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New Music Break ... Hillsong

Below...Hillsong with Joel Houston releases the song "No Reason to Hide" from the new album FAITH + HOPE + LOVE, which drops August 4. Enjoy.

No Reason to Hide - Hillsong from Tony Morgan on Vimeo.

HT: Tony Morgan

Link of the Day: Prof. uses math to decode Beatles songs

It is here, in a cluttered mathematician's office, under blackboards jammed with equations and functional analysis, that one of Western culture's greatest mysteries has finally been solved: Why has no one been able to replicate the first chord in The Beatles' pop hit "A Hard Day's Night"?

Not stopping there, this sleuth is using math in his quest to answer an even more-elusive question, about the contested authorship of the Fab Four's "In My Life."

Read more of this article from the Wall Street Journal HERE. (HT: Execupundit)

Recent new releases

Music is definitely the soundtrack of my life and I like many different styles. Here’s some recent new releases that sound tantalizing. Hmmm…which ones to buy…

Some interesting new Christmas music releases recently include:

• BarlowGirl/Home for Christmas (Word)
• Mary-Chapin Carpenter/Come Darkness, Come Light: Twelve Songs of Christmas (Zoe Records)
• Casting Crowns/Peace on Earth (Beach Street/Reunion)
• Travis Cottrell/Ring the Bells (Indelible)
• Amy Grant/The Christmas Collection (Sparrow): A compilation of some of her best earlier tracks plus 4 new ones (“Jingle Bells,” “I Need a Silent Night,” “Baby, It’s Christmas,” and “Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep”).
• Faith Hill/Joy to the World (Warner Bros.): Includes the song “A Baby Changes Everything” by the same songwriters who brought us Tim McGraw’s “Live Like You Were Dying.” Also, watch for Hill on a holiday-themed Soundstage episode on PBS this season.
• Sara Groves/O Holy Night (INO)
• Mandisa/It’s Christmas (Sparrow): Of American Idol fame.
• Mannheim Steamroller/A Candle Light Christmas (Universal Music Group): A collection of the more “traditional” MS Christmas songs from past albums.
• Annie Moses Band/This Glorious Christmas (Essential)
• Elvis Presley/Christmas Duets (Sony Legacy)
• Sixpence None the Richer/The Dawn of Grace (Nettwerk)
• Third Day/Christmas Offerings DVD (Essential)
• Yo-Yo Ma/Songs of Joy and Peace (Sony)

And some non-Christmas releases of note:

• Jennifer Hudson/Jennifer Hudson (Arista)
• Keane/Perfect Symmetry (Universal Island)
• Parachute Band/Technicolor (Integrity Music)
• Kellie Pickler/Kellie Pickler (Bna Records)
• James Taylor/Covers (Hear Music)
• U2/Under a Blood Red Sky—Deluxe Edition CD/DVD (Island)

New Releases

Some interesting new Christian music releases this week, including some early Christmas releases:

• BarlowGirl/Home for Christmas (Fervent)
• Point of Grace/Best of Point of Grace Christmas (Word)
• David Phelps/O Holy Night (CD/DVD) (Word)
• Downhere/Ending Is Beginning (Centricity)
• Lincoln Brewster/Today Is the Day (Integrity)

(HT: CCMmagazine.com)

Also, Hallmark's annual Christmas CD features Sheryl Crow this year. You can listen to samples HERE.

Hump Day Music Break: Hillsong United

"Hosanna" by Brooke Fraser and Hillsong United:

Let Me Sing

Check out the new NorthStar Church worship CD, now online!

Music Break

One Republic with "Say (All I Need)":

Happy Birthday Ella

Today is the birthday of jazz legend Ella Fitzgerald. She would have been 98 today. I love jazz and the way it makes me feel like no other music. My theology of music is that God made it for us to enjoy. I can enjoy so-called "secular" music as well as "sacred." Art is art. The Creator made us in His image; therefore, we are creators and are capable of appreciating creation, both God's and man's.

Enjoy a little art today. Here's Ella singing "Georgia on My Mind" in 1963.