I have written before that I love music. I enjoy a wide range of music. These are some albums that I would consider being near perfect. I find it hard to find a bad song on the albums, outside of maybe 1 song. And in some cases, I can find no bad songs at all. These are all albums that I will gladly listen to over and over again, and I have done that with all of these. I know most, if not all, the songs right when they start playing and I can sing along with the songs. (please note that these are not in any specific order)
- The Light of Things Hoped For – Brave Saint Saturn
- The Greatest Showman – Cast Recording – Movie
- Beyond Belief – Petra
- Vice Verses – Switchfoot
- mmhmm – Relient K
- Title of Show – Cast Recording – Musical
- The Last of the Mohicans – Movie Score – Trevor Jones
- Star Trek 3: The Search for Spock – Movie Score – James Horner
- The Offspring – Smash
As you can see on this list I have Christian music, I have movie scores, I have a movie cast recording, and I have a secular musical. These are albums that I think are nearly perfect. They are great to listen to from beginning to end (mostly). All these albums have meaning to me. Some were introduced to me, Beyond Belief, and others were just the next album of a band I liked and it happened to be a great album, mmhmm.
There is power in the words of these albums. The Light of Things Hoped For is part 2 in a story about depression and coming out of it. I named my daughter after one of the songs on this album. The Greatest Showman is invigorating from beginning to end, and I and my family love to belt out the words to these songs. Beyond Belief was my first introduction to Christian rock when I was young and impacted me in a major way. Vice Verses is a recent addition to the list and the words just touch on feelings that resonate with me. mmhmm is fun and has great singable songs. Title of Show is a musical that was fun to watch, and the songs tell a great story there as well. Smash was my first real introduction to punk, and it drew me in to that music. In the case of The Last of the Mohicans and Star Trek 3 those albums just draw me into the moment. I can be doing anything and if something from this album starts to play I always tend to pause for at least a moment to take in the music.
I am going to write about each of these specifically over time. I will talk about certain songs specifically and what they mean to me and what I hear in the words and language of the songs. It may not be what the artists meant by them, but what I get out of them.