The Thous!

Here are a couple of versions of wonderful hymns that you may not have heard.

There is nobody that the blogosphere loves more than Sufjan Stevens and this is from his unreleased but not that hard to find Christmas record (although it's not thought of as a Christmas song). But I have to hand it to Sufjan because this is just the 2nd Christmas record I have, the first being John Denver and the Muppets. Actually I also have the cassette soundtrack to "The Muppet Christmas Carol". So I guess Sufjan made the first non-muppet Christmas record I have.

Sufjan Stevens--Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing Mp3

The 2nd one is from Pedro The Lion's "The Only Reason I Feel Secure" which is not a Christmas album. "Be Thou My Vision" might be my favorite hymn ever. It is from a traditional Irish melody and a version of the lyric has been traced back to the 8th century. I remember a discussion with a church musician and he said that modern Christian music was written with a planned obsolescence, that they would be so poppy that they would sound dated within 5 years. It seems a little counterintuitive to write disposable songs about an eternal God.

Pedro The Lion--Be Thou My Vision Mp3

Buy Sufjan Stevens on Amazon
Buy Pedro The Lion on Amazon

Both of these artists work is available on emusic.com which is how I buy 90% of my music. Click the sidebar for a free trial and they will send me $6! It's a great service and far and away the cheapest way to get music without stealing it.