A feast of melodies

Amy Grant approaches her material with so much simplicity. She always catches me unprepared for the impeccable results. This happened again with the live album Time Again. I knew it was by Grant and that she makes beautiful songs and that it will be good like the others she recorded before. But I still ended up floored by what she is capable of.

Grant recorded Time Again Live at Bass Hall in Fort Worth Texas, 30 years after her first singing stint and 25 years after her first solo concert, which coincidentally was also held in Texas. It does not include her record-breaking hit El Shaddai, but it has most of her singles like Baby Baby. I was glad to find out time has not in any way diminished the appeal of her songs. In fact, I think their being familiar is part of what causes the warm, homey atmosphere one gets while listening to the album.

There is also Grant’s singing, a combination of sweetness and matter-of-fact delivery that is very expressive. Lead Me On, the lead cut, is a dramatic song that could have sent another artist to vocal acrobatics. Not Amy. She is a storyteller who encourages listening and feeling. This is also very evident in Stay for Awhile and Oh How the Years Go By which tell of happy tales nobody minds hearing again.

But what is even more amazing is her gift of melody. As any music lover surely knows, what differentiates a good song from a bad one is melody. You can have the greatest singers and musicians performing the most ear-popping arrangements but they will make no positive impact without a good melody. You cannot help but realize after three or four cuts that Time Again is a feast of melodies and Grant wrote most of them.

Great album and what a relief to be spared of birits and other special effects. Incidentally, Every copy of the CD comes with a bonus DVD containing footage from the Fort Worth concert with Grant performing Stay for A While, Takes a Little Time, Thy Word, Lucky One and Out in the Open.

To give you a better idea of what a big star Grant is, take a look at how her influence has given a wider pop spin to Christian music. Because of her success, over 25 million albums sold worldwide, a lot of pop acts do songs with a Christian message nowadays. Billboard Magazine has a Hot Christian Songs chart and most of the titles and names in it can also be found in the Hot 100 listing.

Check out these titles: Made to Love by Toby Mac; Does Anybody Hear Her by Casting Crows; Everlasting God by Lincoln Brewster; Undo by Rush of Fools; How Can I Keep From Singing by Chris Tomlin; How to Save a Life by The Fray; Walking Her Home by Mark Schultz; Something Beautiful by Newsboys; You Alone by Echoing Angels; and By His Wounds by Glory Revealed. The latter is a group made up of solo Christian acts Mac Powell, Mark Hall, Steven Curtis Chapman and Brian Littrell.

Back to Grant. At a time when men seem to have forgotten there can be peace and brotherhood among them and global annihilation is but a push of a button away, it might be nice for us to sit back and ponder the message in her song Eye to Eye ,which is also in Time Again. This was co-written by Amy with Keith Thomas and the lyrics ring truer than ever.

"Well, I’d like to figure out where we stand before darkness falls and I’d like to figure out before it’s too late before hope is lost cause the sun that’s shining on my face is shining down on you and the fruit that gives me strength to live is giving you strength too can we find a way to find a compromise though we don’t see eye to eye eye to eye.

"Well, I’d like to figure out a way to leave a troubled past behind to forget those angry words and wars we fought across the battle lines cause tomorrow we could find a road to peace for you and me and our children in their innocence will follow what they see oh, we’ve got to find a way to live our lives though we don’t see eye to eye eye to eye.

"Oh how easy it would be to close the door and walk away I can’t walk out when I believe you are my brother and we owe it to each other we’ve got to try though we don’t see eye to eye eye to eye."

Have a blessed Easter celebration.