Description
Love Songs and Prayers: A Retrospective is a compilation album by the American alternative rock band The Choir, released on Myrrh Records November 1995, a division of Word. Also distributed by Epic Records, a division of Sony Music.
The Choir was initially concerned when Myrrh Records announced their intention of doing a “best of” record, but the band’s fears were allayed when Myrrh allowed them the freedom to choose the songs themselves. The title Love Songs and Prayers was suggested by saxophonist Dan Michaels, who had heard drummer and lyricist Steve Hindalong use the term to describe The Choir’s music in an interview. The term then guided the band in which songs to select for the compilation, which makes it the first best-of record in Christian music market – if not music in general – that also qualifies as a concept album.
Although released by Myrrh, the record is a comprehensive single-disc look at the band’s career, as it includes songs from all their albums, including their Broken, Shadow and Glasshouse releases, presented in chronological order. Because of the band’s general dislike of best-of records, which are often a lazy collection of previously released tracks, The Choir made an effort to include unreleased or remixed versions of their music. To that end, an early recording of “A Million Years” had to be mastered from the 45 rpm single, when the original studio recording couldn’t be found. To close out the record, The Choir includes a brief snippet of a live performance, recorded many months prior to the release of their debut album, Voices in Shadows.
After a decade of recording daringly progressive Christian music, the Choir issued this best-of compilation, chronicling their evolution from a pop group named the Youth Choir to an aggressively noisy guitar-rock band. The Youth Choir stuff is omitted, but their early art-pop is not – including «Render Love», a CCM radio hit from the first Choir record. Consequently, there’s a great deal of variety on this compilation. This band’s music is perhaps most enjoyable one album at a time, since each record creates its own distinctive atmosphere. But the regrouping of these songs does call attention to certain constants in the Choir’s sound: dark instrumentation, almost twisted childlike imagery, amiable melodies, and of course Derri Daugherty‘s boyish vocals. The result of this interesting mix is (and has always been) a sense of persistent hopefulness in the face of darkness; of wonder and evil and repulsion and innocence all mixed up together. [Darryl Cater, AMG]
This retrospective spans the band’s history, from a sound check in 1980 up to tracks from the ‘Speckled Bird‘ release of ’94. Mellow is the key word, laid back love songs and prayers (surprisingly enough), in a style not a million miles from U2. I was particularly touched by a number of the 17 tracks: «Car Etc», with its lyric, “It’s not a black heart where I feel/ Washed in blood each time I kneel”; «So Far Away»; «Merciful Eyes» and «A Sentimental Song». The quality of the songwriting progresses through the album and the lyrics are consistently good. The only real gripe is the smart blue cardboard case, which everyone seems to like aesthetically, is too big for my CD rack! (Perhaps a ploy to make you play it all the time!) [Sam Hargreaves, Cross Rhythms, April 1996]
> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/love-songs-and-prayers-a-retrospective/1507706709)
CD tracklist:
01. A Million Years (Unreleased Version) – 3:31
02. All Night Long (Unreleased Version) – 5:19
03. Render Love – 4:12
04. Black Cloud – 3:40
05. Consider – 4:06
06. Sad Face – 4:52
07. So Far Away – 4:50
08. Clouds – 6:04
09. To Bid Farewell – 4:37
10. Car, Etc. (Unreleased Special Radio Mix) – 4:33
11. Merciful Eyes – 4:55
12. Restore My Soul – 6:34
13. A Sentimental Song – 5:01
14. Like A Cloud – 2:06
15. Gripped – 4:21
16. Grace – 3:07
17. Live: Postlude (Unreleased Live Performance) – 1:08
Note: The CD was not released in a traditional jewel box, but rather, in gatefold cardboard packaging.
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