Search - Nelly Greisen; Matthew Ward and Annie Herring :: Best of 2nd Chapter of Acts

Maybe Not The Best Collection Of 2nd Chapter Of Acts . . . B

Indiana Jeff Reynolds | Indianapolis, IN USA | 03/30/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"How can you effectively narrow down ten studio albums and three live projects to twelve songs, without missing several songs? Simple . . . you can't. As a matter of fact, at least one of the thirteen projects needs to be completely overlooked.



In fact, five of those thirteen projects have no representation on this collection. The live version of "Prince Song" from "To The Bride" is the only one taken from any of the live projects. The two hymn collections are also completely ignored. Even more of a surprise, though, is that their fifth studio project (and one of my favorites), "Rejoice", does not have any song making the cut. Additionally, I think the title track of "The Roar Of Love", the musical retelling of C. S. Lewis' "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe", was much stronger than the included "Are You Going To Narnia?"



But enough nitpicking about what is not on the project. The two more important questions are: 1) Is this a fair representation of their career? and 2) Are the songs on this project worth me buying it? Allow me to answer them.



First, this project is top-heavy on the early projects, with seven of the twelve songs being from their first three studio projects, eight if you count the live version of "Prince Song" which is on their second project. However, it includes one song from each of the last three non-hymn studio recordings.



Second, while I can argue that this collection could have been stronger, it can't be argued that eleven of the twelve songs (I'm excluding "Are You Going To Narnia?", which is great musically but not the strongest message wise) belong on the project. If you don't have any 2nd Chapter of Acts projects, this would be an excellent investment.



Let me close with a little more info for a person who is not familiar with the group. 2nd Chapter of Acts comprises of Annie Herring, and her younger siblings Nelly Greisen and Matthew Ward. Both Annie and Matthew have several solo projects each, recording two each while 2nd Chapter Of Acts was still touring together (and these songs would be included in their concerts). Annie did almost all of the early songwriting for the group. Buck Herring, Annie's husband, produced the group."