So this past week, David Crowder Band released a new CD. Okay, not so much a new CD, but the quintessential "We have to fulfill a contractual obligation, so let's release a greatest hits record" CD (Not judging the practice or the band, just pointing it out). All This For A King: The Essential Collection is a fine compilation of DCB songs. That being said, it's a somewhat disappointing mix as well. I mean, this is supposed to be "The Essential Collection." Now, to me, a 14 song disc (With one new song and three remixes, so really only 10 of the original collection of songs) doesn't do justice to a band of this caliber. A Crowder collection deserves better than this. And so, here we are:
This is the beginning of my own little Crowder tournament. The purpose is two-fold: to find my Crowder essential collection, and figure out what my favorite DCB song actually is. That second task won't be particularly easy...so many great, great songs.
So here's the rules: This is March Madness style. 64 songs, single elimination, divided into four regions. The best songs survive. Now, to stay with the idea of this being "the essential collection" and being something that would fit on a normal CD, I'm gong to say that the Top 16 are my essential Crowder tracks. And then, it's on to find the best of all.
Of course, with a collection as deep as Crowder's is, even picking 64 songs could be a challenge. We're going to help that along right now. First of all, I'm going to choose one version of each songs. Some of the more popular DCB songs have multiple versions, whether that be a remix or a live performance (At a Passion conference or otherwise). To keep it equal to all songs involved, I will choose just one version of any song with multiple versions. Let's do it:
I Need Words/God Of Wrath (Live): This is a really cool live version of some early material, and, personally speaking, it just comes across better than the recorded versions.
Undignified (Live): This is a song that just works better live with an excited crowd. A crowd that's into this song makes it much better than it might actually be.
How Great (Direct From Satellite City): I'm not normally a fan of remixes. And I guess this is more a remix/live version. But this particular version just hits me the right way. It's a different sound, but it works (Which, again, is not often the case with remixes).
Foreverandever, Etc. (Live): This version, from the Remedy Club Tour disc, is just plain fun, and it is the epitome of a live Crowder experience. The 80's interjection is a fun and amusing addition to an already pleasant song.
You Are My Joy (Live): It's the addition of the "La la's" that do it here. An already excellent song gets that live music feel, and it works to perfection.
We Win! (Live): This is yet another song where the live version gives it more than the recorded version does. The bridge echos turn it into an actual worship song, rather than just a relatively simplistic song.
I'm Trying To Make You Sing (Live): One of the only disappointments of A Collision was that the end of the CD really only gave you a snippet of what seemed like a really good song. This opening track from Remedy Club Tour changed that and gave me what I was looking for. It's a perfect "call to worship" type song, and I was incredibly happy to see it added to the live list.
...Neverending... (Live): This one honestly could have gone either way, as the recorded version is equally good. However, I'm a fan of being able to hear a crowd sing along and cheer in a worship setting, and that put this one, ever so slightly, over the top.
All Creatures #2: The original version of All Creatures Of Our God And King is very...traditional. While this version has a bit of that too, it's a welcome change and it's definitely the best version of this song.
Stars: A truly terrific worship song. The original is the best, without question. No remix or live version changes that.
Shadows (Live) (Featuring LeCrae): A surprising and awesome twist to Passion in recent years is the addition of LeCrae. This version shows off how well hip hop can work in worship, and a great song is made even better because of it.
Everybody Wants To Go To Heaven (LP): Another one of those "teaser" type songs from A Collision, this one was the intro to the entire CD. Taking it to the long play format on B Collision and giving it a darker bluegrass feel was a great move.
Come And Listen: Another song where putting it in the live format, while fine if you're at the concert, doesn't do the song justice compared to the recorded version.
Wholly Yours: Good song, simple song. And it sounds basically the same live, so there's no reason to switch to a different version.
No One Like You (Live): You can't really improve on the original (And I do love the ending of the recorded version), but hearing a massive crowd echo back on this song, and shouting out "Here we go!"...well, it's hard to top that as well.
I Saw The Light (Live): Such a fun song. It really has to be experienced live for the full effect (Side note: One of my only disappointments from the DCB collection is a lack of a live version of this like they did in recent years, which went into a bluegrass-style cover of I'll Fly Away).
Be Lifted Or Hope Rising: You don't need a live version to hear how incredible DCB could be. This song shows it all, going from a great rock beat with some "rock opera" flair...and then into some foot stompin' bluegrass flavors.
Never Let Go: The live version is great, but it doesn't do much different from the recorded version. And this is one where it's sometimes worth using solely for personal worship (And the addition of crowd noise may be a hindrance to that at times).
Surely We Can Change: Much like above, this can be a very introspective song, and that sometimes requires the lack of crowd noise to truly experience that moment of worship.
Sometimes: The recorded version is a little fuller than the live version in this case.
O Praise Him (All This For A King): Classic Crowder, no reason to try and make it better with any different version.
Open Skies: The recorded version just sounds better to me.
Here Is Our King: Another song that falls into the "Classic Crowder" category.
The Glory Of It All: The recorded and live versions are basically same. In this case, it's always best to default to the original version.
Everything Glorious: See above.
O, For A Thousand Tongues To Sing: The live version actually speeds this one up a hair which, dumb as it may sound to some, takes away some of the quality for me. Give me the recorded version.
Alleluia, Sing: The acoustic version from the Summer Happiness EP is good, but the build of the recorded version is just better.
SMS (Shine): The radio version is great for using in a corporate worship setting. But the original version tops it by a hair.
How He Loves: The radio version is amazing in a corporate worship setting. I'll still take the original studio version, though.
Oh, Happiness: Gotta have the synths in the beginning of this one. That's the only thing missing from the acoustic version.
After All (Holy): Great song in it's own right. No need for a remix on this one.
Intoxicating: The original version is just so much easier to follow than the remix.
A Beautiful Collision: The bluegrass variant is fun. The original is just better.
Do Not Move: Another one of those "The live version isn't adding anything" songs.
Can You Feel It?: Same as above. It's already a great song. The live atmosphere doesn't make it any better.
We Won't Be Quiet: Look, the live version's great. But the recorded version has Ted Nugent on guitar. You can't really argue with that.
And there we go. Now that every song is down to one version, I was able to set up my bracket. So out of the 100+ Crowder songs out there, I narrowed it down to my favorite 64. And then I separated them into four regions and seeded them as best I could. Those four regions:
The Acoustic Region: This is the region with more acoustically-driven or piano-driven songs. It also contains the best bluegrass songs.
The Live Region: Pretty self-explanatory. I ended up with 16 live songs, so it made perfect sense as a region.
The Worship Team Region: These are the songs you could reasonably expect to hear at your average "contemporary" church. Some of them fit for the Sunday morning team, some of them might fit with the youth team, but they'd all fit in a worship set list quite well.
The Grab Bag Region: The last 16 songs represent a different variety of Crowder's stylings and actually highlights very well the massive amount of talent and depth in Crowder's music. Experimental sounds, dance music, chances to rock out...it's all here.
I'm looking forward to this. The next few posts of this series will be the results of the first round for each region (I myself am excited for this, because I haven't even picked the winners yet, so I'll be interested to see if there are any upsets as well).
No comments:
Post a Comment