Love Songs & Prayers
This is a surprising collection of songs that encapsulates many unusual high points of this pioneering Christian-rock band. From an early version of "A Million Years" (mastered straight from a 45 RPM single) to three songs from the band's next-to-last record,Speckled Bid,Love Songs and Prayersturns out to be one of the first "concept" greatest-hits packages: Each song fits neatly in the love song or prayer category, with little ambiguity between the two. While that means that some of the Choir's finer musical moments are underrepresented ("Children of Time," "Circle Slide"), it does give room for some of their more obscure gems to shine ("Black Cloud," "Car, Etc.").--Brad Caviness