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intereact!Casting Crowns
Retail Price (not our price): $17.98
Release Date: 2005-08-30
Manufacturer: Reunion
Format: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Track List
Now here, for your listening pleasure, the tracks...
| Disc 1 |
Editorial Reviews (supplied by Amazon.com):
1) Amazon.com
Much like their brethren Mercy Me, Casting Crowns was thrust into the limelight from a worship band beginning. With steady chops honed from hundreds of shows/services a year and a simple, straight-ahead rock style, the Florida-based band found themselves on top of the charts thanks to the success of massive singles "Who Am I?" and "The Voice of Truth" from its self-titled debut (2003). Lifesong is a sensible sophomore follow-up that shows the band expanding its musical creativity while lyrically remaining true to the cause. There's a common thread of humility throughout as front man Mark Hall sings of the disenfranchised ("Does Anybody Hear Her"), the heartbroken ("Praise You in This Storm"), and the remorseful ("Prodigal"). Hall even calls outside for songwriting help from the brilliant Nichole Nordeman in "Stained Glass Masquerade," a cautionary warning about church hypocrisy in the face of keeping it real. The radio-friendly, U2- ish "Lifesong" proves a savvy book-end to the penitent closer "And Now My Lifesong Sings." Both evoke strong messages that worship is all about how one lives a life and not what kind of songs they may sing. Lifesong is an impressive effort for a band that knows its strengths and how to play to them. --Michael Lyttle
Customer Reviews (supplied by Amazon.com):
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5
1) You will love this! [Rating: 5 out of 5]
A terrific CD. Every song will move you. Our worship team does several of them now.2) Lifesong is Great [Rating: 5 out of 5]
Another inspiring CD from Casting Crowns. The songs can really open your eyes and your heart to God. Highly recommended!3) great [Rating: 5 out of 5]
Very uplifiting and I wanted to give my son a reminder of how much God loves him.4) No Sophmore Slump. [Rating: 5 out of 5]
This album is just as good if not better than their first. I dint think they could top their first album but they did. This is another collection of great songwriting with very powerful lyrics. Standout tracks are "Lifesong" "Praise You in the Storm" and "Does Anybody Hear Her." For Everyone who loves great music. The songs really turn your eyes to God and your walk with him.5) Quite Possibly the Greatest Christian Album of All Time [Rating: 5 out of 5]
Is this the same Casting Crowns? Their first album was great, but it still fit within the parameters of possibility. It had 2 unbelievably stellar songs, 2 excellent songs, 2 very good songs, and then the usual drab back half. What we have here is completely beyond the notions of what it is possible for a musical group to do in a single album. There is not a single bad song on this album... there is not a single average song, and not even a single good song. Every single song is at least in the "very good" category. And all but one or two songs in the album is in the "excellent" category. How they did it, I have no idea. This album transcends reality, and lifts you to a place where every word is a divine inspiration that takes you to a new place and a new state of mind that you would have never thought of.Everything is covered on this album... extravagant songs of praise, challenges to the church that go straight the heart and make you want to change, proclamations of faith that will have you in tears, and a couple of songs that expand simple emotions until they engulf you. Not one of these songs is generic, not one is filler. Every single one has a lesson, a motivation, and a deep meaning. I doubt any group could ever make a more relevant, meaningful album. For any other group, this would be a `greatest hits' album, but somehow Casting Crowns has found enough inspiration to make a single album that speaks more than the entire career of most musicians. I am still in awe of how good this album is, even 2 years after I first heard it. Since then, every single song on this album has found a way into one or more of my playlists. The first time through, I wasn't bored once. The second time through, I still wasn't. And now 12 listenings later I still love every single song on this album, and am never inclined to skip ahead. It really is that good. Listening is believing. Anyway, here's the rundown, song-by-song.1. Lifesong - 10+/10The title track starts strong, lifting us to a state of elevated reality. Right away, Mark Hall invites us to not just listen, and not just sing to God, but to let everything that we do be an act of praise, and let our lives be a living sacrifice. And if we do not join what we are singing with our lives, we sing in vain. A basic, but completely stellar message, and a sensational melody that lifts your ears above mere song and to the heart of worship really make this title track stand out. One of Casting Crowns' best songs.2. Praise You in this Storm - 10+/10Wow... just two songs into the album, and already it has 2 of the group's best songs. This song has one of the strongest messages ever conveyed through contemporary Christian music. It reaches back to the book of Job, and assures us that there will be good times and hard times, but even when the world is crashing down around us and storms cloud our eyes, we must still raise our hands high and praise the Lord. I absolutely love the assurances in this song. "Every tear I've cried, you hold in your hand" and "You are who you are, no matter where I am" are the kind of lyrics that reach deep into the soul and bring tears to your eyes. It is that familiar emotion that came out in the smash hit "Who am I" from their first album. Words can barely describe the comfort and depth provided by these songs.3. Does Anybody Hear Her - 9.5/10After two transcendent songs of praise, it's time for some hard-hitting songs that challenge the church. The message of this song fits right in with "If We Are the Body", and encourages would-be disciples to get out of the churches and reach out to the community that is looking for hope and running in the wrong direction not knowing where to go. I liked "If We Are the Body" a little bit better, but this song is still absolutely wonderful, and more personal and thought-provoking than its predecessor.4. Stained Glass Masquerade - 10/10More hard-hitting messages to the church are a great thing, because the church is in horrible shape right now. Because people try to act perfect, it isolates anyone who has problems of their own and makes them feel messed up and broken. And in addition to the stellar message to open the invitation to the broken-hearted and show them how God changed them rather than being perfect all the time, the melody of this song is really addictive. The string of hits continues.5. Love Them Like Jesus - 9.5/10This song is so touching and comforting. A sequel of sorts to "Here I Go Again", it serves as a discipleship message, that if you show your friends who Jesus is, he will take care of the rest. His yoke is easy, his burden is light, and your job is just to carry them to Him so that they might know that He loves them. The melody, like God, is easy and light. It touches you, and carries you away to a sanctuary of personal peace. I love this song!6. Set Me Free - 9.5/10A retelling of the tale of the possessed child from the Gospels, this song is quite intriguing. It rings a chord with anyone who had many struggles, felt alone and abandoned, and did not know where to go until they heard that there was a man who could lift the chains and set them free. The mood of the melody fits so well. It powers through the message of freedom from corruption with an intense driving hard rock sound, and lyrics that makes you feel the pain of the subject's corruption. Then as the song reaches "lift your chains; I hold the key. All power of Heaven and Earth belong to me; you are free!" you can feel the sounds of corruption departing, and hope returning. I don't know how the song does this, but it is fantastic!7. While You Were Sleeping - 8.5/10This song is somewhere in the middle of being a quiet and meditative piece and a hard-hitting church challenge. It reminds us that Jesus was not embraced by his own people... Bethlehem slept through his birth and would not give him room in their town, and Jerusalem persecuted and killed him even though he had come to save them. So, when Jesus comes again, will America be the nation who sleeps through it? Nice little message, and a nice quiet, subtle melody that merits further listening and a challenge, but doesn't quite hit as hard as the best songs. Still, again this song is great despite being the second lowest rated song on the album. That's just how good this album is.8. Father, Spirit, Jesus - 9/10More of the "Lifesong" theme in this song, that everything we do should be an act of praise... that our worship is so much more than the songs that we sing. Also, there are messages that hint toward just how much we have to thank God for. We have been rescued, and thanks to God we are walking in marvelous light, no matter how unworthy we may be. This is one of Casting Crowns' strongest proclamations of faith, and the "rescued from darkness" line sticks in the head, and plays over and over. Great song.9. In Me - 9/10What a message... we are human. We are weak and can be manipulated while we are alone. But through God, we have an endless pillar of strength, light, guidance, and mercy. When we are weak, God makes us strong. When we can't see, He shines His light on us. And even though we are mere vapor in the wind, God still wants us. Not a smash hit, but still an amazing song. For one of the last songs on an album, it doesn't get much better.10. Prodigal - 8.5/10The powerful, deep messages keep on coming. This song is all about redemption, and is a showcase of God's mercy despite our complete unworthiness. He pulled us out of the mud, and gave us the chance for a new, clean life, yet time and time again we have gone right back to filth, and dragged His name with us. We are unworthy, yet he always has the patience and undying forgiveness to clean us off once again, no matter how many times we shame him and fall back again. This song can bring tears, and touches deep into the soul as you realize just how unworthy you are... yet God still loves you. Musically, the song is kept from being a 9 because it goes on just a little too long. The emotion is amazing, but it drags slightly.11. And Now My Lifesong Sings - 8.5/10A supplicant to the title track, and a list of all the reasons we have to let our lifesongs sing to God, the final track is a fitting conclusion. It does not significantly raise the sound back to the stellar level, but it is a contemplative ending to an uplifting album, that kind of brings you back down to Earth after the wonder that has been around you for the last fifty minutes. And so ends the journey.AVERAGE SCORE: 9.3/10ALBUM SCORE: 5/5