Jennifer Knapp. She amazed us with Kansas and the ever popular song "Undo Me." Then she put out Lay it Down and once again wowed us with her awesome writing skills and crisp guitar playing. And now she throws us her 3rd project, The Way I am, which only adds to the list.
The cd starts out with "By and By" which is an awesome acoustic rockish track. Personally it's one of my favorites because of the added string section, which gives much to the song. Following tracks "Breathe on Me," and "The Way I am" are much like the first.
Song number four, "Say Won't you Say," is much different from the first three. It is a more mellowed out pop song. At first I wasn't too into it, but as you listen to it more it grows on you. "Around Me" is an acoustic song that basically gives you the picture of Jennifer alone with her guitar and the added miscellaneous noises in the background. "Come to Me" follows. It's a great song with a "funky" kind of beat at the beginning and then it leads to Jennifer's rock guitar style in the chorus. "Charity" has a softer sound to the verses and then she hits you with a tad bit harder of a sound in the chorus. "Fall Down" starts out with the strings chiming in and proceeds to a slower, more mellow song. It's another on my favorites list because it's just an awesome song lyrically, and sound wise.
"Sing Mary Sing" shows a bit more of her folk side on this album. And then there's "In Two (the lament)" which is a slower acoustic song with the violin added into the background. "Light of the World," track 11, isn't as slow as the previous track but it keeps the more mellow sound. There are also some good background vocals added towards the end. "No Regrets" is the final song and it begins with a cello solo and leads into an excellent acoustic song.
I can truly say I enjoyed every track on this CD. Jennifer Knapp is an awesome musician with a great talent for writing songs that speak to you in more than one way. This album will remain on my list of favorites for a long time to come.
Amber's Score: 5/5
Other coverage for this album
ReAL Magazine 2001Reviewed by Timothy Paul YenterJennifer Knapp, one of the brightest stars in the array of Christian musicians, has set a new standard for herself with The Way I Am, her third album. Knapp has remarkable talent as a singer and a songwriter, and this may be the clearest demonstration of her talent to produce the sincere language and painful sounds of humility, courage, hope, and repentance. The careful listener will find her…The Rebel Base 2001Reviewed by Josh Hurst"Grace/ It's the name for a girl/ It's also a thought that/ Changed the world," sings Bono on U2's album All That You Can't Leave Behind. As usual, the man is correct. Grace has- and still does- change the world, in both obvious and subtle ways. This may not be something you've thought about much, but the topic of grace is nothing new to Jennifer Knapp. On both her critically acclaimed debut…The Rebel Base 2001Reviewed by David MartinThere's always been something refreshingly simple about Jennifer Knapp's music. The gritty folk/rock songstress has been winning people over for four years with gritty, scripture-inflected songs such as "Undo Me", "Whole Again", "A Little More", and "Into You". Even though her last album, Lay It Down was much more stripped down and acoustic than the runaway success of Kansas, it still resonated…Similar sounding releases
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