Customer Reviews

The Best So Far

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Though I enjoy the new songs, I am wondering why Cindy and the A&R people at Word decided to exclude all but one song from her best album, "Listen." There are way too many cuts from the first two albums. "How Could I Ask For More" and "I Will Be Free" would have been enough, even if some of the other songs from these first albums did go to number 1 and earned her a Dove Award for Best New Artist. There are some gems here, such as "Praise The King" and "I'll Stand." However, the best cuts of her careers, in my opinion, "Job" from the Streams album, "You'll Be There" from My Utmost For His Highest, "Make Us One" from the Streams album, "The Master's Hand," "The Promise," "To Fly," "Will You Be There" from the Listen album are excluded. From the title The Best So Far, I expected the songs to be chosen from more of an artistic standpoint. If you want a true representation of the artistry of Cindy Morgan, purchase the Listen album. Even in the liner notes of The Best So Far, Cindy says that Listen is the album she is most proud of. Cindy is one of my favorite artists and I highly respect her talent. However, I wish this album was more of a representation of her best work and not just indicative of the most successful singles that don't really represent the Cindy I have come to know and love.

Eight years into a recording career that has included five albums, ten number one songs, and multiple Dove Awards (including New Artist of the Year), singer/songwriter Cindy Morgan has released her first greatest hits project, THE BEST SO FAR. However, any long-time fan of Ms. Morgan will probably immediatly be surprised to view the actual track list. Breaking it down we see that there are four songs from REAL LIFE, two from A REASON TO LIVE, three from UNDER THE WATERFALL, one from LISTEN, and two from THE LOVING KIND. One track from LISTEN? I can not understand the reasoning behind this decision. LISTEN is, by general consensus of Cindy's fans, critics, and Cindy herself, the definitive Cindy Morgan project. It is the album where she truely came into her own as an artist, where her songs transcended the pre-packaged box they often came in on her previous albums, where her writing for the first time clicked at every level (both on the ballads and the up-tempo tracks). It is, in my opinion, one of the finest contemporary Christian albums of the 1990's. Yet the powers-that-be decided to include a miniscule one track from that stellar project, the title track, and at the same time selected four songs from REAL LIFE (the album which is, in all ways, least "Cindy").

A far better collection would drop at least two, if not three, of the REAL LIFE tracks. "It's Gonna Be Heaven," "Real Life," and maybe "Let It Be Love," even though that song really can soar. In their place I would select "The Master's Hand" and "God Is Love." Both are fantastic songs which had some radio success. And then we might include one of the numerous tracks that Cindy has participated on outside of her own projects. "Somewhere Within the Heat" (a #1 duet with Carman), "You'll Be There," or the superb "Make Us One." Any of those three would be a worthy choice for inclusion on a project like this.

All of that being said, I really do like this album. The other selections are stellar. I've always believed that Cindy was at her best when she was sitting at a piano and singing one of her ballads. And her best of such recordings are here: "How Could I Ask For More," "I Will Be Free," and "Praise the King." "Listen" "I'll Stand," and "Sweet Days of Grace" sound just as good today as when they were first released. "I Know You" has always been one of my personal favorites. And "Take My Life" is one of Cindy's best-ever lyrics.

The album actually opens with the two new tracks, again produced by Brent Bourgeois. "Love Is the Answer," a cover, is a funky/jazz mid-tempo cut with a really great sax accompaniment. It's a great rendition of the songs which reminds me of a cross between some of the earthy pop of Listen and the jazzy/r&b elements found on some of UNDER THE WATERFALL's tracks. "Tell Me That You Love Me" was partially inspired by and written to Cindy's husband, Sigmund. The lyric, which is sweet and perhaps even a tad bittersweet, is pure Cindy in the imagery it evokes and in the honest portrayal of a relationship and a longing. Musically, it has an ultra-cool groove that I can't get enough of (vaguely reminiscent of an old Russ Taff song).

The question that remains, then, as with any greatest hits project, is "Is this album worth buying?" To the casual or new Cindy fan, definately yes. In spite of my complaint, the project is a really great overview of Cindy's body of work and it gives a really dramatic picture of the growth that she has achieved as an artist. This really is a solid collection from one of Christian music's most talented artists; more songs from LISTEN would've simply made it even better. Four stars.

The Best So Far album by Cindy Morgan is a convenient and economical purchase for me. I'm a new Cindy Morgan fan. And this album features many of the best songs from her first 3 albums Real Life(1992), Reason To Live(1993), Under The Waterfall(1995). Note: Under The Waterfall was not released in 1998 as Amazon indicates. I wanted to get a glimpse of Cindy Morgan's first 3 albums without having to buy them, so I bought The Best So Far(2000). I also bought Listen(1996) and The Loving Kind(1998) because both of these albums definitely contain Cindy's best songs. There are a few songs from the 1996 & 1998 releases that appear on The Best So Far(2000), but not enough to satisfy. I really enjoy the unique music of Cindy Morgan. She's not the usual, predictable, typical woman Christian music artist. She's got originality and integrity. She knows how to be unpredictable and quirky in her music, while still consistently staying true to passionately professing Jesus Christ.

Number One: why would this most AWESOME and HEARTFELT songwriter open this "Best of..." CD with a cover song (Love Is The Answer)! Come on, Cindy - I know you can do better. Cindy has become my favorite Christian female artist. I love her style, I love her heart that she puts into each and every song. And she writes truth with amazing depthness and sincerity. I, too, was disapppointed in this "Best of...." by Cindy. Under The Waterfall, Listen, and The Loving Kind are clearly and hands down her best projects. I'm not giving up on you, Cindy!

I love Cindy MOrgan as a person and as a writer and singer.

Her career seems kind of erratic and confused sometimes, as if pulled by record company interests into trying to be all kinds of thigs.

I like her best when she's doing the really quiet and serene music like "I will Be Free".

There's another artist who I unearthed who is so super special who only does music like Cindy's quiet stuff- she's this obscure Amish artist I discovered named GENIE.

CHeck Genie out. I think she will really please you and that's not any slam against Cindy Morgan cause she's really neato too.

I brought the CD for one song that I liked (Praise the King) but was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed the rest of the CD. I was not familiar with Ms. Morgan otherwise prior to purchase and find her vocals and music style is very good.

I remember a couple of my favorite Cindy Morgan songs that did not make this collection: "Love Will Break Your Fall" and "Reason To Live". Are there any songs out of these 14 that should be taken off to make room for one of these two? Not really. That means this is a good collection.

Besides the two I mentioned, this collection also has these other personal favorites: "Sweet Days Of Grace", "How Can I Ask For More", "Real Life", "Listen", "Let It Be Love", and "I Will Be Free".

While from album to album, Cindy Morgan's songs can be inconsistent (especially on her first two CDs), when she hit her stride with LISTEN and UNDER THE WATERFALL, in particular, and THE LOVING KIND (which got majorly overlooked), she is as good as anybody else out there. This is truly an exceptional collection. When Cindy Morgan is good, she is really, really good: "Sweet Days of Grace," "How Could I Ask for More," "I Will Be Free" (for my Grammie W. . .), "Listen," "I'll Stand," "Praise the King" & "Take My Life," for starters. The two new tracks are great, too--I love her take on "Love is the Answer." Her best is as good as anybody out there in Contemporary Christian music, and this is a superb collection of those top shelf songs. Not sure I would have added much or left off much. No fluff, no filler--just her best!

The songs on this project are all so powerful and run the gamet from soft ballads to hard rock. I prefer the ballads but am so impressed by Cindy's ability to sing the whole range powerfully and evocatively. What a voice and a range she has! I became familiar with Cindy Morgan through the song "How Could I Ask for More?" It boils down life's blessings to the most essential, and now that my father has died, the lyrics are poignant to me. "Love is the Answer" is a great re-make of the rock classic with a Christian emphasis. "I Will Be Free" is powerful - my husband wants it sung at his funeral because it's an uplifting statement of what Christians long for and look forward to when God calls us home. "Take My Life" is a heartfelt plea to take the sadness and sorrow of life and replace it with the love that only God can give - it is a song that I relate to so strongly. "Praise the King" is a simple but super P&W chorus. Cindy's songs challenge too, "Real Life" and "Listen" for example, as well as "How Could I Ask for More". It's a great CD.

I've been buying and listening to Cindy Morgan for over ten years and, even though I had all of her CDs, I immediately bought this "Best of Cindy Morgan."

I agree with all the positive things already written here about Cindy and her music, so I'll only add this:
If you're new to Cindy and this CD is your first of hers, I would heartily recommend that you get her previous CDs. Each one feels like an individual work where songs flow into each other, giving each CD its own personality. My favorites are A REASON TO LIVE and LISTEN. And UNDER THE WATERFALL.

Music to last a lifetime. And then some.