Presents The Christmas Classics EP
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House Of Heroes In lieu of last year's turning point for the band, House of Heroes has been doing their darnedest to make sure you remember them, all through a series of three 3-song EPs. First it was acoustic, then it...
Family Force 5's Christmas Pageant
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FF5 (formerly Family Force 5) It seems that every year I hear yet another person expressing their hate for Christmas music. After all, it's the same classics spelled the same different ways, by the same voices. For these people, there's...
Hello Hurricane
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Switchfoot I'll admit it. After such a long drought of a solid album (their whole career), and the recent draught of even a decent album (Since 'Beautiful Letdown'), I kind of gave up on Switchfoot. Add to that the...
A Great Greatest Hits For A Great Band | Posted August-10-2007
The Newsboys is a great 90's band, not so much in the new millenium, but in the 90's, the ruled. "Breakfast" is one of the greatest songs of all time, and classic Newsboys. There's so many great songs on here, and they did a great job with the song selection. And there's new tracks, the best of which is "Joy". The song definitely shows the sound of the band in the new millenium. O, did I forget "Mega-Mix"? Great re-mix song that covers most of the songs on the album. It would have been great to see the re-mix album done with expanded mixes herd here, but this is a great addition to the album.
Overall, a great greatest hits album, for a great band. They did them well around this time, and even though they didn't have bonus DVD's, I would still recommend getting this. There's a new greatest hits collection coming out this fall, that'll have a DVD, but it won't have the quality of songs found here. They'll leave out some great songs, and they won't have my buy. But this is great.
Vocally Flawless | Posted August-08-2007
Dawn Richardson is a RARE talent in the music world, one that actually has an amazing race. She has have one of the best voices, if not the best voice in CCM, and one of the best in mainstream. She's that good. She can do soft, rock, hard rock, with no sweat. Don't believe me? Listen to "It's You", which is not only vocally flawless, but is a great song period. "Attitude" is a great rock song, and very memorable. And even though I'm not a big fan of hard rock, this album actually had me liking it, to some degree.
Overall, a vocally flawless album. Oh, I forgot to mention the background guy. He's a great voice in his own right, and could front his own band, but combined with Richardson in the above mentioned songs, and it's magic. The songs are great, the rock is great, I would recommend this, even though I'm not a big fan of hard rock. But who knows, maybe their next album will be less hard, and twice as good. Then it would definitely be one of my favorites.
The Problem With Special Editions | Posted August-08-2007
Alright, I loved the regular edition, but didn't own it. So this comes out, and I pay seven bucks for three more songs that what I would have gotten. I wish I would have gotten the regular edition. Because this is a pathetic excuse for a special edition, in fact, it's just plain lazy.
You get three "New" songs, I had high hopes for "We Exalt Thee". Kutless just got lazy on it. It could have been so much more, it could have been a great worship moment. What do you get instead? Awkwardness. I thought "My Savior, My God" was a cover of Aaron Shust's hit. It isn't, I don't know where it came from, but it's very poorly done. The singing is bad, and the retention of the song is a little under two seconds, but not much less. The last song? The live version of "Strong Tower" that was from the live CD, which Kutless fans already have.
Overall, a useless, pathetic, lazy excuse for a special edition. Get the regular edition, because this is just plain embarrasing.
An Underrated Album That Deserves More | Posted August-08-2007
MWS, or Smitty, has been around forever, or pretty close. However, I wasn't a big fan of his earlier work, it just wasn't my cup of tea. It just seems too old fashioned. Unfortunately after this album he went back to that format. But, after a good 15 years MWS had to change his format, do something different, or at least for part of the album. The result? His best work in my opinion.
The first two songs are MWS's best songs of his career. They're different, they're good, one is peppy, one is somberish. (Is that even a word?) It continues through a good first half of the album, then I would say it get boring again, and becomes just like his old work. So did he just use that because he already had it, and he didn't have anything better? Anyways, they're not as good as the first part, and they feel out of place.
The weird thing is nobody remembers this. Before this review, there was nothing on this website, and there's currently no review on JFH. So what's the deal? People didn't like the experiment. His fans are all over the age of thirty, and they didn't like the change. So it's an underrated album, like most great albums are. But hey, what do you expect when Casting Crowns is worshipped and hailed as the greatest thing since Jesus Christ himself walked the earth. Oooh, dagger. I'll get hate mail for that.
Something's Missing | Posted August-08-2007
I don't get it, "Beautiful Love", "Someday" are great songs, the rest are OK. I don't know why, but they're just OK. Nothing really caught my interest except for two songs. But I might have found more if they had MORE THAN 10 TRACKS! I mean really, they cut some stuff, they had some stuff in the wings. Make me feel like I spent my money well! For ten dollars I could have gotten this on I-Tunes. Any more than that, and just forget it, it's a waste of money. But The Afters has great potential. They have what it takes to be a great band. They just didn't bring that in this album, except in small quantities. So skip the album, buy the above mentioned songs. Hopefully The Afters take advantage of their potential in the next album.
They Didn't Invent The Wheel, But At Least It Spins | Posted August-08-2007
Well, at the second half of the CD. "Love Song" and "Finish Last" aren't exactly the best worship songs in the world, but they're still pretty good. In fact I used one for a Bible Study. "Life Is Good" is good. Wow! Who knew that?
The rest of the songs are the poor man's Relient K. Yeah, they're better than some of the lame excuses in music nowadays. The album is short, fast, and will leave you wanting more, of that. They didn't provide that with the second CD. You see what you get, what it looks like, is what it looks like, that's Stellar Kart. Take them or leave them.
Oh, to address the lyrics. "Superstar" is a song about teen suicide. Whoa, I wouldn't have guessed that. No really, I wouldn't' have guessed that, no sarcasm. Whoa! What did you expect, the poor man's Releint K for your little sister to a explicit song about teen suicide?
Sufan Stevens Is One Of The Great Artists Of Our Time | Posted August-08-2007
First there was Elvis, then The Beatles, then The Bee Gees, then R.E.M., then The Backstreet Boys, now, it's Sufan Stevens. The proceeding was a list of influential and great artists of their time, who did, are, and will leave an impact. To sum this album up, you'll either love it or hate it. To find out, I recommend hearing "Chicago", "Jacksonville", "Come On! Feel The Illinoise!". These are the highlights of the this unique great, classic album.
The only track I hated? "John Wayne Gacy Jr.". That's right, a song about a serial killer. Strange? Listen to it. It's the most creepy song in the world. That said, how many people can make a song the elicits such emotions, to that degree? Sufan can.
I personally love the album. You might hate it, or you might see the art, or the light in this case. Underrated? Sure. Different? Oh yeah. Art? Grammy worthy. Try it, buy it, love it, hate it, frame it, play it.
Nate Sours, Badly | Posted August-07-2007
"All About You" was probably the best Christian rock song a few years ago. Sure, it was hated for being to similar to a certain mainstream song, but it's still in my top 10 on my MP3 player. The follow-up? Bad. It stinks. It's bad pop. "Breakthrough" and "Lone Ranger" attempts to be good, but falls on its face and highlights as some of the worst songs of the year. I don't get it, he had a great thing going. I guess he aged like a tomato. Yeah, it's that bad. Don't buy it, buy his debut. I give it one star because some of the songs aren't totally terrible, they're just OK.
MxPx Finally Comes Around | Posted August-07-2007
In the 90's MxPx was the most loved joke in Christian rock. It's was so bad, it was good, and they got mainstream attention. But the group aged like wine, and was made good. Now, MxPx can be truly compared to bands like Hawk Nelson and Relient K. Yeah, they've gotten that good. "Secret Weapon" is a great song, great riff, good lyrics, and catchy. MxPx is no longer joke material, they make the jokes.
The Most Underrated Christian Music Group EVER! | Posted August-07-2007
Note: I've only heard one song off this album.
That said, the song is one of my favorite songs of all time. I heard "Savior" on the radio a few years ago, and loved it. You have to listen to it to believe it, but this is the greatest worship song of all time. The lyrics, the melody, the vocals, all flawless. About half-way through the song you'll fall down in adoration. Yeah, it's that good. Find it, listen to it, worship to it, love it. Unfortunately, the group never caught on, so less than 1% of Christian music fans know the best kept secret of Christian music. It's Farewell June's "Savior". You might find it in your local Family Christian Store, you might find it on I-Tunes. If you can't find the song, buy the album off Amazon. You won't be disappointed.
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