There aren't that many music titles that fall in this genre - Comtemporary Christian Music (CCM).
The main ones are those released by Amy Grant:
They chart the dramatic change in her music style from her early biblical songs to more commercial pop songs that dented the charts. I've found that the Japanese LD edition of Find a Way which features an all white cover is very difficult to get a pristine cover. It seems to be very prone to discolouration if it has been handled. I don't recall seeing a truly perfect cover ever in all my travels but have always intended to upgrade the one shown if one ever does surface. Not shown in the picture but available to collect and also present in my own collection is the little USA Pioneer Artists 8 inch laserdisc version of Find A Way.
Of the set my favourite is her earliest release 'In Concert - Age to Age Tour' from 1984. Ignoring the terrible dress sense that was the fashion back then (ridiculously coloured stripey sweatshirts and tops), it does contain the most heartfelt songs and also the very sizeable contribution from her then husband Gary Chapman and of course keyboard player/songwriter Michael W. Smith. The sound on this release is a bit muffled being analogue only but I still enjoy watching this disc from time to time. It doesn't have the cheese factor of the Christmas songs LD or the blatant attempt at commercial chart appeal of the later titles.
Who would believe that the bearded keyboard player Michael. W. Smith featured in that early 84 Amy concert would go on to have a hugely successful solo career of his own from these humble beginnings. I have to admit I'd never heard of Michael W. Smith prior to obtaining this Reunion Records limited edition laserdisc released in 1993. I got it pretty much by accident as part of a set of other music titles from USA. I've now watched this title so many times it ranks as one of my all time favourites music laserdiscs.
The label on the disc says 'Limited Edition Laser disc'.
Wonder how limited it really was?
I appear to be the only person on LDDB.com with a registered copy and to date I've never been able to locate another copy on Ebay or anywhere else. Does anyone else own it on laserdisc?
It was really obvious from this concert that he could write very well crafted pop/rock songs that appealed to the masses. The musicians that he was working with at this stage were also absolutely top notch. The guitar player in this concert would not look out of place in any hard rock /heavy metal band! In fact Michael even worked with Dann & David Huff (who I did know from American hard rock outfit Giant - another great melodic rock band worth exploring). Both had formerly been in their own Christian rock band called White Heart. This laserdisc primarily focuses on supporting songs from Michael's two most successful albums - 'Change Your World' and its predecessor 'Go West Young Man'. It also features some behind the scenes footage and interviews with Michael, his family and the band.
This single concert actually made me explore his entire back catalogue in great detail. I ended up purchasing all his original studio albums on CD up to that period 1993 including the earlier concerts which I would love to have seen on laserdisc but which only exist on VHS.
These do however contain some of his strongest songs so are well worth the effort tracking down. They can be easily found on places like Amazon.
So Amy and Michael worked together and Michael often used rock guitar players in his bands. That leads nicely to the next two Christian rock releases which are by heavy metal band Stryper:
Whilst I hadn't heard of Michael W. Smith prior to obtaining his laserdisc, I had heard of Stryper who were very well known in rock/metal circles. I have all their albums on CD and some are certainly better than others. The two LDs are very representative with the band charting their rise to fame and path to Christianity which was unusual given the obvious temptations that most rock/metal bands succumbed to in the 80's. It also captures them performing in their now infamous black /yellow outfits which they ditched in the 90's! I was always surprised these were US only LDs - particularly the live in Japan concert which you would think could have been a much bigger seller in Japan where it was actually filmed.
