Music Review: Beautiful to Me by Don Francisco

Stars: 5 out of 5
Pros: New versions of familiar songs.

Cons: The most popular songs aren't here.

The Bottom Line:

Don Francisco's songs

Freshly recorded for fans

Who will love results

Classic Songs Get an Acoustic Makeover

Don Francisco has faced a problem many artists whose popularity has faded face. His music is mostly out of print. To make the problem worse, the majority of his stuff was released in the 70's and 80's, so very little of it was released on CD. He faced the problem head on with a very cleaver solution. Since he owns the rights to the songs themselves, he decided to record new versions of some of his most popular songs. Beautiful to Me is the second such CD.

As with the first, the arrangements are simple. Almost all of them feature Don solo on guitar. It gives the songs an acoustic feel; it sounds much like he does in concert. Occasionally, his wife helps out with some background vocals or other instruments, most notable strings.

Don is best known for taking familiar Bible stories and giving them a new twist as a song. This CD offers several examples. In fact, it opens with "Jehoshaphat," an Old Testament story about how King Jehoshaphat defeated a much larger army simply by praising God. This song is almost completely guitar, but he plays it so well you'd never know. And it's a great, upbeat way to open the project. Your toes will be tapping before you know it. This is the fastest song here since most of them are mid-tempo to slow songs.

The title track tells the story of the woman who washed Jesus' feet with tears. The twist here is that it from the point of view of Simon the Pharisee. This is one of the songs that features strings, making for a beautiful, flowing song.

There's no question the most fun of the ballads here is "Balaam." Again, it is based an Old Testament story, this time about a donkey that started talking. It has a bit of a country flavor. Combine that with the fun way he tells the story, and this one will have you grinning. Yet he drives home a point about who God can use at the end.

The overall theme of the CD is living the Christian life. This is driven home by some of the non-ballads here. "Steeple Song" is an absolutely challenging. In it, God points out that He doesn't care about many of the outward things we Christians care about but only really cares about our hearts and how we treat those around us. Somehow, just having the guitar backing Don makes this song even more powerful.

He makes the same point in a humorous way in "Everybody Else but Me." This song mocks modern day Pharisees who think that the message applies to someone else. I wish I could say this never applied to me, but I do have to be truthful. Yet it's takes such a fun approach to the subject that it can convict with humor.

"There is No Condemnation" is a fun reminder that God forgives our sins. Taken from an event in Don's life, he talks about his struggle to accept God's forgiveness after sinning in front of a bunch of people. I especially like the fact that he admits not accepting that forgiveness for a while. I must admit I fall into that trap quite a bit myself.

"Give Your Heart a Home" is the only song on here that Don co-wrote. His co-authors here are Bill and Gloria Gaither, a powerhouse couple in Christian music. It's a song of encouragement from God as He promises to carry our burdens if we'll just give them to Him. I was a bit surprised to find this is another example of just Don and his guitar since the original featured a nice orchestra, but the beauty of the song and the message still shines through.

The song that is the biggest break from the others is "I Could Never Promise You." Instead of guitar, this one backed up by keyboard. It makes quite a change, but it sounds wonderful. This song is meant to be sung at a wedding, acknowledging that it is God and God alone who will help the couple fulfill their vows. I fell in love with this song the first time I heard it and hope to have it sung at my wedding one day.

The keyboard does make another appearance for the CD closer. It backs up Don's guitar on "Lullaby." The two combine to make a comforting song about God's protection.

I mentioned earlier that Don's biggest success was during the 70's and 80's. But that doesn't affect the musical style here. Since it's just guitar most of the time, the songs sound timeless. Yet it still sounds familiar enough that long time fans will recognize the songs right from the start.

While the first of these CD's he released included his biggest hits, it has plenty of favorites his fans will appreciate. I got Beautiful to Me when it was first released almost 10 years ago and have listened to it plenty since then.

CD Length: 44:12

Tracks:

1. Jehoshaphat

2. Voyage to Gennesaret

3. Steeple Song

4. Beautiful to Me

5. There is No Condemnation

6. Give Your Heart a Home

7. It Ain't No Sin to get the Blues

8. Everybody Else but Me

9. Balaam

10. I Could Never Promise You

11. Still Your Soul is Silence

12. Lullaby