Reunion Records

Release Date: September 29^th 2023

Reviewed by: Jonathan Andre

Casting Crowns – Lifesongs: A Celebration Of the First 20 Years (Amazon mp3/iTunes)

Track Listing:

Disc 1:

1. Praise You In This Storm [Phil Wickham]
2. Nobody [CAIN]
3. Who Am I? [MercyMe]
4. All Because Of Mercy (Radio Version)
5. Glorious Day (Living He Loved Me) [Jon Reddick & Tasha Layton]
6. Scars In Heaven [Amy Grant]
7. Oh My Soul [Katy Nichole & David Leonard]
8. Only Jesus [Matthew West]
9. Just Be Held [Anne Wilson]
10. Until the Whole World Hears [Mac Powell]

Disc 2:

1. Voice Of Truth [Steven Curtis Chapman]
2. In The Hands Of The Potter [Brian Littrell]
3. Lifesong [Tauren Wells]
4. East To West [Ben Fuller]
5. Broken Together [Zach Williams]
6. On This Desert Road [Natalie Grant]
7. If We Are The Body [Big Daddy Weave & Hannah Kerr]
8. The Altar And the Door [Sawyer Brown]
9. All You’ve Ever Wanted (Reimagined)
10. Stained Glass Masquerade (Reimagined)
11. 2^nd Opinions (Reimagined)

Casting Crowns needs no introduction. No seriously…they don’t. If you are a diehard fan of this Florida CCM group, or even if you’re a casual listener, I’m sure anyone who knows music, even mainstream music, knows Casting Crowns, right? Besides, I’m sure you all have read my blog post about Casting Crowns that I wrote about in 2019…and now that we’ve got all the formalities out of the way, let me just say that over the last few years, I’ve been tremendously blessed and impacted by this group- and Mark Hall & co. are fast becoming one of my favourite Christian bands out there, ever…alongside others like Tenth Avenue North, Switchfoot, Skillet and for KING & COUNTRY, to name a few. A band that has been discussed amongst people who love Christian music (like myself) for ages, is one such band that comforts and unsettles at the same time.

Since their Florida beginnings, Casting Crowns have now become such a band that has given to us a lot of albums, alongside many awards and opportunities to bring songs to the masses through the radiowaves. From songs like ‘East to West’, ‘Courageous’, ‘If We are the Body’, ‘Praise You in This Storm’ and ‘Lifesong’, to ‘Until the Whole World Hears’, ‘Already There’, ‘Jesus, Friend of Sinners’, ‘Oh My Soul’, ‘Just Be Held’, and ‘Broken Together’; Casting Crowns write music that is primarily radio friendly and accessible to the average joe person, but all the while carefully crafting some of Christian music’s most emotive and poignant lyrics. In essence and to put it bluntly; lyrically- the band is top notch, with much of the music, in fact, all of it, grounded in the Word of God, and reminding us of the qualities of God and who we are in light of that. The music as a whole, will leave a lot to be desired, for the listeners; because frankly, Casting Crowns aren’t as musically risqué or even inventive when compared to many other artists within the CCM community- the likes of Crowder, All Sons and Daughters, Third Day, Andrew Peterson, all these guys have a much more interesting musical backdrop compared to the band out of Florida. And maybe, that’s ok. The band hasn’t really focused too much on the aesthetics and how the music sounds in the grand scheme of things. If the song touches a person’s life, then the band has served their purpose.

Casting Crowns released their chart-topping album Only Jesus in 2018, with their standout hits like ‘Only Jesus’, ‘Nobody’, ‘Love Moved First’, and ‘Starts Right Here’. The band shortly followed that with their deluxe version of the album in September 2020; also unveiling the process, their best-of 16 track compilation of songs (Voice of Truth: The Ultimate Collection in November 2019) and The New York Sessions, released on the same week as Only Jesus: Deluxe. In January 2022, Mark Hall and co. unveiled Healer, a 7 track project complete with standout singles like ‘Scars in Heaven’, ‘Desert Road’, ‘Crazy People’ and the title track- the band further expanded upon the EP to release their full-length project Healer in September 2022- complete with 14 tracks, the Florida band presented other standout songs like ‘All Because of Mercy’, ‘The Devil is On the Run’, ‘No Hurt’ and ‘I’m Still Out There’, to name a few. We reviewed both the band’s EP and extended deluxe edition of Healer, and now here we are in October 2023, and we see one of the most ambitious projects Casting Crowns has ever released in their career thus far- a 21 song best-of tribute album titled Lifesongs: A Celebration Of the First 20 Years.

Now we all know that compilation projects/best-of projects can be a mixed bag for any artist. Now can you encapsulate an artist’s whole career within one double-disc album of 21 songs? Well, Casting Crowns have…somehow done that? What is different about Lifesongs: A Celebration Of The First 20 Years compared to any other best-of project by any other artist (CCM or mainstream or otherwise); is this- that aside from 3 reimagined songs, a radio version of another, and Mark Hall’s duet collaboration with singer-songwriter Natalie Grant on another; the rest of the 21 tracks featured on this double-disc are not sung by the band at all. For this is a tribute album in every sense of the word- 20 artists, from MercyMe, Mac Powell (of Third Day), Sawyer Brown, Natalie Grant, Zach Williams and Matthew West, to David Leonard, Brian Littrell, Tauren Wells, Steven Curtis Chapman, Big Daddy Weave, Phil Wickham, Amy Grant, and Hannah Kerr, as well as CCM newcomers like Anne Wilson, Katy Nichole, CAIN, Ben Fuller, Jon Reddick and Tasha Layton; chose a song from Casting Crowns’s back catalogue to record- some artists featured on duets (David Leonard and Katy Nichole sung the powerful and timely ‘Oh My Soul’, Big Daddy Weave and Hannah Kerr lent their voices to ‘If We Are the Body’, while newcomers Jon Reddick and Tasha Layton delivered ‘Glorious Day’ to perfection with both their powerful voices), while other artists shone on their own solo songs; but all in all, what we received as fans of Casting Crowns (and fans of CCM in general) is a near-perfect double disc of the band’s standout hits from over the years. Worship leader Phil Wickham powerfully presented ‘Praise You In the Storm’ to perfection, and for me, even rivals Natalie Grant’s cover of the track on her very own solo 2020 album No Stranger– Phil’s passion is evident, and his rendition of an already-classic Casting Crowns melody makes me love the song even more. Sibling trio CAIN present their own take on 2018’s ‘Nobody’, and while their version didn’t stray too much from the original recording, it’s great to still hear an up-and-coming group showcase their own interpretation on a song that has been a standout on the radio in recent years, and a standout on 2018’s Only Jesus as well.

In fact, a lot of the renditions on this tribute album stayed true and faithful to original recordings. Aside from Phil Wickham (‘Praise You In This Storm’), MercyMe (‘Who Am I?’ with a time signature and tempo change), Mac Powell (delivering a very stripped down and acoustic ‘Until The Whole World Hears’), Steven Curtis Chapman (his own unique take on ‘Voice Of Truth’, which makes me enjoy Steven’s version even more than the actual original) and Tauren Wells (‘Lifesong’ is given a complete 180 treatment, from a 5 minute worshipful tune, to a 3 minute pop-dance number), as well as reimagined versions of ‘All You’ve Ever Wanted’, ‘Stained Glass Masquerade’ and ‘2^nd Opinions’; the rest of the album was pretty much standard…just with other CCM artists at the helm of lead vocals…and that’s ok. Some renditions of the songs were so similar to a fault (Sawyer Brown’s version of ‘Altar and the Door’ and Big Daddy Weave’s rendition of ‘If We Are The Body’ in particular, made me question ‘why’- just change it up a bit!), but from a holistic standpoint; Lifesongs: A Celebration Of The First 20 Years is exactly what the album was wanting to be from the start- a celebration of one of the 21^st century’s most prolific and influential CCM artists in recent memory. And while I may have wanted a few more tracks present here on this double disc album (songs like ‘While You Were Sleeping’, ‘Does Anybody Hear Her’, ‘Slow Fade’, ‘Somewhere In Your Silent Night’, ‘Love Moved First’, ‘Starts Right Here’, ‘Thrive’, ‘Somewhere in the Middle’, ‘One Step Away’ and ‘God Of All My Days’ are all absent on this 21 track album…and surely, there should be at last one song sung on this best-of tribute album, that was originally from 2011’s Come To The Well, right? …‘Courageous’? ‘Already There’? ‘Jesus, Friend Of Sinners’? Just any song from Come to the Well?), my gripings about this album are indeed minimal.

You can never get any compilation/tribute album perfect, and that is definitely the case with this album. But as it stands, Lifesongs: A Celebration Of the First 20 Years is a love letter and a tribute to a band that has been impactful and influential in the lives a lot of people, myself included. Sure, ‘Lifesong’ by Tauren Wells is drastically different, and Sawyer Brown’s ‘The Altar and the Door’ feels exactly the same as Mark Hall’s original, but that’s ok. This is an album for the fans. And an album where these artists present on this double disc, can showcase their own fandom for the band, by recording the song that means the most to them. Who knows? Maybe Part 2 of Lifesongs in the future? And this time remember Come to the Well? Or maybe that was the album that everyone, inclusive the band themselves, overlooked, for one reason or another? Well done Mark Hall and co. for this enjoyable, memorable, and nostalgic album. A great reminder of the impact and influence such a band as yourselves have made on CCM, and music as a whole.

6 songs to listen to: Praise You In This Storm, Who Am I?, Broken Together, Stained Glass Masquerade, Oh My Soul, Voice of Truth

Score: 5/5

RIYL: Matthew West, Tenth Avenue North, We Are Messengers, MercyMe, Hillsong UNITED