songs that I couldn't imagine living life without. Isaiah 35. The Cheese Song. Three Days Before Autumn. Lullaby. Doxology (Romans 11). Even songs like Mohawks on the Scaffold and My Brother Pete grow on you after a while. 

And now we've got the release of Resurrection Letters, vol. 2. (Vol. 1 hasn't been written and recorded yet.) I've had the CD for only two or three days now. But already, I can't imagine NOT knowing and loving these songs. 

It's impossible to choose what is the best of the best of the best...when everything is just so can't-live-without-it-good. 







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