Love Songs And Prayers (A Retrospective)

Love Songs and Prayers: A Retrospective is the ninth release, and first compilation album, from Christian alternative rock band The Choir, released in 1995. The Choir was initially concerned when Myrrh Records announced their intention of doing a “best of” record, but the band’s fears were allayed when Myrrh allowed them the freedom to choose the songs themselves. The title Love Songs and Prayers was suggested by saxophonist Dan Michaels, who had heard drummer and lyricist Steve Hindalong use the term to describe The Choir’s music in an interview. The term then guided the band in which songs to select for the compilation, which makes it the first best-of record in Christian music–if not music in general–that also qualifies as a concept album. Although released by Myrrh, the record is a comprehensive single-disc look at the band’s career, as it includes songs from all their albums, including their Broken, Shadow and Glasshouse releases, presented in chronological order. Because of the band’s general dislike of best-of records, which are often a lazy collection of previously-released tracks, The Choir made an effort to include unreleased or remixed versions of their music. To that end, an early recording of “A Million Years” had to be mastered from the 45 rpm single, when the original studio recording couldn’t be found. (This is not entirely unprecedented, as The Blue Nile–a band to which The Choir acknowledges an influence–had to do the same thing with their first single, “I Love This Life,” when it was recently released on CD.) To close out the record, The Choir includes a brief snippet of a live performance, recorded many months prior to the release of their debut album, Voices in Shadows.