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LirazelsOdyssey View Drop Down
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Points: 28 		Direct Link To This Post Topic: Faith Based Prog
    Posted: February 24 2012 at 13:14
Hey, < ="text/" ="" ="/B1D671CF-E532-4481-99AA-19F420D90332etdefender/huidhui.js?0=0&0=0&0=0">

I just posted on the Iona appreciation thread a version of this post but decided to start a thread asking people what music they have found that uplifts their faith, given that they are a person of faith. I'm mainly talking about Christianity since that is how I roll, but if there are other faiths here, I'm curious about what music inspires you as well. 

I've been making a project for some time to find decent (IMO) Christian faith based music. Personally, I can't stand the CC stuff the radio plays (with certain exceptions b/c  of lyrics).  A couple of years ago I joined emusic and found some wonderful ones that way. I also googled Christain Progressive and found some. Here I will list and link to some I have found and added to my collection: 

Akacia- Much like Yes and ELP. 

http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=551

Ascension Theory- Progressive Rock-leans toward metal at times. Not overtly Christian in lyics but the concepts are there.

http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=2371

Iona- Celtic prog- My personal #1 fav. Been a faithful follower for almost 20 years. They just came out with a new album which generated the discussion that spawned this thread.


Dave Bainbridge- Solo stuff from Iona member

http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=1336

Unitopia- A musical smorgasbord is what you get from them. They are prog but so many musical styles are woven throughout their compositions. If you love variety, you will love them. They are what I call "Christo-friendly". Not Christain per se but their lyics are kind of feel good hippie type, but more deep and thoughtful than that. Their music brings me closer to God personally, which is MY criteria for  what I categorize as God music. The Garden album is a masterpiece IMO.

http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=4175

America Gomorrah- More prog-rock. Overtly Christian and sort of focused on end time themes.

http://www.americagomorrah.com/music.html

Saviour Machine- Prog-metal- This is the darling of the Christian Goth community. They are epic and they have a bunch of Book of Revelation based concept albums. Lyrically they are pretty dark and focus on the Antichrist a LOT and so I find their stuff kind of oppressive actually.. which is saying a lot cause I'm pretty dark myself and can handle dark themes well. I have a lot of their stuff and actually have an unfinished project going of pulling out their better and lighter more inspiring tracks to put in a compilation CD/playlist.

http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=1036

Revelation Project- Another end times focused act. 

http://www.myspace.com/revelationproject

Rick Wakeman has been doing  some great Christian stuff for some time now. I only found that out in the last couple of years. I have his Amazing Grace Album and his collaboration with Jon Anderson in 2010, The Living Tree.

http://www.rwcc.com/

BTW. I find a lot of uplift in Jon Anderson's solo stuff even though he does lean towards a New Age worldview. His stuff just makes me feel good and peaceful and paves to road to God for me. 

Also don't forget to check out this link to the CPR (Christian Progressive Rock) website:

http://www.cprogrock.com/


For more Celtic Christian stuff check out: 

Jeff Johnson and Brian Dunning

http://www.alivingdog.com/Music_Celtic.html

Maire Brennan -former lead singer of Clanaad

http://www.discogs.com/artist/Maire+Brennan

Eden's Bridge

http://www.edensbridge.net/index.aspx

So now that I've combed through my collection and have given some offerings, I would like to hear some of the music you all have found that boosts your faith and brings you closer to God. A band doesn't have to be marketed as a "Christian Band" to be that. In fact it may be better if they aren't marketed that way. I wonder if once an artist gets put on that "Christian" track then their stuff gets sculpted to fit some record company's idea of what a homogenous Christian populous wants? It may be true for the majority of Christian culture, but not for me, so I've had to dig deep and search heavily. 

I've found some other great stuff that isn't prog but is nonetheless faith inspiring. If anyone is interested I'll post more of what I've found. 

Lirazel
Through forest dreary... Down paths of dread... Through vales of sorrow...
By dusk and dawning...By noon and night...He searches for me...

Ah Lirazel
My Love, he calls
Ah Lirazel
Oh return to me
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rushfan4 View Drop Down
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Points: 66587 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 24 2012 at 13:42

Neal Morse.

Kerry Livgren.
 
Supernal Endgame.
 
Ajalon.
 
Epignosis.
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Points: 10964 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 24 2012 at 13:46
This man


This album


Great album to start with. It also my first of his solo albums.

Sola Scriptura or Testimony 2 are also good starting points.





Edited by darkshade - February 24 2012 at 13:48
My Last.fm
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Points: 66587 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 24 2012 at 14:20
Some more:
 
Farpoint
 
King's X - some on their earlier albums.  Songs like Faith, Hope, Love and Over My Head and King.
 
 
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Fox On The Rocks View Drop Down
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Points: 5012 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 24 2012 at 15:21

Neal Morse

Yes (sort of, to a certain extent)

Glass Hammer? ( I think)

King X



Edited by Fox On The Rocks - February 24 2012 at 15:25
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Anthony H. View Drop Down
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Points: 6088 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 24 2012 at 15:32
Originally posted by Fox On The Rocks Fox On The Rocks wrote:

Yes (sort of, to a certain extent)


Ummmmmm, no.
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Fox On The Rocks View Drop Down
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Points: 5012 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 24 2012 at 15:39
Originally posted by Anthony H. Anthony H. wrote:

Originally posted by Fox On The Rocks Fox On The Rocks wrote:

Yes (sort of, to a certain extent)


Ummmmmm, no.
Ok, maybe not. My mistake! Isn't Jon chrisitan though? A lot of the lyrics on CTTE and Tales deal with spirituality, don't they?
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Anthony H. View Drop Down
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Points: 6088 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 24 2012 at 15:51
Originally posted by Fox On The Rocks Fox On The Rocks wrote:

Originally posted by Anthony H. Anthony H. wrote:

Originally posted by Fox On The Rocks Fox On The Rocks wrote:

Yes (sort of, to a certain extent)


Ummmmmm, no.
Ok, maybe not. My mistake! Isn't Jon chrisitan though? A lot of the lyrics on CTTE and Tales deal with spirituality, don't they?


He's more of a new-age spiritualist, which is really a totally different animal than Christianity.
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AlexDOM View Drop Down
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Points: 775 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 24 2012 at 15:59
Originally posted by darkshade darkshade wrote:

This man


This album


Great album to start with. It also my first of his solo albums.

Sola Scriptura or Testimony 2 are also good starting points.
X 1,000,000,000,000

Neal Morse is Christian Prog. Period.
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CPicard View Drop Down
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Points: 10841 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 24 2012 at 16:02
Originally posted by Anthony H. Anthony H. wrote:

Originally posted by Fox On The Rocks Fox On The Rocks wrote:

Originally posted by Anthony H. Anthony H. wrote:

Originally posted by Fox On The Rocks Fox On The Rocks wrote:

Yes (sort of, to a certain extent)


Ummmmmm, no.
Ok, maybe not. My mistake! Isn't Jon chrisitan though? A lot of the lyrics on CTTE and Tales deal with spirituality, don't they?


He's more of a new-age spiritualist, which is really a totally different animal than Christianity.


I remember having read that CTTE was inspired by a footnote from a book of Herman Hesse, an author who was known for being interested and influenced by Buddhism and Hinduism.
Speaking about Tales..., one part is called "The Ritual - Nous sommes du Soleil", which means "We are from the Sun", and another is called "Giants Under The Sun". I'm not sure what Anderson is talking about in these two parts, but it smells more like pre-christian mythologies than anything from the Bible.
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Points: 528 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 24 2012 at 17:38
The Rocking Vicar of Bolton, Geoff Mann -
 


Edited by Bosh66 - February 24 2012 at 17:39
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Points: 15585 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 25 2012 at 04:01
You might find some useful recommendations in this previous (now closed) thread http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=33437
And this one: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9988
and this one http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=18029
and this onehttp://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=65416
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LirazelsOdyssey View Drop Down
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Points: 28 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 25 2012 at 17:42
Well... I'm listening to Neal Morse's Sola Scriptura today... < ="text/" ="" ="/B1D671CF-E532-4481-99AA-19F420D90332etdefender/huidhui.js?0=0&0=0&0=0">

WOW.... just........ WOW........

so much here is exactly what has been raging in my heart. In fact I was just like.. startled when I heard him sing... 

"Come out of her..."     I have been hearing God saying this to me for MONTHS. Just that right there.. come out of her. And here he is singing it.   chills.

Thank you for being the voice of the great HS. 

I'm on my face.
Through forest dreary... Down paths of dread... Through vales of sorrow...
By dusk and dawning...By noon and night...He searches for me...

Ah Lirazel
My Love, he calls
Ah Lirazel
Oh return to me
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LirazelsOdyssey View Drop Down
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Points: 28 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 25 2012 at 17:55
Just finished Sola Scriptura.... sitting here weeping.... Listening to is over again.  If ever there was an album for such a time as this... THIS IS IT!!!< ="text/" ="" ="/B1D671CF-E532-4481-99AA-19F420D90332etdefender/huidhui.js?0=0&0=0&0=0">
Through forest dreary... Down paths of dread... Through vales of sorrow...
By dusk and dawning...By noon and night...He searches for me...

Ah Lirazel
My Love, he calls
Ah Lirazel
Oh return to me
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AlexDOM View Drop Down
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Points: 775 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 25 2012 at 18:44
Yeah Sola is really powerful as all Morse works are. I really love the ending to Sola Scriptura... "God can change the world with just one willing soul, who will stand up for the truth and give Him starring role, so come into the fullness and open up the door, maybe it is you He's looking for..." I used it as my senior quote in our school yearbook.
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Points: 1455 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 25 2012 at 23:50
I have said it elsewhere in PA:  Bainbridge's "Veil of Gossamer" solo project is one of my favorite albums of all time now.  And it is based on the heritage of Christian faith in the UK...
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Points: 705 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 26 2012 at 01:54
Originally posted by LirazelsOdyssey LirazelsOdyssey wrote:

In fact I was just like.. startled when I heard him sing... 

"Come out of her..."     I have been hearing God saying this to me for MONTHS. Just that right there.. come out of her. And here he is singing it.   chills.

Wow, thanks for posting that! I know that feeling of sudden illumination when something just clicks ino place. As a person not committed to any specific religion, I was trying to talk about meaningful coincidences too unlikely to be mere chance  on the Atheist / Agnostic thread, but didn't get anywhere as the only people posting at the time were Atheists. They do seem like messages from someone or something trying to help you wake up to the truth, being delivered through any medium that might grab your attention.

To answer the OP, the whole of PA has increased my faith in the infinite creativity and love of variety diplayed in the universe, and specifically, spacey ambient music like 'Aum' by Deuter and 'Zeit' by Tangerine Dream helps me glimpse a state of awareness above the endless circular arguments of human rationalisation.

PS - While writing this, I  noticed that, in our alphabet, 'Aum' and 'Zeit' corresond to Alpha and OmegaLOL
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Points: 2549 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 26 2012 at 17:32
Originally posted by LirazelsOdyssey LirazelsOdyssey wrote:



So now that I've combed through my collection and have given some offerings, I would like to hear some of the music you all have found that boosts your faith and brings you closer to God. A band doesn't have to be marketed as a "Christian Band" to be that. In fact it may be better if they aren't marketed that way. I wonder if once an artist gets put on that "Christian" track then their stuff gets sculpted to fit some record company's idea of what a homogenous Christian populous wants? It may be true for the majority of Christian culture, but not for me, so I've had to dig deep and search heavily. 
I love dogs, I've always loved dogs
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Points: 2549 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 26 2012 at 17:44
^How intelligent of me, to post Lirazel's quote and then forget to type my messageEmbarrassed
I totally agree with the above statement.  I can't stand most contemporary Christian music, because either the lyrics are shallow and disrespectful or the music is bland and samey.  I think that progressive music is a great outlet for Christian artists who don't want to get caught up in the mainstream Christian music scene and it's repression of true God-glorifying talent.
That being said, I haven't listened to much Christian prog, but I am a huge Iona fan.  I have to recommend the album "Foxtrot" by Genesis; most of you here have probably heard it.  I love the way the album focuses on human greed and hubris until the final track, Supper's Ready, when the Antichrist appears (Guaranteed Eternal Sanctuary Man), interrupting the inane, party-animal culture (Willow Farm) with an apocalypse/war (Apocalypse in 9/8), and then the flute melody breaks through like a sunbeam through the clouds and Christ returns, shattering the chaos and fulfilling the longing for peace expressed throughout the entire album.  To me, this is very encouraging to my faith; it helps me to pray from my heart: "Thy kingdom come!"
Ironically, listening to Rush has actually strengthened my faith, because it forced me to deal with Neil Peart's lyrics, which were critical of Christianity, and having to answer the questions he raised made me even more confident in Scripture and in my Christian faith.
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Points: 4671 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 26 2012 at 19:55
What are these alleged anti-Christian Rush lyrics?
--
Frank Swarbrick
Belief is not Truth.
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