Falling Notes: The 2013 First Quarter

Things never really end here at Night Beat HQ.  Once one quarter ends another begins, and often there is no rest. Being a shoestring operation, we only rest when the industry rests, and sometimes we need that time to catch up. This was one of those breaks.

The First Quarter of every Platinum Vinyl Award eligibility year is usually pretty quiet, seeing that the industry is awash in Christmas releases. This year is no exception. One category (Children's Music) has no entries, and four others (Gospel, Folk, Pop, and Hard Rock) have less than three entries each, some only one. We should be through this fairly quickly.

I try to start off each quarter combining the less represented genres into a single post, leaving the major categories to have their own moment in the sun.

We begin with Pop Music, which two entrants this quarter. Still, it was a fairly big entrant. Newsboys made a splash this fall with Live In Concert: God's Not Dead. While I wasn't impressed with the studio album, they more than made up for it with the live album. Kind of Like Gungor did this quarter. A former newsboy, Paul Colman, had a release this quarter as well, with From the Saltland to the River.

Also a bit surprising was to have only two entrants in Hard Rock/Heavy Metal. A newcomer, at least to The Night Beat, made the cut Texas In July took the honors with their self titled release. Among the newly discovered entries was Set For Tomorrow and Prophet Arise.

Adult Contemporary had four entries, and is our biggie for this post. Brandon Heath is an industry favorite, though I have not been impressed with all of his work (Leaving Eden did not impress me). Blue Mountain did, however. The somewhat lesser known Bebo Norman also made a showing with Lights of Distant Cities. Another old favorite, Clay Crosse made his reDedication this quarter, and Tyrus Morgan proved he can walk a Straight Line.

That's a lot to digest. I'll give you a little break. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.