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But who cares? I mean, seriously, you probably had to be there. I mean, the albums you might be lucky to find (against all odds, considering the lame-ass inability of Nashvegas to keep classic full albums of Christian rock classics in print -- and trust me, there ARE some classics, just as important to the artform and many people as anything the Stones, the Clash, or Led Zep ever released) may not seem all that astounding after over ten years of listening to underbaked niched-out genre loaves and gnarly oversweetened pop biscuits.

Honestly, around '93, it seemed like the rock community lost its ability to discern a Nirvana from a Bush. Something about digital reproduction, the coming of age of kids who were deformed through the New Kids on the Block and Paula Abdul years, and the dominance of hip hop meant the Zeetgeese had flown on, southbound again. I'm serious. I'm surprised any of you can tell a good song from a bad song. But I digress.

Silent Planet Records is doing an amazing job of putting out some high quality releases of superior adult music -- the recent Jan Krist greatest hits was an astounding collection of terrific material from one of the bets songwriters in the country. Honestly, that was more community service than just putting out a record. Now SP releases Terry Taylor's new solo album, the follow up to last year's (KMG-released) "John Wayne." And while it doesn't rock with venom again like that startling comeback, it does something even more magical: Truly showing how Taylor isn't merely a highly gifted Christian songwriter, but a songwriter in the immortal realms of artists like Dylan, Warren Zevon, Randy Newman, Elvis Costello, and Tom Petty. Artists that have shocked and amazed their audiences at every turn of their careers, and every year come up with new stuff that continues to challenge and be worthy of recruiting new followers to its creator.

That said, no one is doing songs like Taylor -- he has the dark wit and realistic eye for detail of a Zevon or Newman, the catchy Beatlesque pop style of a Costello, the talent for crafting a spectacular spiritually-tinged anthem like Dylan, and rocks with grace and dignity and raw nerve like Petty. But deep in there is the heart of a lion, a loving view of life and redemption and our broken ways that inspire emotions in the listener the other songwriters are rarely capable of. As Chesterton was to the mystery story (as described by Borges), Taylor is to semi-pop cult rock music. This is all first person narratives about the deeper things that really change us, and the shallow things that can't -- the things that we all experience, that we all love, hope, and fear. Whether wrapping his intelligent observations of community decay and moral corruption ("Capistrano Beach") in bitterly sweet sunbaked Mexican-inflected folk-pop, delivering a painfully tragic but delicately phrased story of a father losing his daughter in sublime balladry ("The Afternoon"), or rocking out delightfully in XTC-style to a complaint about lack of financial success ("Built Her A Cloud," one of my favorite songs this summer), Taylor has created a perfect adult singer-songwriter's album. It is a gallery, a work of literature. It is a collection of 11 songs you can spend at least as many years with.

You can order this album through www.silentplanetrecords.com.

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Excerpted and reprinted with permission from Bandoppler. Bandoppler is a monthly independent online magazine, covering relevant [...and sometimes not so relevant, but just kinda fun...] underground and mainstream music, musicians, art, issues, and culture, from undogmatic, open-minded, open-hearted, sometimes satirical, Christian perspectives.