Music Monday - #4

OK, class, in case you missed them, first a recap:

Music Monday - #1
Music Monday - #2
Music Monday - #3


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After a series of brilliant recordings, The House Of Love broke up over a dozen years ago, never to return. Well, it appears that never is now.

THOL reformed this past year, and just last month released a gorgeous new album, "Days Run Away," to the UK-only, although it can be ordered via Amazon or downloaded from iTunes.

I maintain it's one of the best albums released so far this year, but if you don't believe me, listen for yourself. Go to the band's website and click on 'audio' in the lower left-hand side of the screen to hear to the first four tracks, in streaming audio.

The entire new CD is very good, but the second track, the single "Gotta Be That Way," is as fine a slice of pop-rock heaven as you'll hear all this year, absolutely ready for Top Ten rotation.

Enjoy.

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Lyric And Download Of The Week:

Although I never considered Mark Heard a close friend, I did have the pleasure and priviledge of speaking with him on occasion, and when I took him up on his album-cover requests to "please write," he was gracious enough to reply. He died much too soon, in his very early forties, nearly 15 years ago but his musical legacy lives on.

I'm including here the lyric of a song of Mark's that I've always liked, "Strong Hand Of Love," and a link to a free and legal mp3 download of a cover version of the song, by Canadian Folk-Rock troubador Bruce Cockburn, courtesy Paste Music.

STRONG HAND OF LOVE

by Mark Heard.

Down peppers the rain from a clear blue sky
Down trickles a tear on a youthful face
Feeling in haste and wondering why
Up struggles the sun from a wounded night
Out venture our hearts from their silent shrouds
Trying to ignite but wondering how

We can laugh and we can cry
And never see the strong hand of love hidden in the shadows
We can dance and we can sigh
And never see the strong hand of love hidden in the shadows

Young dreamers explode like popped balloons
Some kind of emotional rodeo
Learning too slow and acting too soon
Time marches away like a lost platoon
We gracefully age as we feel the weight
Of loving too late and leaving too soon

We can laugh and we can cry
And never see the strong hand of love hidden in the shadows
We can dance and we can sigh
And never see the strong hand of love hidden in the shadows

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A few CCM-related links follow, for the old-timers:

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Terry Scott Taylor, of Daniel Amos, chronicles his trip to the American Music Awards.

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Randy Stonehill has three tunes in mp3 format available for download from his website, off his "Edge Of The World" album.

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I interviewed Derri Daugherty, of The Choir, for a small zine, back in the late 1980's. This interview ran in the zine's last issue, and has never - to my knowledge - been published before on the net.

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A couple more interviews: Steve Taylor speaks with Christianity Today (2005), and with The Phantom Tollbooth (2003). And, if you are interested in Steve's music and career, you'll want to take a peek at Sock Heaven.