Keith Green - Ultimate Collection (CD & Dvd)

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Music reviews of Ultimate Collection (CD & Dvd)

Music Review: A fine intro to a legend...
Rating: 5 Stars

Keith Green came out of nowhere in the late Seventies and set the Christian music scene on fire. That more than twenty years after his death you can still buy everything he put out is testament to his enduring music and message. His was a contribution to Christianity unseen since his passing.

Some considered Keith a prophet, and when compared to the .... music being passed off to the Christian masses today, he indeed seems like John the Baptist on piano. Indeed, many Christian music stations still religiously play Keith's worship songs pieces while routinely avoiding songs like "Asleep in the Light" (included on this collection), "No One Believes In Me Anymore" (actually an anti-Satan song), and "You Love the World (and You're Avoiding Me)". The ministry he founded, Last Days Ministries, still exists and publishes some of Keith's more incendiary tracts and teachings. If you have never heard Keith preach, he's a revelation.

This is not to say he's all fire and brimstone. In fact, he brought a lighthearted humor to his music. Case in point: the song "So You Wanna Go Back to Egypt" (included in this collection) is a wickedly funny take on the grumbling that occurred right after the Hebrews' flight from Pharoah's oppression. His vibrant joy streams through the stereo on (included) songs like "He'll Take Care of the Rest" and "You Put This Love in My Heart."

More than any other Christian artist, Keith Green touches people in ways rarely seen. I can truly say that his music, even after his death more than twenty years ago in a plane crash, still reaches deep into the soul. There are songs of his I have heard a hundred times and they still bring a tear to my eye.

But the best thing that can be said of Keith Green's music is that is made for adults. On songs such as "My Eyes Are Dry" and "Grace By Which I Stand" (included here) he sings as a man who has seen the good and the bad, learning the way of Christ in the deserts of life. It is not simplistic, boring, or stifled theologically. There's more meat in two verses of what Green sings than in entire Christian albums today. You can't hear his music and not be quickened.

Some would say that Keith's more contemporary (and strangely enough, also tragically dead at the height of his work) compadre was Rich Mullins. If you like Mullins, then Keith Green is the next step up. Beyond those two (and possibly Larry Norman) there is a gaping hole unfilled on the current Christian music scene.

One star has to be kept back, though, since it is possible to purchase the pair of 2-CD "Keith Green: The Ministry Years" CDs that contain everything he ever committed to tape (including a couple bootlegs.) Those four CDs are a revelation. However, let's give that star back since this collection includes a DVD that covers Green's ministry. Call it a wash.

If you want music that is joyful, soul-stirring, convicting, and just downright excellent, "The Ultimate Collection" is a great way to grow while enjoying great music at the same time.

(Note: I have not seen the DVD. Still, it's icing on the cake and can only help one to understand the man behind the superb musical vision.)

Description of Ultimate Collection (CD & Dvd)

Christian & Gospel CDs

• Music > Styles
• Pop