MVM Special Edition: #Platvnyl4 -Rock Video of The Year

The End is Here. The end of #PlatVnyl4 Video Awards, at least the genre based videos. We still have a few more general field video awards, including video of the year, but those will be revealed later.

The last award to be handed out right now is Rock Video of The Year. You can check out the videos in the original nomination post. You can check out the posted results for Adult Contemporary, Alternative, Pop, Dance, Electronic, Hip Hop, and Hard Rock by clicking on the appropriate links.

The nominated videos were: All In (Apologize) by +Stellar Kart ; Just Say Jesus (#Save Saeed) by +7eventhTimeDownVEVO ; Made to Glow by +ShineBrightBaby ; Not Gonna Die by +skilletband ; and Remember Me by +Red Jumpsuit Apparatus .

And the winner of the #PlatVnyl4 Rock Video of The Year is Not Gonna Die.

That concludes the Genre Video of The Year segment of this years Platinum Vinyl Awards. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Music Video Monday: #PlatVnyl4 - Hard Rock/Metal Video of The Year

We are at the penultimate post for the Video Awards of #PlatVnyl4. That means the next to last for those in Rio Linda. The first of the last is Hard Rock/Metal Video of The Year. As we are like to remind you, you can click on the genre to view the results for Adult Contemporary, Alternative, Pop, Dance, Electronic, and Hip Hop. 

The nominated videos, which you can check out at the Nomination Post, were: The Abandoning by +Love And Death ; Cover Girl by The Ongoing Concept ; First Sight by +The Devil Wears Prada ; If You Got it at Five, You Got it at Fifty by Norma Jean; and Transgressor by Colossus 

And the winner of the Hard Rock/Metal Video of The Year for #PlatVnyl4 is Transgressor.

That does it for this category. The last genre based video award is for Rock. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

MVM Special Edition: #PlatVnyl4 - Rap Video of The Year

We are on the home stretch, so to speak, as we progress through the Video Awards Show for #PlatVnyl4. The Rap Videos are next. We had a good group of nominees this time around, including a rarity for Rap and Hip Hop, a cover/remix of sorts. And what a style of music to cover. Not exactly rap material. Remember, if you are just joining us, we have already awarded Adult Contemporary, Alternative, Pop, Dance,  and Electronic. On to the awards.

The nominees in #PlatVnyl4 for Hip Hop/Rap Video of The Year were: Goin Home by +WHOSOEVER SOUTH ; No Sex by Still Trill Christians ; Pharaoh feat Tragic Hero by +Dre Murray ; Skyfall feat +ESHONBURGUNDY by Rekonciled ; and Sunglasses  by Rod G Newman and Mr. Del. You can check out the announcement post here.

When the votes were counted everyone was cheering for Bond, James Bond. Sorry. While the movie left me unmoved, I just loved this cover of the Adele Theme by Rekonciled. Who knew James could Rap. So the Winner of the Hip Hop/Rap Video of The Year for #PlatVnyl4 was Skyfall.

The Rock genres are next to close it out. First up is Hard Rock and Metal. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

MVM Special Edition: #PlatVnyl4 - Electronic/Industrial Video of The Year

We begin the second half of the genre based videos in #PlatVnyl4. First up is the hard sibling of Dance/Synthpop, which we at Night Beat HQ have dubbed Electronic/Industrial Video of The Year. You can check out Adult Contemporary, Alternative, Pop, and Dance by clicking on the highlighted genres.

The five nominated videos and their artists are: Believe by +The Digital Age ; Faith Facing The Dark by Josh White; Guns for Hands by +twenty one pilots ; Somewhere To Hide and Waiting Alone by +SHINY TOY GUNS (A two-fer). You can check out the videos at the nomination post.

Maybe it was the double nominee that made things inevitable. Maybe it was the pure creep out factor. I don't know. What is sure is that when the votes were counted and certified, the winner of the #PlatVnyl4 Electronic/Industrial Video of The Year is Waiting Alone
Hip Hop is next. Until then, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

MVM Special Edition: #PlatVnyl4 - Dance/Synthpop Video of The Year

We have reached the fourth of eight Genre based Video Awards. Once we have awarded the Dance/Synthpop Video of The Year, this portion of #Platvnyl4 will be half over. For those who haven't been keeping pace with the awards so far, click on the highlighted genres to see the results for Adult Contemporary, Alternative, and Pop.

The five nominated videos came from all over the dance world, though one might have slipped in from hip hop. You just never know. Anyway, the five nominees are: Battery by +V ROSE ; Gold by +Britt NicoleGOLD ; I Don't Deserve You by +Paul van Dyk feat Plumb ; Solar System Remix by +Har Megiddo feat +Michael Ketterer ; and WHTVR by +Allistair Music .  You can check out the nominated videos and artists at the nomination page for the category.

Har Megiddo was really good, but the video was fairly old. While I really was rooting for Plumb, in the end the Hip Hop crossover won. The #PlatVnyl4 winner for Dance/Synthpop Video of The Year is Battery by V.Rose



Like I said, we have reached the halfway mark of the #PlatVnyl4 Video Awards. Next up is the electronic sibling of Synthpop, Electronic/Industrial Album of The Year. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

MVM Special Edition: #PlatVnyl4 - Pop Video of The Year

Our third category in the #PlatVnyl4 Video Awards is that of Pop Video of The Year. The five nominated videos came from a wide swath of the Pop Genre. In fact, some might make a case that a few of the videos might not qualify as pop. You can catch our first two categories, which were Adult Contemporary and Alternative Video by clicking on the highlighted links.

The nominees, which you can watch at the nomination post, are: Beautiful Love by +ShineBrightBaby ; Love Walked In by +The Sonflowerz ; Loved by +JJHellermusic ; Still Into You by +Paramore ; and Wanted by +Dara Maclean .

Like Alternative, this category actually went into a second round of voting. The judging panel decided to go with the spirit of Pop Music, which is all about having fun. So the second round was between Shine Bright Baby and Paramore, and when it came down to the final vote it was all about which band had the most fun.

And the winner of Pop Video of The Year for #PlatVnyl4 is Still Into You by Paramore.

Three categories have been awarded, and there are 5 more to go. (There are actually a few more then that, but they will be pushed into the regular award show). Up next is the award for the first of the Electronic Categories, that of Dance/Synthpop Video of The Year. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

MVM Special Edition: #PlatVnyl4 - Alternative Video of The Year

The Video Awards have begun. To see the results for our first award, click on the link. 

Our second award is Alternative Video of The Year. This category had some  top notch talent and one newcomer that is going to rock the charts very soon. Our nominees were: Believer by Audio Adrenaline; Bombs Away by +Jonathan Thulin ; I Am Mountain by +Gungor Band ; K.I.D.S. by +Farah Loux ; and Unstable by +Anberlin . You can see the announcement post and the nominated videos at the link.

This award took a little extra time to pick, due to the fact that Anberlin decided to make Lowborn its swan song. Multiple watching of the nominated videos were needed to clear any biased emotions, but in the end the decision was unanimous. The winner of the #PlatVnyl4 Alternative Video of The Year was Unstable.
Our next category is Pop Video of The Year. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Music Video Monday: #PlatVnyl4 - Adult Contemporary Video of The Year

The time has come. We will begin our Awards Celebration for this years Platinum Vinyl Awards with the Video Awards segment. Then we will progress to the Album and Song Awards, with the general field sprinkled throughout.

Our first Video Award is Adult Contemporary/Inspirational Video of The Year. If we had a pretty music star to announce the awards. She would say that our nominees are: A City On A Hill by +thecityharmonic ;
Love Does by +Brandon Heath ; Promises by +Sanctus Real ; Sing of Your Glory by +Bebo Norman ; and Swallow The Ocean by Newsong. I won't bother putting up all 5 videos this time. If you wish to see them you can go to the announcement post by clicking on the link.

This was a tough category. All the songs are inspirational in nature, all of them easy to listen to. So they fit the category. It all came down to the video portion of the award. The Best Video of the bunch won.

The #PlatVnyl4 Winner of Adult Contemporary/Inspirational Video of The Year belongs to The City Harmonic and City on A Hill

We will continue our Video Awards all this week as a series of MVM Special Editions. The Awards will also be announced via our Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ pages, so keep it locked both here and there so you wont miss anything. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

A Classic Replay: Flashback Friday: Would You Like Fries With Your Mannaburger?

We've moved past the Jungle Music Skit here at The Night Beat as we work on Classic Replays of Flashback Friday. We are still in the 70's, which is a treasure trove of Classic Music. It was the Jesus Music era, after all.

We're still stuck in the Seventies here at The Night Beat, though we have finished with the Jungle Music skit. The Eighties may have been CCM's Golden Age, but it's birth came in the Seventies, give or take a few years.

Part of the fun of the early CCM era came because a few of the top acts were somewhat certifiable, or at least came with a very twisted sense of humor. Now in the eighties Steve Taylor pretty much ran away with the title of Clown Prince (or is it Clone Prince), but at the start there were two, and as good fortune would have it they are united in a group of three which we will discuss in our next series of Flashback Friday posts.

Our trio happens to be CCM Legends Keith Green, Randy Stonehill, and Phil Keaggy. They all came together through one song, Love Broke Through. The song was written by Stonehill and Green, along with another person, Todd Fishkind, and was famously recorded by Keaggy. Just to make things certain, Stonehill and Green were the demented ones, and that made them all the more loved.

We are going to start with Keith Green, if only because he is the only one of the three which is no longer with us.

Keith Green (October 21, 1953 - July 28, 1982) was a musical prodigy. According to his bio on Wikipedia he had learned the Ukulele by age 3, the guitar by 5 and the piano by 7. Don't get depressed. By the age of 11 he had already written 40 Songs and was on the verge of being signed by DECCA as a teen idol. Of Jewish Heritage and raised in a Christian Science background, Green became a Christian in 1972 and he and his wife Melody soon started a music ministry soon afterward.

Keith released Seven studio albums in his brief career. Actually, only four were released when he was alive For Him Who Has Ears To Hear (1977), No Compromise (1978), So You Wanna Go Back To Egypt (1980) and Songs For The Shepherd (1982). His wife Melody released another three albums posthumously, though these were originals and not best of's. I Only Want to See You There (1983), The Prodigal Son (1983) and Jesus Commands Us To Go (1984) rounded out the list.

I am going to give you three video treats to introduce you to this great musician, who was taken from us tragically way before his time, in a plane crash in 1982, at the tender age of 29. It's hard to believe he would only be 61 this fall. I will start with the song that united Keaggy, Stonehill and Green, Love Broke Through.

We will go next to He'll Take Care of the Rest, which shows why Keith was often compared to Elton John in style.

And finally, to confirm what I said about slightly certifiable, this is So You Wanna Go Back to Egypt.

That concludes this edition of Flashback Friday. We will return next Friday with the second artist of the triad, Randy Stonehill. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Oh, by the way. To answer the question posed in the title. For forty years the answer would have been "what else is there? It would have been the manna burger with manna fries and a manna shake. Possibly out of the great mercy of God, nobody was allowed to super-size.

Music Video Monday: All I Have

Welcome back to our regularly scheduled edition of Music Video Monday. Every week we endeavor to bring you the best Music Videos in Christian Music, as well as the GRAC arena.

We begin this week with Colton Dixon. The former American Idol star is back with his second album, out on the 19th. From Anchor, this is More of You.
Next up we have the rapper Swoope, and he's dishing out some LSD. No worries though, I'm told it stands for Lust, Sin, Death.

And finally, we go to another rapper, this one simply known as NF. This is All I Have.
That does it for this edition of Music Video Monday. I am currently working on awarding the Video Awards for this years Platinum Vinyl Awards. I will keep you posted on the results, but right now the plan is to begin the video postings next Monday. We shall see. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

A Classic Replay: Flashback Friday - Swimming In A Human Ocean

We come to the end of our Journey through the Jungle Music Skit to the point where it all began, with the authors themselves. Servant. Servant, also known inexplicably as The Servant to Amazon, was born out of a commune, more specifically the Highway Missionary Society of Grants Pass, Oregon, which was later renamed The Servant Community.

Servant was a Rock Pioneer in so many ways. A Female Lead (Sandie Brock), multiple costume changes and skits, Laser Lights, Rock opera, smoke and flash. They were the bands of the early eighties. Petra was their opening act, not as you would expect, the other way around.

We would be amiss if we did not begin with the well used "Jungle Music" skit, a pioneer of its own in name dropping. At the conclusion of the skit, Stanley is completely frustrated with Livingstone at his misunderstanding his recitation of the Rock and Roll tapes that he brought with him. He tries one more time.

S: No, No, Doctor, you've got it all wrong. Oh well. Now then, I've also brought you some Servant.

L: Oh, what a stroke of luck, why two of my servants ran away last week, Larry and Normany. They ran into the shallow water and the crocks got them. Oh well. I suppose they're in another land now.

Last time we covered the reference to Larry Norman in this short bit. This week we go to the self reference. The band referenced, of course, is Servant, the song's author. The album referenced was Shallow Water (1979), the band's debut album. Of course by this time they were on their third release, with Rockin Revival (1981) and World of Sand (1982) filling out the schedule. I was privileged to see them three times, during their Rockin Revival, World of Sand and Swimming In A Human Ocean (1985) tours. They also had two other albums: Caught In The Act of Loving Him (1983) and Light Maneuvers (1984). The band remained mostly intact during its run, with the exception of Tim Spransy taking over Lead guitar on founding member Bruce Wright's death in 1985. Another member of the Spransy family, Matt Spransy, had joined the band on Keyboards back in 1981 when they added synths. Other than that the changes were fairly minor, with Eric Odell taking second lead from Bob Hardy in 1984 and Sam Evans on drums in 1985.

Partly due to their commune lifestyle, the Prosperity Message of the Word of Faith Churches were a frequent target for the band. Not surprisingly, the lyrics to those songs showed a profound ignorance of the message of prosperity. They though it was simply about me, me, me. If you give up everything and become poor, you can not help the poor. You need help yourself. Fortunately for those who believed that way, there was plenty more to enjoy from the band, and we weren't offended by the attacks.

I have a few YouTube audio clips for you. First up is Holy Roller Blues from Shallow Water. Now I don't know who did the lead on the album, but if it was the same as the live concert, it would have been Bruce Wright.

Next up was Rockin Revival. We have an audio clip from the album, and it's ad man. It is a pretty humorous song, though quite anti-commercial. We do have a treat with World of Sand, however. This is the full album. The album is awesome, though I will point out two in particular. The Jungle Music song begins at the 11:20 point, and the Sudden Death/Come Jesus Come Rock Opera goes from 28:55 to 40:35. Both are not to be missed.

Caught in the Act of Loving Him was up next in their career. One of my favorite songs from this album was about Forgiveness. It was called Heart to Heart.

Light Maneuvers gave the band another CCM Top 40 release in We are The Light.

It all came to an end much too soon with the release of Swimming In a Human Ocean. Of course the band was totally transformed by then.Only Owen and Sandie Brock and Rob Martens on Bass went pole to pole. We have an audio of Look Through His Eyes to close things out.

That closes out the first round of Flashback Friday. We are still technically caught in the seventies. I am trying to do things by the first release for dating a band. There is still much more for the decade. Still to come is Phil Keaggy, Randy Stonehill, Keith Green, Amy Grant, and The 2nd Chapter of Acts, and I'm not even done with the seventies again. Stay with me, this is a never ending column every Friday. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Night Beat Rewind: July 2014

We have come into the Dog Days of Summer. Though of course this is, with a few days excepted, a year without a Summer. Not that I'm complaining. 

Also, while we are only five days into August, I have completed this edition of Rewind for July. Pretty Good. We shall see how long it takes to type. Perhaps I will wait on links. 

As is the recent pattern, we begin with a few Single releases, or what I tongue in cheek refer to as 

The Singles Scene

• Lauren Daigle - How Can It Be 4.50 Emeralds
• Disciple - Radical 5 Emeralds
• Thousand Foot Krutch - Born This Way 4.75 Emeralds

While I love Trevor and TFK, Disciple just blew me away, so I had to give them the perfect score. Not so perfect are the first group of albums, they are they which are

Missing The Mark

• '68 - In Humor and Sadness 3.75 Emeralds
• Bizzle - Well Wishes 3.75 Emeralds
• Carman - Beginnings 3.75 Emeralds
• B. Cooper - While The City Sleeps 3.75 Emeralds
• Hillary Jane - Stix and Stones 3.75 Emeralds
• Hillsong Worship - No Other Name 3.75 Emeralds
• JT - Moment of Silence 3.75 Emeralds

Now all of these just missed the opening bar of 4 Emeralds to get into the Platinum Vinyl Pool. No problem with the next group missing out. These are all

Pure Platinum

• Anberlin - Lowborn 5 Emeralds
• For The Fatherless - For The Fatherless 5 Emeralds
• Gungor - I Am Mountain (Deluxe Edition) 5 Emeralds
• Moriah Peters - Brave 5 Emeralds

It is sad to see Anberlin go, but what a way to go. Gungor has impressed those of us at night Beat HQ since they went New Age/Alternative, and For The Fatherless had a very strong debut. Next up are those releases which, while not Pure Platinum still made the pool. These are the 

Semi-Precious Metal

Before we begin with the regular list, Capitol Christian Music Group (Sparrow, Forefront) has joined its Parent in releasing the 20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection. This month's releases were Carman, Emery, Norma Jean and Starfield. Now with the exception of Carman, only Norma Jean (founded 1997) qualifies. The other two are 21st Century Masters. Nitpicking? Maybe? but that is my job. In order listed, my ratings were 4.25, 4.75, 4.50, and 4.75 Emeralds. Now to the rest of the list.

• About a Mile - About A Mile 4.75 Emeralds
• Aaron Bagwell - The Sound of Jesus 4.50 Emeralds
• Bellarive - Before There Was 4.50 Emeralds
• Cadence - Home 4.75 Emeralds
• Colony House - When I Was Younger 4.75 Emeralds
• Covenant Worship - Kingdom 4.50 Emeralds
• Mr. Del - Hope Dealer 2 4.50 Emeralds
• Bethany Devine - Daily Confessions 4.75 Emeralds
• David Dunn - Crystal Clear 4.50 Emeralds
• Forevermore - Telos 4.75 Emeralds
• J-Giles Son - Employed by The King 4.75 Emeralds
• Golden Youth - The Kingdom 4.75 Emeralds
• Guardian - Almost Home 4.75 Emeralds
• Gungor - I Am Mountain (Bonus Material) 4.75 Emeralds
• Islander - Violence and Destruction 4.50 Emeralds
• Canton Jones - God City USA 4.75 Emeralds
• The Lasting Hope - Sunsets and Second Chances 4.50 Emeralds
• MxPx - MxPx Acoustic Collection 4.75 Emeralds
• Jonas Park and David Bollman - Forward 4.50 Emeralds
• Phanatik - The Art of Battle Rap: Puns and Punchlines, Vol. 1 4.75 Emeralds
• Red Coalescence - Killers 4.50 Emeralds
• Kierra Sheard - Graceland 4.75 Emeralds
• Summit FutureNow - The Now and the Not Yet 4.75 Emeralds
• Various Artists - Pass The Mic: The Rise of Christian Hip Hop 4.50 Emeralds
• War of Ages - Supreme Chaos 4.75 Emeralds
• Ian Yates - DNA 4.75 Emeralds

That concludes July. Two more months left in this eligibility year. I have decided to forgo links at the moment. They will be added little by little. Keep checking back for updates. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Music Video Monday: Go BZRK

Welcome back to our regularly scheduled edition of Music Video Monday. We search high and low (well, at least Youtube) to bring you the best Christian Music Videos out there and put them in one easy to read place.

We begin with a Music Video for an album I panned. Now this particular song is great, and the Music Video, well, let's just say that I hope this was all staged. Go BZRK with Family Force Five.

Once you've gone Berserk, you might find yourself doing strange things, like eating worms Survivor Style. Have no fear, War of Ages is here to serve you From Ashes.

And finally, we go to CAJO, or Canton Jones. He likes to go Crazy in God City USA.

We promise a return to relative sanity next week. Until then, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

A Classic Replay: Flashback Friday - Why Should The Devil Have All The Good Music?

(We continue our Friday Replays of Classic Flashback Friday. It gives me a chance to update new readers on the origins of Modern Christian Music. And a chance to update some broken links.)

Welcome to the latest edition of Flashback Friday. By way of introduction to my new readers, Flashback Friday is where I introduce my readers to the pioneers of Contemporary Christian Music, beginning with the Jesus Music Era of the Late 1960's and the 1970's. As we progress each week we shall move into the Seventies, and Eighties and perhaps beyond. Not exactly sure where I should end a flashback. Maybe with the year 1999/2000.

If any one person could be labeled the "First Father" or "Adam" of Christian Rock, that person would be, by almost unanimous choice (dare I say consensus), Larry David Norman (April 8, 1947 -February 24, 2008). He certainly was recognized by Servant.

S: No, No, Doctor, you've got it all wrong. Oh Well. Now then, I've also brought you some Servant.

L: Oh, what a stroke of luck, why two of my servants ran away last week, Larry and Normany. They ran into the shallow water and the crocks got them. I suppose they're in another land now.

That was the closing line of the Jungle Music Skit, and two artists were referenced here, Larry Norman and Servant. We shall get to Servant next week, and we will get to still more bands as we move into the eighties, which is known as Christian Music's Golden Age. If you didn't get the reference, Livingstone had two servants Larry and Normany (Larry Norman). Referenced also was In Another Land (1976), which was Normans sixth release as a Christian artist. He had actually been in the music industry since 1965 with the bands Back Country Seven (1964-65) and People (1965-68). He had a hit single "I Love You", with People, which reached #14 on Billboard's Hot 100. After a brief musical hiatus he returned to lead the nascent Christian Rock scene with Upon This Rock (1969).

With the rise of Christian Rock as a major force, a reactionary movement arose among the mainstream Christian community. A reaction in itself wasn't surprising, in fact Newton's Third Law of Motion required it (For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction). What was always surprising was where the reaction came from. It would be easy to slough off an attack from "the world". It really hurt when the bullets were fired by your fellow brothers and sisters. Christianity has always been plagued with friendly fire casualties.

1 Corinthians 9:19-22 lays out the principle of "All things to all men" or "every available method" to getting out the Gospel. Paul would have been on TV, Radio, the Internet, etc. (He would have also booked passage on The Titanic, but that's another story). Organized Christianity (aka Christen-dumb) has opposed just about every major technological innovation of the 20th Century as being of "the devil", with the result that, with a few rare exceptions, the Christian Church has always been seen as a bunch of Luddites.

Norman struck back with one of the most well known "defense songs" ever released entitled Why should the devil have all the good music. Even though a live video of this exists, the quality is poor. Here is an audio only version for your enjoyment.

One of the best things about this song is it's biting sarcasm, with the parts like "I grew it out long to make room for my brain". Boldness like this was a rarity, and paved the way for CCM's Caustic Clone Prince Steve Taylor, but we shall deal with him at another time.

Six Degrees of Larry Norman

Larry Norman isn't only one of the most influential and respected people in CCM History, his is also one of the most "well-connected" people in CCM history. His Street Level Artists Agency represented legends such as Randy Stonehill, Daniel Amos and Mark Heard, but the connections go much further, and include artists as diverse as DC Talk, Switchfoot and Rebecca St. James. Even more surprising, he is also one of the founders of a Protestant Denomination of sorts. Not surprising, they don't have a problem with Rock and Roll. For more information on these connections, check out my Six Degrees Page.

That concludes this edition of Flashback Friday. We shall return next Friday with Servant, the last band listed in the Jungle Music Skit. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

p.s. - Check out the Larry Norman page to purchase music on Amazon and support The Night Beat at the same time. Thanks.