SMASH Hits - Wednesday, August 10

“My heart, O God, is steadfast, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and make music.”
                                                                                                                    Psalm 57:7
 
Choosing Songs

Which songs to include on the CD?? This was a tough one for all of us because of the ton of great tunes that are part of the Life Teen SMASH services.
 
One of the first decisions to make when recording a CD is, obviously, which songs to include, and there are as many opinions as there are people. We can rattle off the countless bands that have broken up on that point alone. So, after several fist fights between Fr. Chris, Mrs. McDonough, Tim H., Mike H., and the band (just kidding… sort of) we came to a decision: Let the teens decide.
 
One Monday night before Pizza and Prayer, we approached it as a democracy and polled the SMASH teens for their favorites. We listed approximately 40 songs on hand-out sheets and had approximately 50 teens anonymously select 10 of their favorites to include on the CD.

In the meantime, Fr. Chris, Mrs. McDonough, Mark, and I insisted on a few songs that just had to make it - Obviously “Doors Of Mercy” had to be included and then “Pass It On”, composed by the late and great Paul Caruso, the founder and original director of the Life Teen Band back in November 2005 (12 years ago to the day from when this CD will be released). Life Teen SMASH Band bassist Tim Paul Weiner’s original composition “This Is My Body” had to make the cut, as well.
 
The final results of the poll were tallied that night and we were ready to start the recording process (but not necessarily in this order):

Doors of Mercy
Pass It On
This Is My Body
How Great Is Our God
Lord I Need You
Strong Enough
10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord)
Hail Mary
From The Inside Out
A Rightful Place
Lord I Lift Your Name On High/Just Like You (medley)
You Are Holy
I Can Only Imagine

 
Next steps:

1. Check everyone’s availability to record and
2. Record what is called the “reference tracks” or “roughs” with Mark and Lennie at Jeff’s studio for the band to use as a guide.

 
Next “SMASH Hits” blog installment - “Recovering From Fist Fight Wounds”