Songs 4 Ever

Time Life

“Songs 4 Ever” is the latest collection from Time Life, incorporating 30 years of the best of Contemporary Christian music in a 10 CD set with 150 songs total.  The branding states that it is the “Ultimate Christian Music Collection.” 

I will concede that it is an awesome collection spanning an impressive three decades, however, with any compilation not everyone would be totally happy with the song selection thus the use of the word “ultimate” is a little over the top.

The 10 CD’s are individually titled, but I could not always make sense of where the title was coming from.  Several would point to one particular song on the CD while others would fit more of a theme.  Either way, I didn’t think there was a lot of continuity between the songs and the titles. Personally I would have put the CD’s together in more of a chronological order to put some perspective on the history of CCM. 

Two CD’s in particular that I want to mention are “Power Ballads” and “Shout.” The term “Power Ballad” obviously has a different meaning for Time Life than myself.  This CD includes more Adult Contemporary hits than anything.  I would definitely agree that Third Day, Kutless, and Jeremy Camp could fit this category, but I would not include FFH and Avalon in the Power Ballad category.  Secondly, the “Shout” CD, I would expect it to be more upbeat and rockin’.  It starts with Audio Adrenaline’s “Big House,” makes sense, but then goes into Amy Grant’s “Baby Baby,” and eventually Butterfly Kisses” by Bob Carlisle – not exactly what I would theme as a “shout.” 

Overall “Songs 4 Ever” is a great collection mostly suited for the Adult Contemporary listener or those who have been growing up with Christian music for some time.  I only wished that Time Life had put more of an effort into organizing and branding the product.  It appears that they just through together all the songs they could license without putting any thought into how it would flow or fit together.  Lastly, it would have been a cool bonus to include a DVD with the Michael W. Smith Infomercial with the box set.  I have not seen this one in particular, but I have watch other Time Life infomercials with great interest. 

Ken W.

Official Website:  http://www.timelife.com