When I was a young lad of 17 I had trouble believing God loved me, like really actually loved me in the way my parents for example loved me. I also had grown up on a steady diet of contemporary Christian radio with smooth production and ever so slightly distorted electric guitars. This album came along at that time in my life with a perfect blending of that CCM sound and a very strong thesis statement of “Yes, God does love you”.
Tenth Avenue North wastes no time putting their best foot forward with two of the three opening tracks being the big singles of the album. Both “Love is Here” and “By Your Side” have that late 90’s early 2000’s adult alternative rock sound that I personally just really love and “By Your Side” in particular is really big and dramatic, giving the song an almost cinematic feel. The songs stand as twin statements of God’s love, assuring us that God has already done all the sacrificing necessary to cover your sins and you have no excuse not to except His love. The lyrics can feel a little simplistic and almost Sunday school esc at times but for a lot of people, me included, it’s exactly what is needed. A lot of the songs actually work really good in sequence on this album such as the mid-tempo “Let It Go” followed by the closest thing these guys get to a ruckus rocker “Break Me Down” that both focus on the idea of letting go of whatever sense of control or protection that’s keeping you from fully experiencing God. The album feels generally split in between the radio ready first half and the more intimate personal songs on the second half. This can mostly be attributed I think to the co-writers on the more radio ready songs (including artists I appreciate like Bebo Norman and Philip LaRue) and the more intimate sounding songs being written solely by lead singer/songwriter Mike Donehey. The best example of the more intimate songs and the honestly best song on the album in my opinion would be the standout track “Times”. Starting off with just an acoustic guitar before going into the layered vocals “oh oh” that serves as the chorus this song gives me an almost pet sounds melancholy feel, complete with a beautiful, lonely cello. The lyrics though I find really powerful with some standout lines including .“My love is over, it’s underneath, it’s inside, it’s in between…The times that you feel like you’ve fallen from grace…I’m there in your sorrow, under the weight of your shame…I’ll never forsake you, My love never ends”. I admit this album may not be perfect and could easily be accused of falling into the generic mid-tempo sound of mid 2000’s CCM, but dang it I don’t find myself coming back to it again and again. Like a comforting bowl of soup sometimes it’s nice to just enjoy the simplicity of hearing about a God who loves you, no matter what. Suggested Tracks: By Your Side Break Me Down Hold My Heart Times
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Showbread is/was an art punk band originally hailing from the state of Georgia. And by the time this album rolled around in 2012 it was primarily the brainchild of lead singer and chief songwriter Josh “Dies” Porter. The album “Cancer” tells the story of an invading alien species that takes over earth and uses its influence over the media and government to get everyone worshiping the media, government, and if I understand the story correctly the cancer of death itself. In the midst of this a punk rock band rises up and attempts to defy this great power. However the band finds themselves falling under the alien influence themselves and ultimately having to fight for their very souls.
In case it’s not clear this is a very head on the nail metaphor for the band fighting against the powers of darkness in our very real and present world. This ultimately works to the bands advantage as many of the best tracks from this album work as standalone tracks or within the context of the story. Take for instance the opening track “I’m afraid that I’m Me”, a seven minute epic that manages to jump between punk, ska, and the albums main musical influence, glam rock. It lays out very clearly Josh Dies feelings on the politicization of the church and how he feels about patriotism in general (hint, he doesn’t feel favorably about it). The song climaxes in the righteous fury of, “’blessed are the meek’ succumbs to might makes right, ‘turn the other cheek’ succumbs to pre-emptive strike, ‘love your enemies’ is fossilized beneath the frozen tundra, and ‘blessed are the poor in spirit’ is devoured by ‘God bless America'". I don’t’ recall this specific song shaping my political opinions but it certainly spells them out for me. Another stand out track is the anthem “Anarchy!”. Another track rejecting patriotic fervor that includes some standout bass work from Patrick Porter. However where many punk songs in history have called for revolution by way of violence this song’s lyrics instead states, “ Non-violent non-resistance, sworn to honor our true King” before giving a fist pumping “Anarchy, anarchy, anarchy!” for good measure. From bold face rebellion to despair, the middle tracks can be a little depressing if taken out of context. Thankfully the album ends on a hopeful note with the twin tracks “You Will Die in a Prison”, “You Will Not Die in a Prison” which together act as a 14 minute mini opera. Bringing the glam rock to full force. Hear we are treated to epic guitar solos and ultimate hope we have in Jesus Christ and his return someday. The closing lyrics say it best, “Now we’re dancing, swept up in love. Jesus, King forever, You are King forever! Leaving sorrow and death behind, He’s beaten them forever”. This album was produced with an accompanying (and at times super trippy) film. As of this writing the film can be found on Joshua S. Porter’s YouTube page, but the stress of making that film ended up causing a creative breakdown for the band, leading to the what was intended to be the final album and breakup of the band. The band has ultimately resurrected in one form or another in the years since but through it all this album tends to be a forgotten footnote and that’s really a shame. For me personally, this album stands as almost a blueprint for the way I view politics as an adult. Beyond that, it is an epic rock opera that carries through with a hopeful story, without ever getting bogged down in narrative. For that reason and just it’s solid replay value this album is on my list. Suggested Tracks: I’m Afraid That I’m Me Sex with Strangers Anarchy! You Will Not Die in a Prison Jars Of Clay are one of those bands unfortunate enough to have their biggest hit and signature tune “Flood” come from their debut album in 1995. This had the interesting effect of the album sales halving every album cycle with their self-titled debut selling 2 million records, and then their sophomore effort “Much Afraid” still selling a commendable 1 million copies, before ending their box office success with their third record “If I Left The Zoo” going gold (though they did have a surprise gold record from an acoustic/live recordings double disc set in 2005). This left the band in an interesting place by the time they crossed the millennium. Were they have beens? One hit wonders who were at their “eleventh hour” as it were? With these questions and an ever changing music industry in front of them they went back into the studio to record their fourth album “The Eleventh Hour”.
Self-produced due to being unable to secure their preferred producer the album has an almost “indie” feel to it that still carries that distinct Jars Of Clay vibe, including wonderful interplay between guitarists Matt Odmark and Stephen Mason and subtle keyboard and sound effects from Charlie Lowell. Additionally the groups live backup band were brought into the studio giving this album a real shot in the arm of energy and coherence. While certain songs seemed hand crafted for specific markets I appreciate how this band takes what could be seen as a cynical approach and turns in some of my favorite tracks. A good example includes the beautiful Adult Contemporary rock of “Fly”, which to my ears sounds like the better version of Mercy Me’s “I can only imagine”. Another single “I Need You”, was a self-titled album throwback that fit nicely in the emerging worship genre of Christian radio while still playing into vulnerable human emotions. The rest of the album has a poetic and mysterious quality to it. Tracks like “Something Beautiful” and “The Eleventh Hour” have a very mellow coffee house vibe, while other tracks like “Revolution” do their best to be straight up rockers. The real highlight of the album though is the lyrics, with a consistent theme of being the middle of an uncomfortable or even bad situation and hoping, praying, for God to make it better. Even when the lyrics could be about God or a human relationship, they still work on the level of just praying things will work out in the long run, such as these lyrics from the chorus of “Something Beautiful”, “Close my eyes and hold my heart, cover me and make me something, change this something normal into something beautiful”. Probably the high point of this poetry and mystery is the track “Silence” a song that has some of the most simple and yet profound lyrics, "I thought You were silent, and I though you left me, for the wreckage and the waste, on the empty beach of faith“ before later stating "All I pray is wrong, and all I claim is gone...I got a question, where are you?”. An honest and often hard question to ask of God when we feel like we’ve hit bottom, or even when we’re just in the mundane but no less fun “middle”. Really that is the main theme of this album and one I have related to and continue to relate to so strongly. Life involves a lot of slow moving drudgery before we get to the good parts and this album is the perfect soundtrack for that. All in all, this album laid the groundwork for where Jars would go moving forward. No longer set on selling millions of records the band seemed content to just be themselves and make the music they wanted to make. Asking questions all along the way. Suggested Tracks: Disappear Fly Silence Scarlet If you have spent any time around Contemporary Christian Music during the 2010’s you are most likely familiar with John Mark McMillan’s signature song “How He Loves”, a song written after the tragic passing of a close friend. Chances are though you probably heard someone else covering it rather than his original version (for some reason everyone gets all uptight when you include “sloppy wet kiss” in your worship song). Because of this JMM has forever been branded as a worship artist, for better or worse. If he is indeed a worship artist, then he takes more after the King David than Chris Tomlin.
Over a decade after “How He Loves” McMillan appeared to have a crisis of faith. Between severe anxiety and a western version of Christianity that seemed less and less like God, it’s really quite easy to understand. So, he wrote about it, how God is so much different than what he feels like he’s been chasing all his life, how the more he tries to control things, the more they spin out of control. Through it all he wrote about the disconnect between Godliness and the life he thought he wanted, and about just wanting to be closer to God. Individual songs demonstrate McMillan’s ability to merge a thinking man’s singer songwriter song with the modern worship genre. Some highlights include “Mercury & Lightning”, which uses the Greek god mercury as a metaphor for chasing your own satisfaction, “God’s of American Success”, a biting criticism of how capitalism has invaded church theology and the hauntingly beautiful “Death in Reverse”, which include the great lyrics “Then I build my life around, someone who I thought that I was, but it turns out, all the things I do to feel young, they only make me old”. But it’s really the complete album that tells the full story and I highly recommend listening front to back a couple times. To say I think this album is good would be underselling it. Between the synths, pounding drums, and lyrics that could be gone over for days, it’s something special. This album proves to me that art is not dead, particularly art made by people looking through a Biblical lens. This album is honest and raw in a way a lot of Christian artists are afraid to be and looks toward redemption in a way a lot of other artists can’t seem to find. Suggested Tracks: Mercury & Lightning Gods of American Success Death In Reverse Magic Mirror I have a brother who always says he loves abstract art, because you can put any meaning you want into it, and it still works. This album by Radiohead (made up of Thom Yorke on vocals/guitars/keys, Johnny Greenwood on any instrument he felt like playing but mainly guitar, Colin Greenwood on bass, Ed O’Brien on guitar/backing vocals, and Philip Selway on drums) in so many ways is abstract art. There could be (and are) a hundred different meanings that can be attached to the music and the lyrics, and they may all be right, and they may all be wrong. Either way it’s entirely up to the listener’s experience.
Kid A was recorded after Radiohead had stopped touring for what up to this point had been their biggest album “OK Computer”. Due to the high stress of the tour, and various personal factors, lead singer (and primary lyricist) Thom Yorke was having what tvtropes.org describes as a creator breakdown. Partly due to this the band decided to move away from the conventional rock of their previous albums and instead started cobbling together a project made up of lots of electronica noise, lyric fragments, and free jazz. The resulting album was an unlikely success, went platinum and catapulted the band towards even bigger heights. For many critics at the time and especially now days this album is considered one of the best of the decade if not the century. However the hype can definitely turn some people off and I can understand that. For me this album is a lot of my introduction to experimental music. Tracks like opener “Everything In Its Right Place” (man that haunting piano riff is still so great) “Kid A” and “Idioteque” make your head spin with all the sound effects, uncommon time signatures, and abstracts, hard to pin down lyrics. However, Radiohead is still fundamentally a pop band and tracks like “The National Anthem” (with an amazing bass riff as the main hook) and “How To Disappear Completely” (which honestly sounds the most like a traditional Radiohead track with it’s sad guitar and lyrics about alienation) demonstrate this pop sensibility nicely. The lyrics definitely touch on the previously mentioned themes of alienation (as pretty much every Radiohead album does in some way) but for the most part stay pretty word salad. This is by design as a lot of lyrics were literally cut up and pulled out of a hat to see what would happen. The lyrics could be about alien abductions, global warming, or human cloning, ultimately this is an album that leaves much up to your imagination and your personal interpretations. Radiohead would go on to make music that was both more conventional and more experimental than this album. However because Kid A was the first album in the bands discography to do something truly different and because of the great craftsmanship on display, it stands as an artistic accomplishment and personal favorite. Suggested Tracks: Everything In Its Right Place The National Anthem Optimistic Idioteque I had a tough time choosing my favorite Third Day album. Unlike a lot of people, I didn’t necessarily grow up with them as a child apart from what I heard on the radio. However, I remember one fateful Christmas when I was probably 14 or so I was gifted this album and their 2003 effort “Offerings II”. Like any teenager who was hearing something relatively new I immediately loved the albums and faithfully bought their next three albums as the opportunities arrived (2005’s Wherever You Are, 2006’s Christmas Offerings, and 2008’s Revelation) and at some point in there I also bought their 1996 self-titled debut album. Eventually my fascination with the band began to wean as I discovered other artists but for a time in my life I had a Third Day album and song for a lot of different moments in my life.
Wire was Third Day’s Follow up to one of the best and worst periods of their career. On one hand their 2000 worship album “Offerings” had been a smash hit, going platinum and sending the band into the stratosphere of Christian rock music Stardom. On the other hand, their two follow up albums “2001’s Come Together” and the previously mentioned “Offering II”, while well received, didn’t quite live up to the hype or sales. Beyond that I personally get the feeling these guys wanted to be a real rock band, not just a “Christian rock” band. So, they went into the studio and put together a back to basics rock album with a healthy amount of studio polish that while holding tightly to a lot of Christian ideas and sentiments, could still play nicely on a secular rock station next to the likes of Lifehouse, and Switchfoot. And honestly with Mac Powell’s deep and at times dynamic voice and the rest of the bands very competent musicianship it really is a shame the band never caught on in the mainstream. For me this album was a breath of fresh air that was just edgy enough (well as edgy as a band like Third Day could be) to curb my (very minor) acts of teenage rebellion. With tracks like “Rockstar” (which rocks by the way) and “Billy Brown”(a surprisingly mature meditation on societies obsession with celebrities and maybe slight reflection on how the members of Third Day felt like they fit into all that) not having anything directly related to a Bible scripture I made sure it was something my parents never heard me play. But then the other stuff on the album like the title track which has some of the best post rock U2 guitars of Third day’s career and “San Angelo” with its sad sound and obscure meaning, hinted at a wider potential for music that I was just catching onto. It was the early stages of my musical development, but this album definitely played a part. Suggested Tracks: ‘Til The Day I Die Wire Rockstar I Got a Feeling Much could be said about U2, even more could be said about how they influenced countless artists, including many artists that I grew up with. Sadly, many fans and critics alike seem convinced that the band peaked in 1991 with their album Achtung Baby. Even fewer people remember that two short years later in the middle of the massive “Zoo TV Tour” the band took a short break to record another album in the same industrial rock, euro pop vein. That album which became 1993’s Zooropa would become the band’s secret little masterpiece.
The album starts off with an introduction of sorts with the title track and thrusts us into a post-apocalyptic setting where a character wanders from situation to situation trying to find some sort of meaning in life and is also continually let down by the supposed comforts of this world. Now I admit this next thought isn’t completely original to me but the way these tracks tell this tale seems to paint a picture of the nameless son from Jesus’ parable of the prodigal. Going from distraction to distraction (Babyface, Numb) and still finding that nothing is getting better (Dirty Day). Each track seems to scream about the vapidity of pointless and frivolous living and longing for some sort of redemption and re-connection (Stay, The First Time). The prodigal song theme culminates in the final track “The Wanderer” which has Johnny Cash on lead vocals and the lyrics “I went out there in search of experience. To taste and to touch and to feel as much as a man can before he repents”. A sentiment I think anyone can relate to. The music pushes the boundaries of what U2 were doing musically on the aforementioned Achtung Baby with tracks like “Numb, and “Lemon”, but still maintains the fundamental U2ness on tracks like “Stay (Faraway, So Close!)” and one of my personal favorites “The First Time”. The swirly electronica definitely give the tracks a bleak cold feeling in places which just feels appropriate for the themes and concepts the band were going for. Overall, this album feels special and holds a unique place in U2’s discography. Overshadowed by the huge achievement that was the previous album (Achtung Baby) and the huge flop that came after (the often misunderstood POP), Zooropa stands as a short breath. A moment in time that is only loved by a select few. But for those willing to dig in, you may find some treasures inside. Suggested Tracks: Zooropa Stay (Faraway, So Close!) The First Time The Wanderer I find it interesting that in an artist’s most desperate hour, they tend to make their breakthrough piece of art. Maybe it’s the underdog in all of us but we can’t seem to help ourselves cheering for those unlikely success stories. Take Underoath for instance, a metal band from Florida, mainly associated with the Christian hardcore scene, who had seen every original member leave the band except their drummer who occasionally sang. Worse yet they threatened to turn their entire fan base against them by inserting (gasp) pop choruses into their metal songs. Yet somehow out of all this came an album that turned the music scene at the time upside down, and turned the little band that could, into cultural icons.
This album is made for teenagers, and I suspect, specifically for uptight Christian kids who were looking for something they could claim as their own. From the opening track “Young And Aspiring” there is a restlessness to this album that makes it connect on an emotional level. For a Christian band however, the album is surprisingly light on Christian themes. Instead, it focuses on teenage angst and emotions like the guilt of premarital sex in “A Boy Brushed Red, Living In Black And White”, or not wanting to let go of someone to the point of being willing to die in a car crash with them in “It’s Dangerous Business Walking Out Your Front Door” (which it’s worth noting has one of my favorite uses of a backing choir possibly ever). All this angst and turmoil finally climaxes in the final song on the album “Some Will Seek Forgiveness, Others Escape” (remember when song titles used to be like a hundred words long). This song was how I was introduced to Underoath when it was featured on a sampler. I cannot express how that song, a master class in building tension, hit me. Particularly at the climax of the song when drummer/singer Aaron Gillespie all but whispers “Jesus I’m ready to come” followed by a throat shredding “HOME!” from lead singer Spencer Chamberlain. The catharsis for all the teenage guilt I carried was real. Suggested Tracks: A Boy Brushed Red Living In Black and White Reinventing Your Exit It’s Dangerous Business Walking Out Your Front Door Some Will Seek Forgiveness, Others Escape San Diego rock band Switchfoot (made up of brothers Jon and Tim Foreman on lead vocals/guitar and bass respectively, Chad Butler on drums and at the time newcomer Jerome Fontamillas on keys/guitar) had reached a tipping point in 2002. Their record deal with Charlie Peacock’s (a guy who has lurked in the shadows of music for years as a producer extraordinaire and underrated pop/jazz musician) Re:Think records had expired. The band had only minimal success in the CCM market with records like New Way To Be Human and Learning To Breath, and they thought this would be their final chance to record together. So, they did what any good band does in a crisis, went into the studio, and recorded a great album.
The title of the album speaks to the inability of the world to satisfy your soul but may very well stand as statement to their feelings about the music industry as a whole. Because like the world being a “beautiful letdown” when you realize it has nothing for you, the group seemed to realize their true musical potential when they stopped caring about what record labels had to offer them, and instead just made the album they wanted to make (a theme that would be repeated throughout their career). The inclusions here were harder sounding guitars, lots of blippity bloopy keyboards, and a heavy dose of psychedelic that had been missing from their previous records. As for me, growing up, Switchfoot could not be escaped, and this record had a lot to do with that. Though their smash hits “Dare You To Move” and “Meant To Live” (a personal anthem during my teenage years) were what catapulted the album to ubiquitous, it’s the deeper cuts from the album that make it stand the test of time. Cut’s like “The Beautiful Letdown” with it's sprawling aforementioned psychedelia, “This Is Your Life” which is the perfect soundtrack for when your 16 and feeling depressed, and “Gone" with it's post pop punk leanings and commentary on the vapidness of life, are what cemented this album for me. This album made me believe that music could be far more poetic and leave a far larger impact than I had believed up to that point in my life. Switchfoot would continue on past this album, reaching their popularity peak sometime around the end of the record age in the late 2000’s. However, they would never escape the songs from this record (not that I think they ever wanted to) and will probably continue playing them until their last show. Suggest Tracks: Meant to Live This Is Your Life The Beautiful Letdown Twenty-Four Those that are familiar with Audio Adrenaline may be surprised to learn this is my lone Audio A Entry on this list. However, a few things stand out about this album. First, it’s the final album made with what I consider the core four members of Audio Adrenaline that made some of their best work, Lead Vocalist Mark Stewart, Guitarist and second lead vocalist Tyler Burkum, bassist Will McGinniss, and drummer Ben Cissell. Second due to Mark’s failing vocal cords Tyler sings a majority of the lead, and I personally really love Tyler Burkum as an artist. Last but not least this was written as a final album, this was supposed to be it, and the guys knew it going into record.
The songs on this album can be divided up into three categories. First up are the classic Audio A rockers like “Clap Your Hands, and “Undefeated”, upbeat positive rockers these guys could write in their sleep. I particularly remember hearing "Undefeated" on the radio growing up and there is just something about that staccato guitar (really just staccato guitar in general if I'm honest) that made me love it. Second is some of the best worship songs to come out of the early 2000’s such as “Melody (Lost In The Wonder)” and “King” a forgotten classic that deserved to be sung at all the youth group services. By this point we were getting to the place in history where praise and worship as a genre was starting to overtake pop within the Christian music market and I'm personally glad Audio Adrenaline stepped away before they felt the pressure to make an album of nothing but worship music. And last but most pertinent are the going away songs. The songs about coming to grips with the end of everything you’ve ever known and trying to decide where to go next. Songs like “Until My Heart Caves In”, and “Losing Control” give you an inside look to a band and people coming unraveled and choosing to give it all to God. If you want some really good insight into this topic in particular I highly recommend Mark Stewart's memoir "Losing my voice to find it". Every time I listen to this album, I’m reminded of the great art that came out of the often cynical, corporate driven machine that was Contemporary Christian Music. And while not everything about it turned out to be great, a lot of it was like this band. Just four guys being as real and authentic as possible and making music while they were at it. Suggest Tracks: Clap Your Hands, King Undefeated Losing Control |
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