Rating: 
Summary: It?s Only Rock and Roll . . . But I Like It!
Review: As a few of the reviews make clear, this book may not be for uptight Christians who worry about whether their particular brand of thinking gets promoted at the expense of everyone else's. No, this is a book about ROCK AND ROLL and it is targeted for Christians who ENJOY rock and roll. Powell celebrates the oft-maligned world of Christian rock, finding something good in everything and helping even the most suspicious potential fan to discover what they've been missing. Some Christian music fans and especially media and industry personnel like to obsess over all sorts of stuff, but Powell just cuts through it all and gets us to the music. Powell may be a famous theologian, but this is not a theology book-it's a book about Rock and Roll. That said, it would be passing strange if one of the world's top theologians wrote a book about Christian music and didn't offer any commentary on the theological perspectives of the various artists. These occasional comments (helpful to pastors and church leaders) led one reviewer here to claim the work is "theologically biased," but actually, Powell's own views (he's a self-described "conservative evangelical pietist") are rarely in evidence-he just occasionally identifies trajectories in the works of some artists that might be offensive to some people (not necessarily to him). Bottom line: Powell is certainly not "perjorative" against those who don't share his theological orientation; rather he is mildly critical of all perspectives (including his own) when they display insensitivity to the concerns of others. But 99% of the book's readers won't care about any of that anyway-and 99% of the time Powell wisely eschews any attention to internal arguments about Christian theology and just gives us the rock and roll. If you like rock and roll (i.e., if you enjoy it), you'll love this book.
Rating: 
Summary: No Need For Verbose Reviews
Review: Believe it or not, it isn't necessary to spew adjectives to give an honest critique of this work. The book is almost exhaustive (not quite) and includes a number of unexpected names. The volume of information is tediously fascinating - something that would appeal to anyone seeking such a book. That is the great strength of the work, Powell obviously went to great lengths to collect and present an encyclopedia's worth of information on a topic with narrow appeal. It is surprising, however, that there isn't more negative feedback (among other reviewers) regarding Powell's inclusion of personal opinion along with the facts. In that sense, this isn't an encyclopedia at all, but a series of artist reviews with an inordinate amount of fact and trivia included. No matter what the reader's theological persuasion, it soon becomes irritating to see, time and again, Powell chide musicians for taking a particular theological stance with which he disagrees. Dismissive at times, and occasionally insulting, Powell tarnishes his own wonderful work by castigating those who do not fall in line with his theology. His strong theological opinion is not completely surprising, since Powell is a Theologian, but it is unwarranted and unwanted in such a work. It begs the question - what might this encyclopedia have been like if the labor had been shared and a team of writers had combined their effort? The trivial minutia keeps me interested, but the repeated intrusion of castigating annotations forces me to skip sections until I get past them and return to the nuts and bolts. I certainly have no regrets that I purchased this book, but unfortunately it isn't the masterwork it could have been and will remain a good first effort. If we are fortunate it will be followed by better works to come.
Rating:
Summary: Christian Music Gets Taken Seriously At Last
Review: Christian rock is adored by a few but is generally ignored within the world of pop music at large and within most segments of Christianity (outside a little ghetto of "evangelical" Christians who sometimes think they are the only ones). Now, in one fell swoop, that has changed forever. Mark Allan Powell is a world-famous theologian and also a professional rock critic who has worked in the secular field for over 30 years. With this book, for the first time in history, Christian rock is being taken seriously within wider parameters of both religion and culture. He didn't need to do this, and I guess he's not getting anything for it (donating royalties) but he offers it to church and society as "a gift-and as a tribute to some people (the artists) who have made (his) life more meaningful and enjoyable."
What's most important is that the book is a critical resource, not just a collection of press releases. Powell provides all the necessary info about every artist and then also summarizes major reviews of their work that have appeared in the Christian media (gripes from some reviewers about Powell being too "opinionated" fail to notice that 98% of the "opinions" are those of other critics, which he merely reports). Such attention to critical reception is absolutely essential for Christian music ever being taken seriously outside of its own little fan club. Powell obviously loves this music and strives to put a positive spin on every artist, even those who have been trashed by other critics. Still, he is more interested in promoting Christ than any particular singer or band, much less himself or his own ideas. .... The book is a simply incredible achievement that will be deeply appreciated by all but the most small-minded.
Rating:
Summary: Everything You Could Want, And Then . . . Something More!
Review: First, this book does deliver everything that anybody could ever want in a reference book on Christian music. Every artist who has ever contributed anything to the field is included. There are complete discographies, personnel lists for bands, bios of the artists with updates on what they're doing now, summaries of album reviews, and lists of chart hits. That's the "data" part of the book, and for some that may be all they want or need. The "something more" is that the author also provides his own critical analysis of the music. This is easy to skip, if you don't care about it. But many will find this to be the most engaging part of the book. It isn't commentary by just anyone. Although he modestly claims to be just "a noisy fan," Mark Allan Powell is in fact one of the most prominent theologians of the late twentieth-century. He doesn't bother to mention that he has a PhD in theology, much less that he has published countless highly-praised books and garnered all sorts of awards and honors in his field. Still, he writes in such a humorous and friendly, easy-going style that you'd never suspect it's the same guy responsible for all those egghead, intellectual tomes that most of us probably could never understand (of course, he's also been a professional music critic for about thirty years now, writing about rock and roll "as a hobby" for newspapers and popular magazines). Powell presents his book as a gift to Christian music artists, industry, and fans--"people who have made my life more pleasant and meaningful." What a gift it is! This is the first time that anyone of this stature has ever even noticed the little "parallel universe" of Christian rock, much less taken such care to document it or invested himself so personally in commenting on it. The comments are so incisive that, even if they were negative, the criticism would be welcome. But-good news!-he loves the music and consistently discovers what is best about every artist. The book isn't just informative-it's positive, upbeat, inspiring, and a whole lot of fun!
Rating:
Summary: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Review: From the sleepy title, I expected "Amy Grant" to be the hardest rocking entry, but a majority of the 1900 plus artists profiled are justifiably termed "rock": Stryper? Sam Phillips? Mortal? Deliverance? P.O.D.? MXPX? Yup. They're all here. Powell's original title was much more telling: "Parallel Universe: A Critical Guide to Popular Christian Music." Powell is nothing if not critical. "Opinionated" was the word the store clerk used. So are all the great rock writers; so are all the great rock books, and despite its encyclopedic format, this is a great rock book. Surprisingly, the author is Professor of New Testament at Trinity Lutheran Seminary; not surprisingly, therefore, he argues with the theology in some songs. For instance, he doesn't agree with the idea of "the rapture" popularized by Hal Lindsey's book, The Late Great Planet Earth, and the "Left Behind" series, and prevalent in numerous Jesus Movement-era songs. Most significantly, he takes these artists and their music seriously. This gives the whole genre of gospel rock more signficance than it is often felt to warrant, and certainly more than the tag "ccm" suggests. If rock rings true, it's because it's about real life. CCM, on the other hand, often sounds phony, stressing the ideal over the real, and marketing over the music. This has left many artists confused, angry and disenchanted. Powell deftly captures the undercurrent of alienation, and the love/hate relationships many artists have with their labels. He also graphs the rise of independent labels like Tooth'n'Nail, and the backlash against business-as-usual "corporate rock." The result is that many artists emerge as "survivors"--ground up and spit out of the music machine, but still standing; Powell's underlying conviction is that it doesn't have to be that way. Accordingly, he doesn't sidestep the divorces and drugs, lies and lawsuits that attend real history; rather than tarnish these artists, the effect is to increase their street credibility: they emerge as real people instead of cardboard cutouts. By even greater magic of his pen, Powell makes us see all that out-of-print vinyl as a significant part of music history--far too important to relegate to the dustbin of "cookie-cutter" ccm. Some of the short entries are too short, and many are incomplete, understandable given the mammoth scope of the project. Powell wisely chose to include brief entries when information was unavailable, rather than leave artists out. Some of the long pieces, however, are truly outstanding; the ten page Bob Dylan bio ranks among the best bits on that artist I have read. Again and again I looked up obscure artists I was sure would not be among those present: Larry Norman; After the Fire; Malcom and Alwyn; the Lead; Andy Pratt; Robin Lane; Cliff Richard--each time I was amazed to find that Powell had already been there and done that. The hefty price tag will likely keep the ECCM off most fan's light reading list, but Powell includes a searchable CD Rom disc and websites for bands to pump up the value, and at 1,088 pages, it's really more reading than three Harry Potter books. Professor Powell has done music fans a great service with this ground- breaking book, unearthing more than forty years of virtually unknown history--yet for all that, it's a very enjoyable read.
Rating:
Summary: From an included musician
Review: I am having such a wonderful time catching up with "old friends". I say "having" because it would take almost the whole 7 years Dr. Powell spent writing the book, to actually read it from cover to cover. It is full of anecdotes, information, backgrounds and the trivia that connected all of us who worked so hard to make music that told our generation about Jesus. While we are covered "warts and all", as one reviewer has said, the author was careful to check out facts and only publish information that was already public knowledge - there is no dirt-digging, backbiting or tabloid aspect to the reviews. Reading it on the CD-ROM is especially nice since every mention of reviewed artists is highlighted and linked to their portions, and all artists with current websites are linked to their parts of the book, so jumping around within genres or groups is quick and easy. I'll be interested in how it goes for the publisher to have provided the CD-ROM with the book, since its inclusion no doubt has made the "used" copies so easily available. Thanks for all your work, your humor and your tender spirit, Dr. Powell.
Rating:
Summary: IT IS ABOUT TIME!!!
Review: I have always hoped a book such as this would get written. I have many mainstream rock encyclopediasbut always wished there was one for CCM, and now there is, and it is AWESOME. Of course all the greats are here and well written about. He covers their music, their lives (where applicable) their strengths and weaknesses, their take on what is CCM. He gets into some of the artists belief systems-it's just an all around fantastic book. Some of the artists covered surprised me (ie Clockwise, Battlecry). Some of the information left out puzzled me. No mention of the fact that Galactic Cowboys came from the band Awful Truth (Enigma selftitled 1989). The fact that Chris Eaton was in the Mark Williamson Band (Missing In Action -Myrrh 1984). The band members of Mass:Louie St. August, Gene D'itria, Kevin Varrio and Joe "vee" Vadalia. Some bands/artists that weren't mentioned: Larry Bryant(The Artist-Light 1984), D.O.X (S/T Frontline 1986 produced by Terry Scott Taylor), Dual Edge (Knock Em Alive-Intense 1987), First Love Band (Thin Ice-Morada-1983), Force 3 (warrior of Light-Pure Metal-1988), Giant Killer(Valley of Decison-Star Song-1981), Jimmy Jines (Heart of Love-Straight Ahead-1985), Joseph Lamm-Standing In The Tower-HMS-1988), Dawn Rodgers(Srtaight to the Heart-Word-1986), Smyrna Band - (S/T-Morada-1984, and Lynn Sutter (Everlasting Love-Daysprin-1978 and Movin' On-Crescendo-1984). The one part that really impressed me, however was the section on Marsha Stevens. I wondered why someone I had never heard of has such a large write up. Then when I read it, the reason I never heard of he came clear. She was gay. Well so am i. And I quit the church because of that issue. I worked in a bible bookstore years ago (that's why i know all the above mentioned artists) and have never heard of her. For bringing Marsha, her music and plight to my attention I truly thank Powell. I was also surprised to read about Doug Pinnock being gay. King's x is one of my all time favorite bands. And last week's Advocate had a great interview with him. I am glad his bandmates are accepting of his sexual oientation.So bottom line -If you were like me and wish there was a great source fo information on CCM-this is the one to buy. Even though I may not be involved in any church as such I never lost my love for the great music-BUY THIS BOOK!
Rating: 
Summary: A Proud Member of Petra's Hate Group Evincers
Review: I wanted to like this book. A colossal amount of work went into it. But Powell is insanely arrogant about his views. I guess I'm the only one for whom this evinced disgust; I lost count of the times he called a song "dumb", "lame", an album "bad", or people who disagree with his views "obtuse".
But he isn't critical of bands like Collective Soul, who are about as cutting edge as a floppy disk, because he is enamored of bands that evince ambiguity about their Christianity.
He's laughably contradictory at times -- calling the first Daniel Amos album an "Eagles rip-off" and then lauding how it stands up to most Eagles recordings. I guess it evinced awe at their ability to copy something. Since DA is not part of the mainstream, it's okay for them to "rip-off" someone, whereas a band like Petra would be shredded for such a thing.
His treatment of Petra evinced my low rating. He used the h-word - hate (he also manages to get in another h-word, Hitler). "Christians-as-hate-group" is how he describes "Armed and Dangerous". He disses songs like "He Came, He Saw" and "Get on Your Knees and Fight Like a Man" for having an "ideology that fueled the Crusades and the Inquisition." Songs that celebrate Christ's resurrection and trumpet using prayer rather than force to overcome problems, respectively, somehow evince hate and intolerance? Give me a break. And he calls the '90s (post-Beyond Belief) Petra's best decade. That's like giving U2 the album of this decade when only two years have gone by -- which he does. He overlooks heartfelt looks at Christ's sacrifice and suffering like "King's Ransom" and "All Over Me" when denouncing Petra's emphasis on Christ's triumph and victory at the cross -- this is because he's not very familiar with their work, as evinced by his printing "King's Reunion" instead of "King's Ransom" in the radio hits section (not the only song of theirs he misnames). That's no typo, that's ignorance - which he is wont to mention is a hallmark of the "fundamentalist Christians" he loves to ridicule. Christian music that tries to be positive is considered artificial, because life is hard - if an artist doesn't spend all his time evincing sorrow or confused looks from his audience he's a slave to the Religious Right. His facts are egregiously wrong in bands he rips and bands he praises. From the glowing King's X review: Doug Pinnick says "I guess I lost my faith" in "Lookin' for Love", not "Sometime"; Ty Tabor is the only member of King's X who identifies himself as a Christian, yet Powell claims their "somewhat ambiguous status" in the Christian music scene is because of the shallowness evinced by the people in the Christian "ghetto", a bigoted way to look at people who like the "dumb" music that Powell condemns. People call his writing witty -- few people are really witty, least of all ever-evincing Powell. Someone referenced his humor by quoting "bad music about God by white people", which wasn't his comment, but was evinced by Joe Bob Briggs. Yes, he quotes Joe Bob Briggs, who apparently was taking a break from evincing his review of "Leprechaun 6". ...P>My tastes and "history" are weighted toward hard rock/ heavy metal and this guy clearly is not very familiar with those bands, so the reviews are replete with typos and commentary that evinces an air of unfamiliarity. In the end, this was too big a task for one person to evince. There are many styles represented, and an expert within each style - say Doug Van Pelt doing metal -- should have been given parts of the book to evince. Last, where is Ozzy Osbourne? My friend told me "he's a Christian because he said `God bless you' at one of his concerts," so, by Powell's definition, my friend, a "self-confessed fan of CCM," saw a perceived connection to Christianity there, so Ozzy should have been included. And don't forget that Black Sabbath sang "After Forever." Maybe the Religious Right wouldn't allow them in - it would have evinced too much ill will. Or maybe Powell's definition stinks.
Rating:
Summary: Amazingly comprehensive...and theologically biased
Review: I've got to hand it to Mark Allan Powell. This book is an incredible achievement. If he missed even the most obscure bands and artists in the realm of contemporary Christian music, I sure wouldn't know about it. Mainstream artists who have alluded, however obliquely, to Christianity are also, thankfully, included. Some may feel like this volume is even TOO inclusive (I mean, Rick James? Come on!) This is a monumental work that every music fan should own, Christian or not, because it deals with a very important stratus of contemporary music. The breadth of differing approaches of musicians to their art runs the gamut from those who use music as a purely evangelistic tool to those who do music for it's own sake. The author seems to have a problem with bands who have an "altar-call" mentality, and more than once refers to individual salvation experiences as "individualistic", as if it were some kind of disease. The fine distinction between "evangelical" and "fundamentalist" seems to be lost on the author as well, as it is on many who occupy the more mainline religious traditions. Just because I'd much rather listen to U2 than to Petra doesn't mean I don't appreciate what Petra is trying to do with their music and their ministry. It is the nature of a reviewer to be opinionated, but some readers of a more conservative bent might get a little irritated at how the author continually wears his theological biases on his sleeve. The bottom line is this: this is a must-own for Christian music fans, as one could lose him/herself in this massive book for days on end. On it's comprehensiveness alone it deserves 5+ stars, but I have to dock it a star because much of the tone toward artists that don't happen to share the author's theological orientation is needlessly perjorative.
Rating:
Summary: Warning: This book may be hazardous to your health.
Review: If you are a fan of CCM, get lots of sleep before cracking this book. From Transformation Crusade to Tourniquet to Twila, they're all here. I was hard pressed to find a single act not given a mention here. Powell does a good job of devoting the right amount of space to acts depending on the impact and longevity. Drawbacks: Every now and then, Powell allows more of his commentary to come through than one would expect in an "Encyclopedia." In my opinion he was unfair to certain artists (especially Petra). He loves to throw in comparisons to certain bands, especially U2. Comparisons are vital in such a tome and this is fine regarding say, DC Talk's "The Hardway," but seeing it with bands such as East West gets, as he would put it, tiresome. The thorough and well-crafted writing more than makes up for these minor drawbacks, and ECCM gets an easy 5 stars for effort. Another plus, the CD Rom is a keystroke of genius. Entries are linked with official web sites, and cross references are linked to their own entries. The huge variety of the artists contained in this book is a testimony to the diversity within the body of Christ.
|
