I am pretty finicky about
two things: food and music. On the food side, I tend to avoid jams, jellies,
butter, tomatoes, fish, bacon, and cake. I like cheese pizza and vanilla ice
cream because you can’t mess those up.
On the music spectrum though I’m all over the map. I only have one rule. If
it’s out there and if it’s good, I’ll listen. However, there is one type
of music that I tend to avoid like a plague - acappella pop.
You all remember the group, Rockapella, right? Every time their
coffee commercial came on I couldn’t turn the channel fast enough.
It just wasn’t a genre that my ears tuned in to. Acappella pop seemed cheap
and goofy. I hadn’t listened to it since college and hadn’t planned on
listening to it since. Like Nathaniel, I found myself asking, “Can anything
good come from acappella pop?”
Along came Eric Gwin. Eric and I have been attending church together for
the past three years. Eric and I hit it off pretty well because we both have a
passion for great music. I only listen to great music, Eric makes it.
The Calling is, flat-out, a great album. Where most acappella albums
sound over dubbed (all parts are reproduced vocally), The Calling sounds
natural. Where most acappella lyrics tend to give me cavities because of their
saccharine sweetness, Eric’s lyrics pour forth from a heart tuned to
worshipping Jesus Christ. You can hear the truthfulness of this man because the
music compliments the lyrics. This is real music.
The quality of this album matches anything you’ve heard. I played some of
Eric’s stuff to a group of teens. I placed my favorite track, “The Light”,
in a playlist consisting of artists like TobyMac, Matisyahu, and Third Day. The
students didn’t miss a beat. The acappella music held its own. Students bobbed
their head, tapped their feet, and drummed on the table. The only thing that
they noticed about the music was that they liked it.
You know what, I not only liked it, I loved it. I have found myself reaching for
the CD time and time again. I know you will too.
So if you find yourself asking, “Can anything good come from acappella pop?”
my answer to you is a resounding, “Come and see! Come and see!”
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Micheal Felker is a minister whose insightful spiritual view of everyday occurrences on his Kicking at the Darkness Blog Site has earned him quite a large readership. You can check out his thoughts on a regular basis by reading them on his website: www.michealfelker.com |