Good, Better, and Best Music - a brain dump.

I recently went looking for 'better' music to listen to. Not just good music but best music. Music which feeds my soul as well as my interest. Here's a dump of my search.

First, I went to the hymns. Specifically, I loved these recordings which my Mom sent me on my mission: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8agHyFm1mz0. There is enough variety in the arrangements and the vocals are accessible (not overly classical). Unfortunately, after listening to the first and second albums 30 times or so I wanted to move on and there is a surprising dearth of high quality similar hymn arrangements out there. There are a TON of music only renditions (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upgxEQHyz3Y&list=PLpepxoaYeb3NL8YHNJLFAVju0SjVRP3M1, Jenny Oaks Baker, and The Piano Guys) of the hymns out there but I really want the accompanying lyrics. Let's face it, the hymns have some INCREDIBLE words. So I went looking for other recordings.

First foray: MoTab. Some AMAZING music here. I've listened to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaQYQnrPgSM and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQPC-SX-Rvw countless times - the entire O Divine Redeemer album is incredible. So, don't get me wrong, I really like choral music but not all choirs are The Mormon Tabernacle Choir and whole albums over and over begin to sound the same to me.

So, we move on. I love a good classical or crossover classical album from time to time and there are some fantastic LDS artists in this space. Nathan Pacheco, Dallyn Vail Balys (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWpNfZfcUhw), etc.

Last night Paul Cardall posted this gem: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0SVPjHc8C0. Hard to beat an endorsement like 'lyrics by David A. Bednar'. So this must be good music (and it is).

What about hymns put into 'Pop' stylings? This sort of bugs me so I'd be curious to hear other thoughts here. When someone performs a song in sacrament meeting and they add pop licks or glottal frye/start/stops it kind of irks me. For example, I could not make it through this cover of I Know that My Redeemer Lives: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBT4sfxj4V4. The song is a bit too tied to the spirit for me and I just don't enjoy seeing a popular rendition. However, I did like the same group's cover of Come Thou Fount/If You Could Hie to Kolob: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBT4sfxj4V4.

So, does that mean spiritual singers should all be 'classically' trained singers only. Probably not. Consider the hymns covers of Adam Young from Owl City: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfQO99HVogE and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ipl-rLRxOrs. In my opinion these are good - not appropriate for the pulpit, but good listening. Perhaps a bit Evangelical in execution but that's not all bad IMO. (I'll sidebar my comments about mainstream Christian Pop/Rock for now.)

There is another problem here: there are only a few popular hymns which get professional treatment so A LOT of great hymns never get heard except in sacrament meeting - especially all of their verses. To hear these you can actually listen to recordings right through the LDS Library app which is cool but there isn't much styling in the song but you can get the lyrics. It'd be nice to have Music and Lyrics well done together :)

By now, I'm getting to the point where I have a large enough library of classical sounding music to fill hours of Mp3s. But, what about when I'm driving in my car and I want something a bit more 'poppy'. First question - is that even okay? Well, the church sponsors EFY albums for youth and they have had people like Gladys Knight perform at Christmas devotionals - certainly, there is a place for this kind of music. So here's what I found in the uplifting popular music genres:

Of course David Archuleta has been a huge influence on the LDS popular music scene. Songs like Glorious (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTKC8q0JAUw) have kept him VERY popular with LDS audiences (his other solo albums ain't bad either). The unavoidable endorsements of being connected to a Church produced movie and performing at church sponsored events hints at how church leaders feel about this kind of music. So, at least some of his music should be okay. I need to slip in here that David Archuleta and Nathan Pacheco have accomplished something I thought impossible - they produced a version of The Prayer that I enjoyed (this song is WAY too overdone but they do a good job with it) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DRLmrboGK4

Hillary Weeks (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyX-I-um5Kk) has also been a longtime standby for me in terms of good LDS pop music but her music still sounds somewhat the same as it did back in the 90s. Evolving music to match modern trends is a dangerous and slippery slope but I'm sure one decade did not have the corner on the LDS pop sound.

Which brings up questions like LDS Rap or rock? I know great people taking a swing at this one (Bobby, I'm looking at you) - here's a possible execution:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNBwM7iCL4k. BTW Archuleta is saying "we out here grinding we working". How many of you feel this crosses the line? Would you want to listen to this? Hm...not sure this is my cup of tea...er...apple cider especially when it veers into songs like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NV1CSjxbfqQ. So, where do we go from here?

The good news is, there are a ton of good links above to keep exploring out from and we have a handbook to help us discern what's good and bad:

16 For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God.

 17 But whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do evil, and believe not in Christ, and deny him, and serve not God, then ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of the devil; for after this manner doth the devil work, for he persuadeth no man to do good, no, not one; neither do his angels; neither do they who subject themselves unto him.