Blog: My Favourite Albums - LTTM's Jono

Dec 26 2011

Continuing our LTTM series of blogs called 'My Favourite Albums', over the Christmas period LTTM co-founders Jono & Dave share their all time favourite Christian album and current favourite Christian album. To start things off, Jono tells us about his favourite albums.

Delirious? - MezzamorphisDelirious? - Mezzamorphis

Trying to pinpoint the album that changed my view on Christian music isn't an easy task. There have been many albums that have blown me away. Hearing Jesus Freak by DC Talk for the first time was a massive eye opener. To see that Christian music could be as good as mainstream music was something that got me really believing that God's music is far from being just for old people in churches. But the album that really made me stand up and want to find out more about Christian music was indeed 'Mezzamorphis' by Delirious.

I had become a Christian in 1998 while on an Alpha weekend away. It was Halloween night, as good a night as any to become a Christian! I was always known as the guy who loved his music. I enjoyed most music, but at that time I was into guitar music, Oasis, Travis, Manics, Stereophonics, Radiohead the list goes on. So when I become a Christian people started saying I should listen to 'so and so'. It was at this time someone gave me a copy of King Of Fools by Delirious. It blew me away, songs like History Maker made Christian living so real.

I had become a fan of Delirious so went on a mission to buy up their back catalogue. A few months later Mezzamorphis was released into the world, and gosh did this really blow me away. It was raw, honest, as good as anything in the mainstream world and in fact really spoke to me about where I was at at the time. It wasn't churchy music, but talked very openly about heaven and I loved it. With it's loops and beeps and heavy guitar riffs this was my kind of album. I can still remember hearing the simple and atmospheric It's Ok and being blown away at such beautiful words around a beautiful guitar, still one of my favourite songs of all time. I felt that Mezzamorphis spoke to me on many levels, and in a strange kind of way it was MY album, an album that summed up how I wanted Christian music to sound. Even after all these years the album still sounds as good today as it did the first time I put it on.

Rend Collective Experiment - Organic Family HymnalRend Collective Experiment - Organic Family Hymnal

I suppose the same could be said for the debut album from Rend Collective. When I first heard the album it felt like it spoke to me as an album I had always wanted to hear made. It was my kind of music, but again with words that didn't really fit the normal 'church' lyrics, yet at the same time said how amazing God is. I remember putting this album on in the car on a trip to the shops and my wife turned to me after the third track saying "This album is so you". And she was correct (she usually is). The indie student sounds of tracks like Faithful and Exalt all had elements of rawness and honesty which I loved and still do love.

There are so many great tracks on this album which I could talk about, but for me the standout moments have to be Movements and You Bled. I still remember hearing the creative tones of Movements with the hand claps for the first time and was blown away (not that hand claps blow me away often). There is an energy to this song that makes you smile and just join in. You Bled is more poignant to me than any other song on this album because at the time of the album's release my Grandfather died suddenly of cancer. I was very close to my Grandfather, he did a lot for me and my brother and nothing was too much trouble. He loved his sports, played rugby, football and cricket and wanted his Grandsons to do the same, so when we got involved in sports he was always there. It really hit me hard his passing away, and if I'm honest shook my faith. But You Bled played a big part in keeping my eyes on God during that very hard time for me. So when I hear that song or lead it in my local church, it means so much more on a deep personal level. I still love the part of the song where the band sing "Yes Jesus Loves Me, Yes Jesus Loves Me, How Wonderful", simple words yet so effective. Great stuff.

Having had the honour of meeting the band through LTTM, it also has to be said that these guys are great, fun to be around and just down to earth nice guys. You can't ask for much more than that.

Jono

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