The Music I Listen To

H and S asks me in the comments section, what kinds of music I listen to, and not just Church music.

Well, lets see...there's the background music that plays on my second-favorite computer game called "Bejeweled" (It's one of those puzzle types of games where you move colored squares into sequences of three and they then disappear and the other blocks fall into place and things get rearranged and you keep going...very relaxing). It's sort of a smooth jazz type of muzac, which normally I hate but I'm getting used to it because I like the game so much...

For starters, I rarely listen to music unless I'm in the car. We don't buy music all that often, and when we do, it feels like a shot in the dark. I'm not super devoted to any one artist or band. I have started checking some music out from the library.

The newest CD we've bought is Coldplay...can't remember the title of it...the one that has "Yellow" on it.

I have an ancient copy of Chris DeBurgh's "Into the Light" floating around in my car.

Also Lynrd Skynrd's Greatest Hits.

I often check out ABBA's Greatest Hits from the Library.

Randy Travis has a gospel album that I've enjoyed, also from the library.

Lightningseeds Cloudcuckooland was a huge favorite in my college years.

As far as Christian Music....

Rich Mullins...although I only own one of his CDs and one tape (and no tape player).

There's this small-time group from Nashville, back in the 70's called Dogwood that I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE. I went to a reunion concert of theirs (among other artists) last fall and was able to buy three of their CD's. So, very happy about that. Now I've been listening to their stuff and sort of getting them out of my system.

I used to love Michael Card, but have not had my hands on any his stuff in decades.

Same for the "Christian phase" of Bob Dylan's music.

I do really like (Fr.) Justin Matthew's CD "Confessing Between the Lines". He's Orthodox.

I also own (Fr.) Peter Jon Gilquist's CD "Ancient" and I like a few of the songs on that one, but not all. (also Orthodox).

We have a CD called "The Cross Culture Project" that has selections from a bunch of different musicians who are also Orthodox Christians. That's how we "found" Justin Matthews. I really like Cross Culture Project and wish I had more money to spend on building my collection, but I don't.


So, what it boils down to is: I have not spent much money on music to become a devoted follower of any group, band, artist or genre.

When I turn on the radio, it's usually to a country station, until that gets annoying. And then I switch to the Christian music station until that gets annoying and then I turn it off.

I can easily tell you what types of music I hate: Rap, Jazz, Muzac, R&B Pop, heavy metal, the Beatles and 50's music except for the Beach Boys, and children's music (of the John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt variety).

Outside of the car, I do like me some silence. If I were buying more music of the Orthodox Contemporary Music type, I would go for more of the Cross Culture Project CD's and then choose artists based on the songs from those albums that I liked.

Check out Saint Romanos Records for a look at what's current on the Orthodox Christian Music scene.

Comments

Anonymous said…
You know, Fr. Justin is a St. Anne's, right? Sadly, I haven't listened to any of his music. I'll google and see if I can find it.
Liz in Seattle said…
Alan Jackson has a cool gospel album, all acoustic, which was only supposed to be a Christmas gift for his family. He bowed to their pressure, and now it's on my iPod. :-)

Nice to know someone else who's "eclectic". I hate being tied down to a demographic group. Off to listen to baroque...no wait, country...no wait, jazz...no wait...
Alana said…
Yes, Marsha...I'm aware of that fact, and the fact that he might show up one day if our Fr. Justin is out of town or something (although lately we've been borrowing the deacon from the Antiochian parish nearby when that happens).

If I ever do meet Fr. Justin Matthews, I'll try hard to just treat him like a normal priest, ask for a blessing, and not be a screeching banner waving fan. ;-)
Anonymous said…
Have you heard of Pandora.com? It is great! You create your own radio station by typing in an artist that you like and Pandora creates your station pulling music from not only your chosen artist, but those that are similar. If you don't like the choice it gives, you can move on. You can also lots of different stations. We have speakers that can plug into my computer, so I get stereo. And it's all FREE!!!