In Brief

Christian rock has taken an encouraging turn in recent years, as bands such as Jars of Clay have smoothed out the genre’s inherently pious tone with pop smarts and attitude moves picked up from alternative rockers. Multimillion-selling Smith remains a holdout from the old school, hammering home his four-minute parables with little subtlety or panache, while goopy, middle-of-the-road arrangements drone on behind him.

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Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor) to four (excellent).

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Hear the Music

* Excerpts from these albums and other recent releases are available on The Times’ World Wide Web site. Point your browser to: https://www.latimes.com/soundclips