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Your Gateway to Music and More from a Christian Perspective Slow down as you approach the gate, and have your change ready.... |
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Your Gateway to Music and More from a Christian Perspective Slow down as you approach the gate, and have your change ready.... |
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Snapshots: Live and Fan Favorites Artist: Chris Rice Label: Rocketown Records Length: 15/54:22 Snapshots serves as Rocketown’s answer to fans and reviewers that indicated Chris Rice’s greatest hits package, Short Term Memories, was incomplete. Five live tracks are included, as well as songs Rice did as one offs for other projects (Exodus, Calling Out Your Name, Jonah: A Veggie Tales Movie). Between this disc and Short Term Memories, fans now have thirty-two tracks of Rice at their immediate disposal. Concert standard “Cartoons” is included, as well as two tracks from The Living Room Sessions, Rice’s all instrumental project that was mysteriously neglected on the first package. Relatively new songs such as “Naïve,” “Everything’s OK,” and “Me and Becky” fit in side by side with older standards such as “Deep Enough to Dream,” “Big Enough,” and “Sometimes Love.” Personally, my favorites are from Rice’s most adventurous album, Smell the Color 9. Rice is known as a radio friendly singer who knows his range and generally stays within it. In concert, he is engaging, often humorous, and louder that one would expect from hearing his music over the airwaves. This comes across in the live tracks, and especially on songs like “Billy Joe McGuffrey”, done for the Jonah soundtrack. Normally, this tune would be perceived as a throwaway, but Rice’s trademark humor makes it work. Some see Rice as a bland performer, designed only for CCM, a Steven Curtis Chapman wannabe. I would challenge those with that opinion to listen to his songs. With his talent on guitar and piano, and James Taylor-like vocals, Rice is one of the best in music that is generally seen as middle of the road adult contemporary. He deserves a better fate than that – his music has more depth than what is normally ascribed to CCM. Brian A. Smith
After releasing a best of CD for Chris Rice in 2004 (Short Term Memories), Rocketown heard from so many fans about songs that were left off that they decided to release Snapshots:Live and Fan Favorites. Instead of just featuring studio versions of Chris's greatest hits, Rocketown decided to make things more interesting by including live versions of some of his greatest hits. The live versions are okay, but they don't feature a great deal of fan interaction. The most notable live aspect of the songs is the acoustics and the way that the vocals sound. There is some cheering from the fans and some singing along, such as on "Sometimes Love (Live)", but not much. For those who are not familiar with Rice's work, this album is a good primer to introduce them. The songs on this album show his lyrical creativity and how he's able to make amazing word pictures and images through his songs. This album shows his simplicity and yet also his depth at the same time. For those who already know and love the music of Chris Rice, this project no doubt contains at least some of their favorite songs, including "Deep Enough to Dream," "Big Enough," "Me and Becky," and "Cartoons." As with any best of CD, fans are sure to quibble over the song selection. Some may be disappointed that there weren't more songs from his Smell the Color 9 project, such as the title track, and others will have other songs from other albums that they feel should have been included. One minor problem with the CD is the fact that the liner notes do not have lyrics, instead featuring fan quotes about Rice's music. Those who do not have his earlier CDs, which have the lyrics will be out of luck. For those who are not familiar with the music of Chris Rice this CD is a good primer and at the same time, fans of Rice will be reminded what they love about his music. Burton Wray March 14, 2005
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