Track Listing

1. What If His People Prayed
2. If We Are The Body
3. Voice Of Truth
4. Who Am I
5. American Dream
6. Here I Go Again
7. Praise You With The Dance
8. Glory
9. Life Of Praise
10. Your Love Is Extravagant

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8946 in Music
• Released on: 2005-10-01
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

CD Description
Christian rock music's detractors often cite the eternally sunny, feel-good "I'm okay, you're okay" attitude of many CCM albums as a quality antithetical to real rock & roll. While Casting Crowns certainly offer their fair share of optimistic praise, the group also takes a page from the original 1960's San Francisco Jesus Freak movement's aggressively evangelical book. On several songs, lead vocalist/lyricist Mark Hall quite directly points out the disparity between the Bible's teaching and the world's shortcomings, calling out all manners of hypocrisy, materialism, and cowardice, and then demanding an explanation. This unusually forceful message is framed in an appropriately bombastic arena-rock sound that recalls the heyday of bands like Asia and Kansas. In addition,Hall's voice is a powerful tool perfectly suited to throwing around a little fire and brimstone, often sounding like a cross between Nickelback's Chad Kroeger and Ronnie Van Zant of Lynyrd Skynyrd. A refreshingly unabashed statement of Christian fundamentalism in the literal sense of the term, CASTING CROWNS offers an energetic and tuneful missive.

Customer Reviews

Six songs give it 5 Stars!
I do not normally write reviews on to Amazon, infact I believe this is my first but I was compelled to write a review for this album as after listening to it:

The first six songs on this album are put quite simply some of if not the best songs ive heard! The best way to describe them I believe is that they have the lyrical quality and passion of the great worship leaders like Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman and Tim Hughes, combined with the powerful music of the likes of Switchfoot at their best!! These are the first songs ive heard that show the passion of a heart longing to discover Jesus more and more along with big booming choruses and beautiful use of instruments! Simply fantastic!

Wwll, the next four are a little bit of a letdown, they are excellent praise songs but they pale so badly in comparison to the first six that they do not get the credit they deserve! Think of these as more of the catchy side of Passion, I personally think Passion do it better but they are still excellent in their own right.

If you like the beginning of this album and haven't yet then i'd highly recommend also picking up Switchfoot - The Beautiful Letdown!

Anyone who has a heart for Christ and/or lovers top quality music whether the artists really believe what they're singing pick this up! Top stuff!

the full package
A gripe I have with many Christian bands is that they don't seem to be able to wrap up meaningful lyrics, strong music, passion and personality in one consistent package. When I first heard "If We Are the Body" from this album, I was very impressed. Would the rest of the album consist of one or two more great songs and then seven or eight duds?

Nope. While the first six songs and the last four songs are dramatically different in theme and tone, all are extremely well-written, insightful and powerful. Mark Hall has some of the sharpest lyrics going, exploring the power of prayer (and the absence of prayer), our responsibilities as the body of Christ, the power of faith, the power of God's grace, the futility of working for earthly treasures and the importance of our personal witness. And that's just the first six songs.

We are then thrown into four praise songs, which slightly upset the flow, but perhaps bring a much needed lift after such a deep and introspective start. While the final song, Your Love Is Extravagant, is a nice finish, to me it seems out of place as the only song without Mark Hall's contribution to lyrics and music. But hey, this is an excellent album, minor quirks and all.

Larry Hehn, author of Get the Prize: Nine Keys for a Life of Victory

Debut of the Year
I really didn’t intend to buy this CD yet. I was just going to listen to a demo and get it later. But after listening to the demo, I had to buy it. It’s that good.

The CD opens with two very challenging songs to the church at large. “What if His People Prayed” is a challenge about the forgotten power of prayer. I expect to here it as the theme for the National Day of Prayer in the future. “If We Are the Body” challenges us to reach out to those in need. Both are needed in my life, and are presented with catchy melodies that help you think about them even when you aren’t listening to this CD.

The next two tracks are an encouragement to Christians. “Voice of Truth” is a prayer for more faith and a commitment to listen to God, who gives it. “Who Am I” is the kind of song I love, an expression of wonder and gratitude that “the Lord of all creation would care to know my name.”

“American Dream” reminds us to slow down and not get caught up in the world around us. And “Here I Go Again” is a prayer for the courage to share our faith with others.

The last four songs are praise choruses. While they are good, they don’t hold up to the song writing of the first six songs, which alone are enough to make the price of the CD worth while.

With catchy melodies and thought provoking lyrics, this CD should do well at radio and win the group many new fans. I’m enjoying this release immensely and look forward to whatever they may come up with next.