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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Never better, and never more missed, July 4, 2002
...Any CD, LP or cassette from Mark Heard is worth hearing, but this one is just SO great... perhaps the penultimate in CCM. Mark always managed to write in a way that was immediately personal without being maudlin... relevant without being cliche'. The characters and passing thoughts on this release are so well-drawn and complex: "She will speak the truth and she will ache and she will bleed/ for the idiots who own the air the prophets have to breathe/ Love is so blind..." "Well I looked at my own silhouette/ It looked back with a bad attitude" "She is reading her own tattoos/ her diary is the evening news/ and she can't give a damn on cue/ on a freight train to nowhere" "Skyscraper looks like an x-ray, streetlights look infrared/ bus-fume aphrodisiac slaps at the back of my head/ The night is in your turn-signal eyes, lipstick on your coffe cup/ Gimme a tip for the waitress, the natives are restless, we gotta get out of this dump/ Lost on purpose, lost on purpose, we could try to figure it out, but we don't trust us..." "Treasure of the broken land--parched earth give up your captive ones/ Waiting wind of Gabriel blow soon upon the hollow bones" I could go on. I learned these lyrics long ago, but I'm still uncovering all that they mean, even after many listenings. If screaming these songs at the top of my lungs is an act of worship, then count me among the faithful. This is one album I really NEVER do get tired of. If you still have doubts, look at the list of artists Mark influenced and produced over the years: Bruce Cockburn, Pierce Pettis, Buddy and Julie Miller, Sam Phillips, Randy Stonehill, Phil Keaggy, The Choir, Ashley Cleveland, Tonio K., Victoria Williams, Vigilantes of Love, etc. etc. etc. The love was real. So check out Mark Heard's music, especially this album, okay?
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