Well, it’s that time of year again.  You guessed it – the time of the year when everyone starts putting out their “Best of” lists to let everyone know their opinion on the best things that the year has brought us…..so I figured I would get in on the act with my top worship albums of the year….

I hesitate to call an album a “worship” album…..because “worship” is not a genre of music. at all.  In fact, most praise and worship music today would be categorized as rock/pop.

I think different styles of music can bring us into a place of praise and worship.  So for this list, I’m thinking specifically of music that is for the church and sung by the church…..

Also, I’m not doing a top 10 list…..I find that a lot of times people just do a top 10 because it’s what’s expected…..but a lot of times, they have like 6 or 7 good ones, and then they just throw in the last 3 based on the leftover junk they’ve actually been exposed to…..because they haven’t read all the books or seen all the movies or heard all the music……

Anyways, here is my list of top 5 “worship” albums of 2008….

5.Chris Tomlin “Hello Love”/ Lincoln Brewster “Today Is the Day”

Ha – I kind of cheated here, and I know it…..but I couldn’t leave out either of these cds.  I was so excited waiting for LB’s first studio project since 2005’s “All to You…Live”, and when I heard the first single (Today Is the Day), I thought I was in store for more greatness…..Then when the album actually came out, I’m not gonna lie – I was a little disappointed.  Not that the music wasn’t incredible (it is), but that it didn’t feel like a lot of the songs could be sung by a church in a regular weekend service.  I still think that’s true, but we’ve already sung 3 of the songs in our church (Today Is the Day, The Power of Your Name, and God You Reign -in Detour), and the band has been blown away by a couple of the songs (Let Your Glory Shine is nothing short of amazing).  Hands down this is musically the best worship album of the year.  Lincoln Brewster’s reputation as one of the best guitar players out there is well-deserved, and he continues to use his gifts to inspire the church.

Chris Tomlin’s “Hello Love” comes less than 2 years after “See the Morning”, and although “Hello” has some good tunes, I felt that overall, “Morning” was a better project.  It felt more rounded out and balanced, but hey – that’s just my opinion.  My favorite tunes right now on “Hello” are Sing Sing Sing and God of This City….

4.  The Michael Gungor Band – “Ancient Skies”

I knew some of Michael Gungor’s stuff from before, but this album was my first big exposure to him, and I loved this album.  It’s upbeat and out of the box at the same time.  He’s obviously a very talented musician and the energy of the band comes through.  I could listen to the first 6 tracks on this album over and over.  We’ve already used “Giving It All” in church and Detour, as well as Never Stop in Detour.

3.  New Life Worship – “Counting On God”

I’ve got the previous 2 albums from Ross Parsley and New Life Church out in Colorado, and they’ve been decent albums, but nothing like this one.  The songwriting is great, and the music and arrangements are great too.  There are upbeat, energetic praise songs, and reflective, moving worship songs.  Our worship team was moved by the song Unfailing God as we prepared it for our church, and there are 5 or 6 other songs that would fit in easily between Detour and our normal church services.  My favorites are Solid Rock, Mighty King of Love, Savior, and Glorified…..

2.  Hillsong Live – “This Is Our God”

Hillsong is known for their music projects.  Every year they record a live project of songs that have impacted their church that year; and every year there’s at least a few great songs.  In my opinion, “This Is Our God” is their best effort yet.  They do an amazing job of bringing in the younger worship leaders and incorporating new songwriters into the mix.  There are no less than 12 different singer/songwriters featured on this album, and every tune is well-crafted…..My favorites are Your Name High, Run, Across the Earth, You Deserve, Desert Song, You’ll Come, and Where We Belong…..

1.  Hillsong United  – With Hearts As One:  The I Heart Revolution

This is a double-disc album that was recorded live in different locations across the globe over the course of touring for a couple of years.  That alone is an amazing feat to pull off, and pull off extremely well.  The quality of the recordings is amazing; it’s hard to believe that they recorded across the world – not in a studio, but in places from Sao Paulo, Brazil, to Tokyo, Japan, to Oslo, Norway, to Toronto, Canada, to Orlando, USA…..and just about every place in between and around….

The songs are great – we’ve used 18 out of the 30 songs in Detour and church already – very accessible to the church for singing along…..and the recordings capture the energy of the youth that make up the United band and singers.

If you’re gonna buy just one “worship” album this year – THIS IS THE ONE!!  You won’t be disappointed. promise.   Unless you don’t like good music.  then you’ll be disappointed for sure.

Love and peace,

Alan