Watched a bit, kind of reminded me of kansas in some way.
Kerry Livgren =good thing, to me, anyway.
I think the real answer to your thesis is $$$, in more ways than one.
On the one hand, often cheap production values $$$
On the other hand, ‘talented’ musicians preferring the $$$ of the secular / crossover market $$$
On the third hand, execs unwilling to take risks, and pursuing ‘safer’ investments.
‘Sugarcane in cellophane is playing at the radio station’, as one musician put it.
I’ve seen Phil play live, and afterward, it makes his studio albums seem pale in comparison. Just a man and his guitar, so much more alive than 1s and 0s
Given your outspokenness on the matter, I’d be curious to see what you might have to say about, oh, the following list:
Mark Heard
Amy Grant
Undercover
Dream theater
Ayreon
Darrell Mansfield
Petra
Carman
Kerry Livgren
Daniel Amos
Ambrosia
You may not be familiar with all those names, not all are Christian bands, and I threw in a couple of obvious ones too.
Just curious.
I’d write a rant of my own, but, sleep!
Amy Grant -- barfage.
Undercover -- I think they were among the first of the 80's non-pablum Christian bands; never heard their stuff.
Dream theater -- Mike Portnoy and/or Neal Morse. Yum.
Ayreon -- never even heard of.
Darrell Mansfield -- heard some of his stuff in the early 80's, liked it.
Petra -- 1st generation Christian Rock (early-mid 70's). To me they straddled the line between the "genuine Jesus Freak pioneers" and the "formulaic pablum"...
Carman -- something about that guy raises my spiritual hackles. My personal radar seemed to detect a whiff of 18-year-old starstruck girls drawn to him for being "oh SO cool"...
Kerry Livgren -- Kansas and AD are all I'm aware of; the lyrics to his AD struck me as very "Tea Party before there was a Tea Party"-esque as much as Christian. (He played on one of the 2nd Chapter of Acts albums & I saw them on tour together...) His album Seeds of Change was one of the *best* Christian albums *ever* done. He freaked out a lot of people by having Ronnie James Dio as lead vocalist on a couple of songs: Mask of the Great Deceiver (which makes *some* sense) and To Live For the King (which puzzled me as the lyrics could be...hmmm, 'misinterpreted')
Daniel Amos -- heard of by reputation; never heard their stuff.
Ambrosia -- all I know is I *think* one of their band members (was it David Pack?) was one of the musicians on Kerry Livgren's aforementioned Seeds of Change.
Cheers!