Music Review: Without Condition by Ginny Owens

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Lyrics will encourage and challenge

Cons: None

The Bottom Line:

Great Christian music

Wrapped in an unique style

Still so wonderful

All These Years Later, I Still Love Ginny's Debut

Without Condition marked the debut of another outstanding artist on the Rocketown Records label, at the time consisting of Chris Rice and Watermark. Ginny Owens won the Dove award for new artist of the year based on this CD, and it was well deserved. The style is a unique blend of pop and R&B. Her writing is amazing. She wrote or co-wrote all 10 of the new songs on the CD, and her passion to live for God comes through.

The CD opens with an almost acappella version of "Be Thou My Vision." To be honest, I was never a big fan of this hymn until I heard this CD. This arrangement, which just has Ginny's voice and a few keyboard effects, really forces you to listen to the words. As a result, I have really grown to love the hymn.

Appropriately, the CD moves into "I Wanna Be Moved." This mid-tempo song (which is about as fast as the CD gets) is a plea for a renewed commitment to God. After the honest of such lines as "My spirit is not willing/My heart is cold as ice" in the first verse, we get "I don't wanna be a flame/I wanna be a raging fire/Tired of my will, my way/Your calling's higher!" in the chorus.

"Free," and "Someone Searching" are about the love and peace that can be found in Jesus. My favorite of these is "Free" because it's so much fun. Another mid-tempo song with a decided pop flavor, it makes you feel like shouting the lyrics of the chorus, which celebrate the life we have in Christ, while still pondering why God did what He did for us in the verses. With it's funky melody, it sounds like something Rebecca St. James might sing.

"Someone Searching" is a moving ballad focused on the pain of a life without Christ. With just a simple piano and light drums for backing, the pain of such words as "Soul Battered and bruised/Pride wounded and left for dead/Ears deaf to good news/Eyes tear-drenched and sleepless red" really comes through. Of course, being a Christian song, the third verse does point out that "Always there's Someone/Searching for someone/Someone searching."

"I Am Nothing" is a wonderful reworking or the first part of I Corinthians 13. Instead of focusing on Paul's words, it focuses on things Christians attempt to do today to please God, always coming back to "If I do not love, I am nothing."

There are a couple great songs of surrender to God as well. "If You Want Me To" talks about the uncertainties and trials of life, but reminds us that God is with us as we follow His lead. The album ends with "Own Me," a simple yet moving prayer of surrender to God. Both of these ballads are guaranteed to make you stop and think.

On the whole, this CD has a strong pop flavor, and Ginny placed herself firmly in the company of the strong female singers of the late 1990's like Sarah McLaughlan or Jewel. Since Ginny is a piano player, all the songs feature a strong piano presence, but the piano is complimented by guitar, base, and drums. Her R&B influences, which come to the forefront of her third and fourth studio CD's, shine through on a few tracks, most noticeably "Symbol of a Lost Cause" and "Free." This is a genre of music I haven't explored, but I enjoy listening to it on Ginny's CD's.

Without Condition has become one of my favorite CD's of all time. I can listen to it for days and still not be tired of it. The only problem I can see it that Ginny set the bar so high she hasn't quite topped it yet.

CD Length: 39:01

Tracks:

1. Be Thou My Vision

2. I Wanna Be Moved

3. Without Condition

4. Free

5. If You Want Me To

6. Land of the Grey

7. I Am Nothing

8. Springs of Life

9. Someone Searching

10. Symbol of a Lost Cause

11. Own Me