Loading ...The Red Letters Project – Matthew
What if rock operas like Godspell and Jesus Christ, Superstar were produced by somewhat more…reverent talents? You might get The Red Letters Project, an ambitious and eclectic 3-disc performance based on the “red letter” words of Jesus from the Gospel of Matthew. Drawn word-for-word from the New Living Translation, it’s a real listening experience, featuring 40 tracks, both sung and narrated.
If you’re used to spoken-word audio Bibles, The Red Letters Project can be a welcome break. The kaleidoscope of musical influences is quite the aural experience – my ears pick up influences including Coldplay, Aerosmith, Hootie and the Blowfish, Lenny Kravitz, James Blunt, Linkin Park, Arctic Monkeys, Gorillaz and Weezer. The audio is mixed by Brad Gilderman (Madonna, Motley Crue, Destiny’s Child) and produced by entertainment-industry legend Russ Regan.
If you’re a fan of Jesus, audio bibles, or a music aficionado, I think The Red Letters Project will give you something to listen to…and talk about.
When you post your review, help the wider community by adding the hashtag: #vb-redletters
mhasty
I just received The Red Letters Project: The Book Of Matthew from TheOoze. On first glance at the packaging I was really excited. Good artwork. Great idea. The idea of writing music for the entire book of Matthew in every section where Jesus speaks makes me excited. Some of the best songs ever written have already been written in the pages of Scripture. What better way to emphasize the truth from Christ than singing His own words back to Him in worship.
I’m listening through and am a little torn. It’s not bad… but the music comes across a little cheesy. It’s rock and roll. There is some obvious auto tuning on the singer’s voice, and we’re not talking T-Pain or Imogen Heap. We’re talking he needed some auto tune and it wasn’t mixed in as well as it could have been so it’s noticeable. He also remarkably sounds like Mark Hall from Casting Crowns and TobyMac from dcTalk/TobyMac had a genetic mishap and we smashed together.
The sound quality reminds me of a Christian rock album in the early 90′s late 80′s. (That’s not the best. Christian rock has come a long way.) Again the music isn’t bad. It’s actually written pretty well with the constraints of lyrically only being the red letters of Jesus in the book of Matthew. I just get this feeling that these guys are trying hard to be dcTalk from the Jesus Freak era and failing. With all that said… I’m bobbing my head and tapping my feet.
The lyrics sometimes feel a bit awkward as far as placement and flow. This is really heard in the rap/rock sections (yes… rap/rock… think- hey we stole this riff from Linkin Park). It’s even worse whenever the vocalist tries to cram whole paragraphs into a few moments. It’s just rough.
This is a noble attempt, it’s a great idea. It just comes across as a decade late. I’m not joking when I say that if this had come out in 1999-2002 it would have been one of the top projects in Christians music/media circles. I can see booths at Creation Festival dedicated to the project. The music is just tired. I’ve heard it all before (sometimes it seems to familiar). It’s not bad… it’s just… well… yeah… bad.
Original Blog Found At:
http://thecommoncup.wordpress.com/2010/08/13/the-red-letters-project-the-book-of-matthew/
Aug 13th, 2010
Monster
“It ain’t those parts of the Bible that I can’t understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand.” This statement, often attributed to Mark Twain, could easily refer to Jesus’ spoken words, printed in red ink in many editions of the New Testament. It is these rather unsettling red letters that lend their name to “The Red Letters Project”, an ambitious 3 CD recording that pairs modern rock music with every word of Jesus from the New Living Translation of the Gospel of Matthew. The project was published in June 2010 by Tyndale House Publishers and has an approximate running time of 3 hours.
Audio Bibles are common, of course, but two things set “The Red Letters Project” apart. First, it contains only Jesus’ spoken words. As a result, the listener experiences what Jesus said, rather than what others said about Jesus. This gives the project a dynamic quality often lacking in recorded performances of Scripture. It also facilitates a more direct experience than reading, since Jesus originally delivered his teaching as spoken word, not text. As a preacher, Jesus expected to be heard, not read. If the “The Red Letters Project” doesn’t reproduce this experience exactly as it occurred, it at least suggests what it might be like to hear Jesus today.
The second thing that sets this project apart is the music. Music has certainly been incorporated into other audio Bibles, but it usually serves as a backdrop to the text. “The Red Letters Project” is unique in that it integrates Jesus’ words directly into the music. The words remain the focal point, but they are woven into the songs like lyrics. The resulting performances have been described as a more reverent version of Godspell or Jesus Christ Superstar, but these comparisons are inadequate. The project bears more resemblance to a modern rock album. Imagine Stone Temple Pliots singing the Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds, or Nine Inch Nails telling you to become like a child in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The quality of the music is just that good. While the musicians responsible for writing and arranging the tracks (Dennis Duncan and Mario Canido) are virtual unknowns, Executive Producer Russ Regan is not. Regan is a longtime industry insider responsible for signing such legendary artists as Elton John and Neil Diamond.
Like practically any audio project of this size (40 tracks in all), certain songs stand out more than others. So if there is one criticism that I can level against “The Red Letters Project” it is that despite the high quality, some of the tracks aren’t terribly memorable – at least not after the first listen. Part of the problem is that the ancient texts used to create the tracks were not structured as songs. A winding discourse from the lips of Jesus is not easily sung in the shower.
But with repeated listens the stand-out tracks do start to sink in. Some of the more memorable songs include “Trees and Fruit”, a Beatles-esque piece warning that “every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire” and “70 x 7”, a haunting Alice in Chains-style hard rocker that advises us in the strongest possible terms to forgive others. In “Rapture” – perhaps the most challenging track of the collection – Jesus’ warnings about the last days are conveyed in a manner highly reminiscent of popular artist Seal.
It may be true that like Mark Twain we will be bothered by some of the difficult things in the Bible – including Jesus’ words. But no one can dispute Jesus’ importance or the longevity of his message, both of which, along with some great music, make “The Red Letters Project” more than worth your time. In the words of Matthew 24:35, “Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never disappear.” True enough so far; it’s been 2,000 years and we’re still listening.
Aug 13th, 2010
Robb Ryerse
In the late 1980s a strange and futuristic character appeared on the scene, briefly capturing the imagination of popular culture. It was this character, Max Headroom, the stuttering, disembodied head-on-a-screen, that came to mind this week when I listened to The Red Letters Project Gospel of Matthew.
The Red Letters Project is an endeavor to artistically set the words of Jesus in the New Living Translation’s Gospel of Matthew to rock music. The result is an epic and soaring experience, reminiscent of rock operas like Jesus Christ Superstar. Using the words of Jesus as lyrics doesn’t lead to an easy-to-listen-to album, but the music is well-done and will definitely appeal to some people. I fully expect that the goal of The Red Letters Project to make the words of Jesus more accessible and relevant will be achieved for some. I just don’t think I will be one of them.
It seems to me that the unintended consequence of this endeavor is that it divorces the words of Jesus even more from their historical context. The canonical text of Matthew is already a couple of steps removed from what Jesus said. It is mediated through the memory of Matthew, and it is translated from the Aramaic that Jesus spoke into Greek. In an attempt to faithfully bring the words of Jesus to a contemporary audience, I fear that The Red Letters Project actually loses even more of the Jesus who lived in time and space.
Jesus did not simply spout off random statements, commands, and encouragements. He made observations about what was happening around him. He answered questions. He engaged in the ongoing cultural, political, and religious dialogs of his day. He was incarnationally present in his world.
The Red Letters Project leaves Jesus like Max Headroom, interesting to listen to yet completely disembodied.
Aug 13th, 2010
Dave Lloyd
I believe in the power of music to get to places in people’s souls where just words can’t get. I have experienced life-changing music that has taken root so deep in my heart that I will never be the same. Music didn’t change me, but it was the vehicle, the delivery system for the message. So when I heard about The Red Letters Project I was stoked.
What a great idea to put all of Jesus’ words to music. I wanted so badly to like this project.
In stressing the importance of music in communicating the gospel, someone has said, “People forget the sermon but they leave the church humming the songs.” The reason that songs are such a strong medium for the message (or any message for that matter) is that they can utilize a few mechanisms that the spoken word does not have:
melodies that are easily remembered
the cadence and rhyme of poetry
lyrics that fit into the ebb and flow of the melody
If the words do not ‘fit’ the melody it sounds awkward. If the musical accents of the melodies are different than the accented syllables of words then it sounds contrived and unnatural.
The gospel of Matthew is not poetry. Beautiful yes. But it does not easily lend itself to being put to music. And because the words are a verbatim recitation of the red words in Matthew, there is rarely a distinguishable cadence and no rhyme. That also means that there are infrequent repeating parts and there are few melodies that are easily remembered. Perhaps the most bothersome for me is that the “lyrics” are often crammed into musical spaces where they don’t fit, making them difficult to understand and not easy to remember.
Now, on the brighter side, Red Letters was very well produced. The musicianship is outstanding and the music sounds great, both vocally and instrumentally. I don’t know what the process of writing and recording was, but my best guess, based on the way it sounds is that once the instrumental tracks were done the vocalist opened the Bible and improvised his way through the book of Matthew with little forethought to melody and not a whole lot of mapping. But that’s a guess.
I’m sure that some folks will enjoy this project. I hope and pray that lots of people are drawn close to Jesus though it. Because I’m a musician I tend to be an opinionated jerk and a perfectionist about these things. But the last thing I want to do is be a nay-sayer when we need to be encouraging folks to create and to be consumers of this kind of project. I applaud those involved for stepping out and doing something that hasn’t been done before. But for me, The Red Letters will not be on my most played list.
Aug 16th, 2010
Chad Estes
“What’s so funny?” Jesus asks when he comes into my study finding me laughing.
“This new, music album of yours!” I respond.
“Album?”
“Ya, this ‘Red Letters Project’ from the Book of Matthew.”
“I have no idea what you are talking about.”
“Well, Matthew was one of the original 12 ragamuffins that followed you around Judea. I think he was a tax collector or something.”
“I know who Matthew is. Don’t be insolent.”
“Sorry, Jesus.”
“You’re forgiven. Again.”
“I’m curious. Why don’t you make the sign of the cross when you say that?”
“It would be redundant. Now get back to this music thing.”
“Oh ya, ‘The Red Letters Project.’—well, you know that Matthew wrote down a lot of your speeches and popular sayings…
“Sure.”
“And that the publishers decided to color your words in red to distinguish them from the rest of the description and dialog.”
“Go on.”
“Well now your those red words have been set to rock music.”
“Why?”
“Um… I’m not sure. To make them more relevant, I’d guess.”
“Are you saying my words aren’t relevant?”
“Forgive me if you took it that way. No, I mean that they could be more accessible to others.”
“I could live with that.” He pauses then asks, “Then why were you laughing?”
“Sorry, but you are a horrible song writer.”
“What?”
“Well, they took your words straight from the New Living Translation – word for word – they didn’t even try to rhyme them or add background to what you had to say.”
“And it sounds, what, silly?”
“Sometimes it sounded like one of those ‘Bud Light Salutes Real Men of Genius’ commercials, you know, where they try to put too many words into a line of song, and it doesn’t really sound like a song…”
“Oh myself. This isn’t good.”
“It’s not all a disaster. The choruses are catchy and some of the music is great!”
“So it’s just my part that isn’t good…”
“Well, that’s why I was laughing.”
Jesus wept.
“Don’t feel bad, Lord. All things work together for good!”
He looks up at me, “Don’t go throwing around Paul’s words at me. You are using them out of context, anyways.”
“Sorry, Jesus.”
“You’re forgiven. Again.”
“Thanks. At least you know your words won’t return void.”
“What do you even think that means?”
“Honestly, I’m not really sure.”
He stands up, ready to leave the room. “Well there is only one thing for me to do.”
“What’s that?”
“Sue them for song writing royalties.”
http://www.chadestes.com/2010/08/red_letters_project/
Aug 19th, 2010
weswoodell
So sometimes I’m in a hurry … and sometimes when I’m in a hurry I don’t read emails as closely as I should. Last month was one of those times.
Whilst in said hurry, I received a note from my friends at The Ooze asking if I’d be interested in receiving a free copy of Tyndale House Publishing’s The Red Letters Project: Book of Matthew for review on westcoastwitness.com.
I quickly perused the email description picking out the phrases “red letter words of Jesus,” “New Living Translation,” and “audio Bible.”
“Cool,” I thought, “A dramatic reading of the red letter words of Jesus from the Book of Matthew. Maybe I can use that as a sweet intro for a Bible study or something – sounds good!” And I signed up.
Boy was I surprised when I opened the package a couple of weeks later and read this on the front of the album:
The Red Letters Project is an electrifying performance of rock music recounting every word spoken by Jesus Christ in the Book of Matthew …
Electrifying performance of rock music? Christian rock music?!? Bah!
Regular readers know this is not something I would have signed up for on purpose. Too bad … I said I would listen and do a review of this when I hurriedly signed up, so here we are.
To be polite I will not completely rip this album to shreds. I will, however, say this: while it is a noble thing to record the words of Jesus musically, large sections of Jesus’ words straight from the NLT do not work melodically (i.e. in song) and cannot be forced to when presented in big chunks.
The advice I would give someone attempting to create an album centered around the words of Jesus would be this: work with smaller sections of Scripture that more naturally form a melody rather than cramming large sections into a single track. Bite off too much, and it simply doesn’t work musically. That pretty much sums up my feelings as a listener.
Stylistically the tracks on this album move between generic sounding pop-rock to a few heavier tracks to a few rock ballads.
My favorite is number 3 on disc one entitled “Sacrifice,” mainly because it’s a bit heavier and in the first verse the singer stretches the word “hell” out for several beats. This provided laughs, and I actually restarted the track to hear that part again.
To conclude, if you are already into Christian rock, you may like The Red Letters Project: Book of Matthew. This may especially be good for youth ministers seeking a creative way to present Scripture to their kids. Additionally, if you are looking for a tool to help you memorize the words of Jesus as presented in the NLT, this will help as songs will stick with you (not because they are particularly great … simply because they are songs, and that’s what songs do).
TRLP is a three-disc box set that retails for $29.99 and can be purchased here.
I promise from now on I will read invitations from my friends at The Ooze more closely.
http://westcoastwitness.com/2010/08/25/review-the-red-letters-project/
Aug 25th, 2010
tiffanymalloy
Today, the family and I spent some time listening to The Red Letters Project: the Book of Matthew, which is a 3 CD set of rock music set to the red letter words in Matthew (aka. the words of Jesus). I REALLY like the idea for this new project. When listening to it, I immediately thought that it would be a great way for Scripture to really invade peoples’ hearts and perhaps aid in some easy memorization.
I definitely enjoyed a few of the tracks, but after awhile I realized that it’s just not my kind of music. I really wish that it would come in different genres because I definitely see the potential in forming the heart towards God.
For people who like rock music, I think this could be a good investment. It’s probably for a younger crowd (i.e. youth group) or some older people who are newer to Christianity (and maybe don’t like to read) and enjoy old school rock. The version is NLT, which makes it easily understandable.
Aug 25th, 2010
Godspoetic1
“The Red Letters Project…Book of Mattew”
3 Disc set—NLT
By: Tyndale Publishers
“The Red Letters Project” is a collection of “Christian rock”, if you will, recounting the very words of Jesus himself, from the book of Matthew. As the title states, “Red Letters”, just as in the Bible, Jesus’ words are in red, to grab the listener’s attention! I wasn’t really sure what to expect when I recieved the CD collection from “The Ooze”, and admittedly, I am not a fan of Christian rock.
So I, along with my teenage sons, listened to the collection, so that I could get a better idea, and opinion as a whole, for not just my age, but for younger people also. Truly, I really don’t feel that “the Red Letters Project” is geared for the middle aged, 40 plus people, or maybe that is just me, but my sons enjoyed it as a whole, and thought most of the tracks were pretty good. They liked how no two songs were alike really, and they could even relate them to some of their favorite bands.
I believe that this series of music would go over quite well within youth ministries, and camps. It could be used to draw in the younger aged groups very easily, and would be a great tool for teaching the words of Jesus in a much more new, modern, and creative way.
Now, the next question you are wondering, “would I buy it?” No, probably not! Like I said before, I am not a fan of “Christian rock”, now, and I hardly think that listening to this CD collection changed my mind either. Sorry! Next, you might ask, “would my sons buy it?” Maybe, maybe not. As teenagers are, they are very “choosey” with their choices of Christian music also, but again, it is quite possible that one of them would!
http://godspoetic1.wordpress.com
Aug 30th, 2010
theshadesofpink
I agreed to review a copy of The Red Letters Project (Book of Matthew) for The OOZE. What is the Red Letters Project? Here’s part of what the website says: What if rock operas like Godspell and Jesus Christ, Superstar were produced by somewhat more…reverent talents? You might get The Red Letters Project, an ambitious and eclectic 3-disc performance based on the “red letter” words of Jesus from the Gospel of Matthew. Drawn word-for-word from the New Living Translation, it’s a real listening experience, featuring 40 tracks, both sung and narrated. Or you could just head to the official site OR their facebook page to learn more.
This is a collection of 3 CD’s so I haven’t had a chance to listen to them all, as I tend to listen to music as a background to my life. But as Mike and I drove into town the other night we listened to the first CD. Admittedly we skipped a few tracks but finally wound up on one that had a beat that caught our attention.
As we listened we came to our ruling over the CD: It’s good. But it’s not something we would go out of our way to listen to.
What does that mean? That means it will play while we am cleaning house and need some background music. But that’s about it. I love Christian Rock. But this didn’t quite meet my expectations.
I was provided this set of CD’s in trade for an honest review.
Aug 31st, 2010
dvdbrumley
I can honestly say that I really, really, really wanted to enjoy Tyndale’s The Red Letter Project; Book of Matthew. When I first opened the three cd set of the teachings of Jesus set to contemporary musical styles I couldn’t wait to give it a listen. After all, I thought, most of my favorite hymns that we sing in church are simply passages of scripture set to music. As I thought about it though, not too many of those hymns actually contain the words, you know the red-letter part of the New Testament, of Jesus. I just knew it was going to be great.
To me it seemed like such a great idea. I received this right after a Facebook discussion with friends talking about how bad I felt about not being able to fully commit Isaiah 53 to memory but if Snoop Dogg’s Gin & Juice came on the Sirius I could quote it verbatim. One friends solution was to sing Isaiah 53 to the tune of Gin & Juice. That seemed a tad blasphemous to me, but when I received the review copy of this project, I figured that this would at least be a chance to test that logic. As of this day, I still have not put Isaiah 53 to any hip-hop beats and The Red Letter Project has not caused me to consider it.
I hate to say this, but I really did not like this project. While there are many contemporary Christian groups whose music I really enjoy (for personal listening, not worship in church), this failed to compare to those most successful artists. I am not sure if it was a matter of production or if it was something else, but something just sounded off on the whole project. The primary problem to me was that if something is supposed to be highlighting the teaching of Jesus, shouldn’t one at least be able to understand what words the artist is singing. While I did enjoy the fact that a pull-out booklet was included with the NLT teaching of Christ/lyrics, I didn’t necessarily plan on having to pull it out in order to understand what was being said. As I found myself reading along in the booklet to keep up with the singing, I couldn’t help but ask myself if I wouldn’t be better served just pulling out my Bible and reading it.
I really hate to give a bad review, but my hope is that the other three gospel accounts have not been produced yet and that either better mixing or singing will take place on the future projects so that the words of Christ will be highlighted. I will not say that this is useless as I with hold hope that someone will hear the words of Christ through this project. While I do plan to listen to this project again in the future, as of today, I would not tell a friend or fellow Christian to purchase this. Save your money and buy a Bible or if you already have one, buy one for someone else.
If you would like to judge for yourself, visit the projects website, click here.
Sep 6th, 2010
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