Top 10 Christian Albums of 2006

10. Phil Wickham by Phil Wickham
Phil Wickham's debut self-titled album has been gaining him a lot attention, and having his hit song "Grace" as a free song download of the week on iTunes and a tour with MercyMe and Audio Adrenaline probably didn't hurt either. Phil Wickham is a new acoustic rock artist who has a very talented voice and all of his songs are passionately delivered. Many people compare him to sounding like Jason Morant and other similar artists. The comparisons are accurate but in that also lies my only problem with Phil Wickham. He sounds like a bunch of other people. Amazing voice but since his album doesn't sound any different than say six or seven other artists it fails to make it any higher on the list.

9. Autobiography: The Best of Scott Krippayne by Scott Krippayne
Scott Krippayne might not be a real well-known name in the Christian music industry but he's had several hit songs since the early '90s. All of Scott Krippayne's lyrics touch the heart and are from the soul. Autobiography does a good job of collecting the best songs from Scott Krippayne's recent career although I thought there should be a few more songs from earlier in his career.

8. Turn Around by Jonny Lang
One of the things I hate more than anything is when an artist has a really good album and then you're looking really forward to their next album. Then once you've purchased the album you find out the artist decided to completely change their style of music and it's not any good. Fortunately for Jonny Lang he is one of the few that has completely changed and remained good. Lang's 2003 album Long Time Coming was a blues guitar album and somewhere between now and then Lang's music turned into R&B, like a Christian Stevie Wonder. I still prefer the twang of Lang's blues guitar over Lang's falsetto but he can do no wrong going either route.

7. Christmas Offerings by Third Day
Sometimes less is more. It's that time of year where everyone and their cousin decide to record a Christmas album. I listened to several and wasn't too impressed. I saved what I figured were the best two for last, Todd Agnew and Third Day. I was especially looking forward to Todd Agnew because he has an awesome voice but was disappointed when I heard him try way too hard. His album has a lot of classic Christmas songs and he tried changing up the song and making his own unique version of the songs and it didn't sound good. Third Day on the other hand realized that Christmas songs are classics and when you have a lead singer as good as theirs all you have to do is sing the songs! You don't have to do anything fancy to change them, just sing them regularly. Third Day's Christmas album includes all the classics like Away in a Manger, The First Noel, Joy to the World and my three favorites, O Holy Night, O Come All Ye Faithful, and Do You Hear What I Hear.

6. Don't Get Comfortable by Brandon Heath
The current artist that Brandon Heath most resembles is Matthew West and since Matthew West is perhaps my favorite that means I really enjoyed Brandon Heath's debut album Don't Get Comfortable. Don't Get Comfortable has a wide range of songs from contemporary songs like "Steady Now" to a more worship type song like "Our God Reigns" and the album is a good mixture of upbeat songs like "Simple Man" and slower songs like the piano-driven "Red Sky".

5. Every Time I Breathe by Big Daddy Weave
Unlike Jonny Lang earlier in the list Big Daddy Weave sticks to the same type of music they've always made. It might not be anything new and ground breaking but if you like their past albums you're also going to like this album which you can't always guarantee from a lot of artists these days. Big Daddy Weave provides some of the best worship albums with songs like "You're Worthy Of My Praise" and "Audience of One" on past albums and songs such as "Let It Rise" on this album and they also threw in a cover of Rich Mullins' "Hold Me Jesus".

4. Life on the Inside by Jadon Lavik
Jadon Lavik is another great up and comer, his sophomore album Life on the Inside sounds great vocally and lyrically. Jadon Lavik's voice is often accurately compared to Jack Johnson but with a little bit more soul. There are a lot of charming songs on this album including "What If" a very catch pop tune, and not many songs that I didn't like. Jadon Lavik describes this album himself as "my take on Christian struggles and the Christian walk."

3. Good Monsters by Jars of Clay
A lot of the artists on my list might be new but I'm sure that Jars of Clay isn't. Jars of Clay has been churning out hit songs and albums for many years now and Good Monsters is no different. Like most of Jars of Clay's albums they dig very deep emotionally in this album. My only problem with Jars of Clay is I think sometimes they try a little too hard to be deep with complicated symbolism when sometimes just saying what you mean straightforward is effective. When you try and make every song very emotionally deep you're going to miss on a few. Fortunately there are more hits than misses.

2. Wide-Eyed and Mystified by Downhere
Downhere has been around for a few years including an album that got them nominated for Best New Artist at the Dove Awards but have still garnered little attention. Hopefully their third album will receive some much deserved attention. Downhere probably has more rock songs than anybody else on this list but it's really the piano songs that grabbed my attention on this album. The title is also a good representation of the theme throughout the CD. Downhere is clearly Wide Eyed and Mystified at the glory of their God.

1. Speak by Jimmy Needham
In most album reviews, including some of mine, the person writing the review will compare them to a certain artist in order to give you an idea of what their sound is like. It's an effective way of describing someone but as I said about Phil Wickham it's not always good to sound like everybody else. The reason I like Jimmy Needham is because I can't think of anybody to compare him to, I've never heard anyone like him. He's pop, he's rock, he's soul, he's jazz, all wrapped into one. If that isn't enough Jimmy Needham pulls no punches and challenges Christians to step up their faith Including the song "Fence Riders" which Needham says was written about a high-school friend who "although he had the most vulgar mouth and an arrogant spirit, still found it important to wear his Jesus jewelry."