Filthy Rags & Dirty Cups: 50 Christian Albums for Even Deconstructing / Reconstructing / Recovering Fans of CCM

Saturday, January 27, 2024

50 Christian Albums for Even Deconstructing / Reconstructing / Recovering Fans of CCM

If you're looking for a lot of radio-friendly or praise and worship sing-alongs on this list, then you may want to look elsewhere. A lot of these albums were either too honest for Christian radio, too edgy for Adult-Contemporary, or just too weird for people to actually believe they were talking about faith in the first place. A rare few managed to slip through the cracks (like Nordeman or Out of the Gray) but their truly great stuff never saw airplay.

As such, it's likely that several (maybe most) of these will be unfamiliar to the fan of Christian radio who grew up on "safe for the whole family" staples like Steven Curtis Chapman, First Call, and Michael W. Smith or later P&W stalwarts like Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman, and David Crowder.

Note: My rules for this list.

A. Only one album per band. In the case of alternates, I have included them in the listing as close seconds.
B. The album must be one that doesn't limit itself to "speaking platitudes to the church" or "preaching to the choir." It must show some understanding of being salt and light by being in the world as an equal, not standing apart from it to condemn it, shouting at it across the chasm to "get saved," or putting people off with churchy jargon.

C. The album must show an artistic sense of understanding the human condition and what faith means to those who must live in the incarnation every day, fully human with all that means and fully a member of another world in Christ.

So, here in no particular order is my absolutely opinionated list of 50 key albums that are still important and still viable for those believers who are in the process of re-evaluating their beliefs or even deconstructing them.

These are albums that still have a lot to say, even to those on the back side of a faith journey.

1. Poor Old Lu -- Sin

2. Walk on Water -- Walk on Water

3. Chagall Guevara -- Chagall Guevara

4. Leslie Phillips -- The Turning

5. The Choir -- Chase the Kangaroo

6. The Violet Burning -- Strength

7. Daniel Amos -- Darn Floor-Big Bite

(though either Fearful Symmetry or Horrendous Disk could be in this spot)

8. Mortal -- Pura

(Fathom is also amazing and depending on the day and time often replaces Pura in this list.)

9. Steve Taylor -- I Predict 1990

(though either Liver or Squint could be in this spot as well)

10. 77s -- The 77s

(Drowning with the Land in Sight could be here as well)

11. The Waiting -- Blue Belly Sky

12. Jacob's Trouble -- Jacob's Trouble

13. Whiteheart -- Freedom

14. Jars of Clay -- Jars of Clay

15. Adam Again -- Homeboys

(as good as Dig is, this one edges it out for me)

16. Kosmos Express -- Simulcast

17. Aleixa -- Honey Lake

18. Say-So -- Say-So

19. Black-Eyed Sceva -- 5 Years, 50,000 Miles

20. Ideola -- Tribal Opera

21. Tonio K -- Romeo Unchained

(though Notes from the Lost Civilization is really, really good, nothing beats Romeo Unchained)

22. Plankeye -- The Spark

(Commonwealth is close, but The Spark is so much more raw so it takes the spot.)

23. D.A.S. -- Devils Angels Saints

24. Phil Keaggy -- Sunday's Child

(it's Beatles-tastic!)

25. PFR -- Goldy's Last Day

(as great as their debut it, this one's their magnum opus)

26. The Swirling Eddies -- Outdoor Elvis

27. Out of the Gray -- Out of the Gray

(they never got better than this one, Tommy Sims on bass made this album, hands down)

28. Carolyn Arends -- Seize the Day and Other Stories

(this was the story of my faith in my early 20s)

29. Vince Ebo -- Love Is the Better Way

30. Nichole Nordeman -- Wide-Eyed

(the most honest questions I'd ever heard in CCM)

31. Brent Bourgeois -- Come Join the Living World

32. Mark Heard -- Satellite Sky

33. Jan Krist -- Decapitated Society

34. Phil and John -- Carnival of Clowns

35. Derek Webb -- Mockingbird

(the world needs more like Derek, a lot more)

36. Rich Mullins -- The World As Best As I Can Remember It

(so many great Rich Mullins albums, so much honesty in his songs; still this one is the one that made me fall in love with his earnestness and humility)

37. Charlie Peacock -- Love Life

(some would argue that Lie Down in the Grass or The Secret of Time is his best, but I think he got better with time; as such, this one just edges out other releases like Everything That's On My Mind to take this spot)