We Need Now to be faster than a bullet

Bands, as well as musical styles, tend to go through phases. No better example exists in the Christian Music world is Petra. You can build a musical biography by studying their albums. At 40 years they have experienced it all.

The subject of today's post has gone through a few phases. The name of the artist is Tiffany Arbuckle Lee, but she is popularly known by her stage name, Plumb.

Need You Now (How Many Times) marks the beginning of Plumb's Third Act, so to speak. The First Act began in 1997 With the eponymous release. Plumb was a band at the time, and Tiffany was the vocalist. It was sort of an alt-rock band, with Tiffany going into talk box sound from time to time. It was followed up with Candycoatedwaterdrops (1999). From the opening notes of Late Great Planet Earth, you knew we were in different territory. It was a career maker. 

But then there was a falling out, and Plumb disappeared from the CCM scene, but re-emerged in 2003 as the queen of the dance floor. Now married, and recording on Curb Records, she came out with two synthpop dance classics Beautiful Lumps Of Coal (2003) and Chaotic Resolve (2006), along with Blink (2007), most likely the only Children's Music Album that received significant radio play thanks to hits like "In My Arms". Children's Dance Music in a lot of cases.

Now comes Need You Now. Originally the album was to be entitled Faster Than a Bullet, but the Sandy Hook Massacre changed all that, and Mama Tiffany thought it best to remove the bullet reference, even though it refers back to Superman, and he was a good guy. Need You Now sounds so bland.

Thankfully it is only a title, and the album is anything but bland. Plum has left the dance floor. The new album is a mix of Adult Contemporary, Pop, and alternative, with only two of the 13 cuts dance. Even so, it marks the stretching of Plumb's talents, because you get to see everything she is capable of.

In the final analyses, I am going to give Need You Now a near perfect 4.75 Emeralds. The album grew on me, and I liked it more with each listen. It would be perfect if it was Faster Than a Bullet, but that's just my opinion. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

P.S. - I would like to Welcome back all my +Triberr peeps back to the Night Beat Fold. I thought I had been abandoned, but the fault was mine. I just discovered a 1 blog per tribe rule. Since I now have two blogs, things can't go auto. I am back in business.