Stories & Songs

Mark Schultz | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 14, 2003)
• Original Release Date: 2003
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Word Entertainment
• ASIN: B0000CG8AI
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #114,442 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great songwriter AND a great person, August 24, 2004

By 

isu94 - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stories & Songs (Audio CD)

I had the pleasure of meeting Mark personally at a concert he gave at my church not too long ago. I'd heard many of his songs on our local Christian radio station and was eagerly awaiting hearing him sing in my place of worship. I volunteered for the event and while waiting with my fellow parishoners for folks to start arriving, down the hall walks Mark towards where I was standing. I made eye contact with him and when he came up I told him I loved his music, and could I please shake his hand. I reached for his pinky finger because he was carrying a bunch of stuff and his finger was sticking out. He immediately said, "No, how about a hug?" It was like hugging a friend. He didn't brush me off or act put out. The concert was absolutely amazing. I don't think I've ever heard someone sing live as well as Mark did. He did several songs from this album, including "Letters from War," "Running Just to Catch Myself" and "Child of Mine." He brings such a passion to his music and he is a brilliant songwriter. He talked in between songs about the meanings and how he came to write them. He talks to people like they are his friends. After the concert he signed autographs and I got another chance to talk to him. I told him his song "Remember Me" (on his self-titled album) always made me think of the two babies I lost. I thanked him for writing it because I felt like he wrote it for me. I was very emotional and thought I would cry. I think he was touched by what I said because for a minute he just looked at me like he didn't know what to say. He thanked me and shook my hand. I don't think he is the kind of person who would ever get used to folks telling him how much they appreciated his message. His music is simple yet powerful, and there are no arrogant or "in your face" lyrics. He's not an "act." Mark Schultz exemplifies Christian music and after meeting him I know that he is 100% genuine. This is his latest installment of musical greatness, but any of his albums are worth it.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Letters From War, May 24, 2004

By 

"wymank3" (Gorham, ME United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stories & Songs (Audio CD)

I had to listen to this song at least 20 times before I could finally hear the words all the way through without crying. As a mother who has sent her only son off to war in Iraq, I found the song extremely moving. My son was injured and was shipped home. When I first laid eyes on him, I fell to my knees and cried just like the mother in Mark's song (who I think is actually Mark's grandmother). This song captures every single emotion with exquisite reality - the mother who in spite of her terror sends encouraging and comforting messages to her son, the gut-wrenching horror knowing her son was captured, the pride that he saved someone and the overwhelming joy she felt when he finally returned home. I am sure all listeners will be moved. And how uplifting it is to have a song about war with such a happy ending! It gives all mothers hope during this difficult time.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Masterpiece, October 12, 2005

By 

Paul B. (New York) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Stories & Songs (Audio CD)

Mark Shultz has cut an amazing CD, in Stories and Songs. This album is a masterpiece, and I'm surprised there are so few reviews here.

The music is high-energy. The performances are great. The arrangements and mixing, by Brown Bannister, are terrific. They remind me of the old masterpiece, A Tramp Shining, by Richard Harris/Jimmy Webb, with its lyrical quality and fullness of sound.

But the star of the show here is the words. Mark is a rarely gifted songwriter who can bring out the meaning in stories of ordinary life. He devotes himself to three main themes and their interdependency: relationship, identity, and our use of time.

The album starts out with the themes of relationship and identity, in "You Are a Child of Mine". Mark writes that when he's "overcome with loneliness", God's voice reassures him that he is dearly loved. Identity is found in our relationship to God.

The second song, "Everywhere", describes that relationship as both being in the very depths of our being and found everywhere we go.

"Letters From War" is an amazingly powerful song, about relationship and the power of prayer. A widow's only son is captured in war. His letters to her end, but hers to him continue each night, for she is writing letters from the battlefront of her own "war", as she fights for her son's life in prayer: "Bring him home!", she repeatedly entreats. If you've ever had something you went to war for in prayer, this song will move you. (SPOILER ALERT: This song gripped me at first, when for a moment it quite seems that the son is lost.)

"Do You Even Know Me Anymore? Again about relationship, but this time that theme is mixed with the theme of how we use our time. A man has set his own worldly goals, but has neglected his family to the point that he doesn't know them anymore, nor they him. In a poignant turn, the man then discovers that he no longer knows himself. Finally he despairs that God might not even know him. This is powerful stuff.

"Time That Is Left" Our use of time is front and center here. "Will they say that we loved till our final breath?" We are given the key to victory in the repetitive refrain, which consists simply of the universal praise word, Hallelujah. If we devote ourselves to the Lord, we will succeed and our lives will work out.

"Running Just To Catch Myself" - an amazingly creative, frenetic song about life in the rat race. One of the funniest songs I've heard in a long time. Mark is spoofing the pressures this life brings us, and challenging us to live above them.

"It's Been A Long Time" About staying close to the Lord and not wasting our time on things that don't matter. This song had to grow on me a bit, but it is excellent. The arrangement, the instruments and background vocals, reminds me of some Phil Specter's lush work on the Beatles' Let It Be album.

"He Will Carry Me" Along with "Child" and "Letters", a contender for best song of the album. Though most of the songs here use it strongly, this one above the others exploits dynamic contrast. Low, painful brooding is set against a triumphant declaration that whatever we go through the Lord will be there with us. Relationship again.

"Just To Know You" A challenge to live life first of all to know Christ, just as He lived and gave His all to know us. Relationship and use of time again. "I want to finish strong".

"Closer To You" A song of dedication to the Lord. We find not only all our answers in Him, we find who we are.

"Reprise: Time That Is Left" A rockin' jam on the earlier cut. At first I wondered why this was chosen to reprise, but then I saw that the album ends on a challenge to us. What will we do with the time that's left? We have a choice to make. We can strengthen our identity in Christ by feeding our relationship to Him. Or we can go our own way.

Few albums achieve the level of creativity and power of this one. The writing, the arrangements, the performances, the mixing, are all simply world-class. In the sea of mediocrity that is contemporary Christian music, this album shines. I don't think you will regret getting a copy. I can't tell you how many times I've listened to mine. Congrats to Mark and everyone for a work very well done.