Music Day - Sympathy

Definitely my favourite Stryper song.

Title: Sympathy
Artist: Stryper
Album: No More Hell To Pay
Year: 2013
Label: Frontiers Records
iTunes here; official video on YouTube here.

I adore the harmony in the chorus. Michael Sweet is totally on form here -- I think I like his singing better now than his singing back in the eighties. It's still just as sweeping and powerful, but it doesn't sound as forced as it did then.

This is just a great straight-up rock song. It's still the Stryper sound, but it also sounds perfectly suited to today's sound. Sympathy would not be out of place on today's rock radio stations.

Yes, I Do Need To Get A Life

The other night I was getting ready for bed and noticed this song playing in my head. It sounded familiar so I didn't really think about it too much right away... but then once I got in bed and was waiting to fall asleep I suddenly consciously realised that it wasn't Petra or White Heart.
Well then, where had I picked it up?
At first I couldn't name the band -- usually that solves everything. But then it got to this part in the pre-chorus where there's this held note and suddenly I recognised the voice.
That's Michael Sweet -- This is Stryper.
I didn't even own any Stryper -- yet. And they're one of the few acts neither of my parents were fans of. In fact, my only exposure to Stryper was from previewing their albums on the iTunes Store.

So if you're ever wondering if you like a song enough (based on a preview) to justify paying a whole entire dollar for it, here's a little test: If you can all of the sudden randomly start humming the song without any external cue, it's probably safe to fork over the dollar.
(Unless, of course, you need that dollar to keep your lights on or buy your groceries for the week. Then no, keep the dollar and stick to previewing the song while you eat a good hot meal.)