Falling Rocks: The 2018 Platinum Vinyl Awards 1st Qtr - Pop

Our three way tie wraps up with Pop Music. Once again Pop Music had a very good quarter. And, as you can see, it is a nice mix of veteran and newbie. On to the entrants.

Pop Music

• Adam Agee - Paper Planes EP
• Francesca Battistelli - Greatest Hits: The First 10 Years
• Julie Elias - A Girl Like Me
• Brandon Heath - Faith Hope Love Repeat
• Plumb - God Help Me EP 
• Alexis Slifer - Famous For EP 
• John Tibbs - Heartland

Next up is Rock Music with 8. Until then, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Polar Vortex Polka Redux: The 2015 2nd Quarter - Jazzy Times

We are slightly behind schedule here at Night Beat HQ. March has finally had its rewind and we are slowly slogging through April. Did you notice that it is May? Another thing that we should have done by now is the announcement of the Second Quarter Pool entries for #PlatVnyl6. That begins now. 

First things first. For the Second Quarter of 2105, which comprises January, February and March of 2015, there were no entries for Electronic/Industrial, Instrumental, or Hard Rock/Heavy Metal. We have two multiple genre posts to tackle before getting to the single genre posts. This one will comprise Children's Music, Jazz, Remixes and Pop. Let's get to it.

Children's Music

• Yancy - Little Praise Party: Taste and See

Jazz

• Kirk Whalum - The Gospel According to Jazz 4

Remix

• Urban Rescue - Re-Imagined
• Various - WoW Hits Party Mix

Pop

• Dave Barnes - Hymns For Her
• Brandon Heath - No Turning Back
• Love and The Outcome - Ocean Way Sessions: Live EP

We are off and running. The only thing to note is that Both Yancy and Kirk Whalum are Perfect 5 Emerald releases. We shall be attempting to get in one each day. So far, so good. 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.

MVM Special Edition: Video By A Male Artist

The nominees are all in for this years Platinum Vinyl Awards. If You want to go to the head of the line, you are free to jump over to the nomination page and check out the list. We will be announcing here the general field based video nominees, and the first one is Video by a Male Artist. The five nominees are:

Bombs Away, +Jonathan Thulin 
Love Does, +Brandon Heath 
Pharaoh feat Tragic Hero, +Dre Murray 
Reckless, +JeremyCampVEVO 
Sing of Your Glory, +BeboNormanVEVO 
Watch the videos, and right now, I encourage you to vote your choice in the comments. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply. 

MVM Special Edition: Adult Contemporary Video Nominees

It's that time again, ladies and gentlemen. The time when we begin our announcement of the NOMINEES for the 4th Platinum Vinyl Awards. This is no joke, despite the day. If we were a big time operation we would have CCM and Fringe and GRAC stars read the nominees on network television in the morning, and everything would be glam and glory. Instead, you have me. We will make the announcements in various ways through this blog, and on the Night Beat Social Media Network which includes, at present Google+, Facebook, and Twitter. You really should follow me on all three.

The easiest nominations for the blog is always the Video Awards, now in its second year. To get a nominee a Video has to be good as a video, not just to have something filmed to music. We begin with the nominees for Adult Contemporary/Inspirational Video of The Year. The votes determining the nominees have been cast and have been certified by the law firm of Youppi, Snoopy and Cow, pc. And the nominees are:

A City On A Hill, +The City Harmonic 
Love Does, +Brandon Heath  
Promises, +Sanctus Real 
Sing of Your Glory, +Bebo Norman 
Swallow The Ocean, Newsong

Our next set of nominees is for Alternative Video of The Year. Stay tuned right here. I would like to make this interactive, so please use the comments to cast your vote on the best one. I am Awaiting Your Reply. 

Music Video Monday: Love Does

Welcome Back to an all new edition of Music Video Monday. We are full swing here in the studio. Taking a hiatus appears to have been a good idea. 

We're going to camp out for a while in AC land (that's Adult Contemporary, not Air Conditioning, though it's easy to get confused.)

We start with a trip to Blue Mountain, as the latest release by Brandon Heath is called. The album should represent well, it was a vast improvement over his previous release. This is the video for Love Does.

Next up is +Bebo Norman , who made a few trips to +SoulFest, if I recall correctly. This is the music video for Sing of Your Glory.
Finally, we end part one of the AC Trip with some advice. Actually The Advice, which You give me.

We continue with Adult Contemporary next week. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

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.

Night Beat Rewind: October 2012

Welcome to the regularly scheduled edition of Night Beat Rewind. We kind of got a little sidetracked this month because of an over abundance of Christmas Music. That, combined with a whopping 47 entries of the non seasonal variety, makes for quite a long post. I am sure that I  will be testing you readers, but bear with me. Actually, most of them will be at the end, so stay with me.

As always, we begin with those releases which I say are:

Missing The Mark

• Big Tent Revival - The Way Back Home 3.50 Emeralds
• Brian Fraaza - The Shadows and the Light 3.75 Emeralds
• Hillsong Chapel - Forever Reign (Live) [+video] 3.50 Emeralds
• Inhale Exhale - Movement 3.50 Emeralds
• George Moss - It's Time 3.75 Emeralds
• Onward To Olympus - Indicator 3.75 Emeralds
• Rob Reed - The Start of a New Life 3.75 Emeralds
• Scarlettthread - Faithfull 3.75 Emeralds
• Kyle Sherman - Hear Me 3.50 Emeralds
• John Tibbs - Swallowing Death, Breathing Life 3.75 Emeralds
• Jeremy Vanderloop - All Creation Sings 3.75 Emeralds

Now since I get new readers every day, I will remind you that these releases aren't bad. Most are Okay as I would put it. It's just that I demand WOW to make the Platinum Vinyl Awards and these don't do it for me.

Perfect Platinum

• Anberlin - Vital 5 Emeralds
• August Burns Red - Sleddin' Hill , A Holiday Album 5 Emeralds
• Brinson - No Other Heroes 5 Emeralds
• Gungor - A Creation Liturgy 5 Emeralds
• Shiny Toy Guns - III 5 Emeralds
• Freddy Washington - The Jesus Record 5 Emeralds

I decided to put the ABR Christmas album here as well due to its Platinum Status, but it will be the only crossover between the lists. Of the Four, Gungor Really surprised, seeing that I am usually underwhelmed by the studio albums, but this live one, WOW.

Semi-Precious Metal

• Warren Barfield - Redbird 4.50 Emeralds
• Bethel Church - For the Sake of the World (CD/ DVD) 4.75 Emeralds
• Brenton Brown - God My Rock - 4.50 Emeralds
• Cadence - Awake 4.50 Emeralds
• Canon - Loose Canon EP, Vol. 1 4.50 Emeralds
• Christ for the Nations Institute - Uncreated One 4.50 Emeralds
• Paul Colman - From the Saltland to the River 4.75 Emeralds
• Brian Doerkson - Ultimate Collection 4.25 Emeralds
• FFH - The Way We Worship 4.50 Emeralds
• Farah Loux - Flaws 4.75 Emeralds
• Flyleaf - New Horizons 4.75 Emeralds
• Further Seems Forever - Penny Black 4.50 Emeralds
• Gateway Worship - Forever Yours 4.50 Emeralds
• Keith and Kristyn Getty - Hymns for the Christian Life 4.75 Emeralds
• The Glorious Unseen Lovesick 4.50 Emeralds
• Brandon Heath - Blue Mountain 4.75 Emeralds
• Hyland - Finding Our Way 4.75 Emeralds
• Je'kob - Hope 4.50 Emeralds  
  Tyrus Morgan - Straight Line 4.50 Emeralds
• Newsboys - Live in Concert: God's Not Dead 4.50 Emeralds
• Bebo Norman - Lights of Distant Cities 4.75 Emeralds 
• A Past Unknown - Vainglory 4.50 Emeralds
• Charlie Peacock - No Man's Land 4.75 Emeralds
• River Valley Church - All In All 4.25 Emeralds
• The Royal Royal - The Royalty 4.50 Emeralds
• Smalltown Poets - Under the New Sun 4.50 Emeralds 
• The Story - Listen 4.75 Emeralds
• Submission Red - Under the New Sun 4.50 Emeralds
• Texas In July - Texas in July 4.25 Emeralds
• Jonathan Thulin - The White Room 4.75 Emeralds
• Phil Wickham - Singalong 2 [+video] 4.50 Emeralds

That concludes the October 2012 Wrap. The 4th Annual Platinum Vinyl Awards eligibility year is now underway. Keep it tuned here for all of the exclusive coverage. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Gospel Grammy: The Night Beat Prediction, Part Two

Continuing with my picks in the anemic Gospel Grammy Awards category. This time we shall move on to the Contemporary Christian Music side of the aisle, having taken the Urban/R&B/Gospel side last time.

This is where things really suffer. On the CCM side of the aisle, the Platinum Vinyl Awards has a section for Children's Music, Dance, Alternative, Modern Worship, Folk, Hard Rock, Hip Hop, Rock and Pop. All these categories fight it out for the one category of Contemporary Christian Music. With only six nominees for Album and 5 for Song, how can you not snub anyone?

Contemporary Christian Music Grammy Nominees

CCM Album of The Year

• Gungor - Ghosts Upon the Earth
• Brandon Heath - Leaving Eden
• Leeland - The Great Awakening
• Mandisa - What if We Were Real
• Royal Tailor - Black and White
• Chris Tomlin - And if Our God is For Us

Who will win: Again, going with the peculiar quirks of Christian Music judging out there. There seems to be a lot of idol worship, and the current idol is Brandon Heath.

Who Should Win: Don't think I'm going too far out on a limb. A 5 Emerald Release, Knock your socks off songs ranging from Dance to R&B to Dance: Mandisa.

 

CCM Song of The Year

• Blessings - Laura Story
• Hold Me - Jamie Grace Harper
• I Lift My Hands - Chris Tomlin
• Strong Enough - Matthew West
• Your Love - Brandon Heath

Who Will Win: This one is tough, because there are no knock your socks off anthems or stirring ballads among them, but I think it is going to be a two-fer for Brandon Heath

Who Should Win: Also a tough call for the same reasons, but based on the available choices, I am going to go with Strong Enough by Matthew West, it is the best overall orchestrated song, though as a side bet I would also pick Hold Me by Jamie Grace Harper (feat TobyMac). You really can't go wrong with anyone discovered by TobyMac and the Gotee bunch. He has and knows talent.

That's it for the Grammy's. I don't think I even broke a sweat. I intentionally disregarded the Performance award and stuck to the two major ones. I will have a bigger job picking winners when the Dove Nominees are announced on February 22. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Angel Banned

Every Music Blogger needs to have a little Simon Cowell in him or her. If you don't, then what's the point? We at The Night Beat are convinced that if we hadn't pointed out to the folks at New Release Tuesday that every podcast interview began with the interviewer (Bill Lurwick) telling the artist it was the best album of the year, they wouldn't have changed. Now I'm not saying that you savage an artist on air. That's cruel. As the saying goes, "If the phone don't ring, you know who is calling." Part of every music (or movie) critic is being, well, a critic. If you never review anything that you just despise and tell people so, all you are is a fan with a blog.

That has never been a problem at The Night Beat. If you need convincing just check out my reviews of Brandon Heath's Leaving Eden and Chris Sligh's The Anatomy of Broken, neither of which won my approval. I call them as I hear them.

Which brings us to my first negative review of 2012. Andrew Greer Angel Band: The Hymn Sessions. At forty minutes long it was a trial to listen to, but your intrepid blogger was up to the task. My initial impression was that the album was unlistenable, but I'm not going to write up a review on one listen, even if on some albums that makes me a glutton for punishment.

I think three listens suffices on this one. I'll have to Check with John Kerry, but I think he can get me a Purple Heart for the effort. It's not that I hate hymns, though I much prefer when they get redone by a Rock Band, at least they sound better, even if they're still filled with unbelief.

Putting aside that the album is way too country for my taste, most of the the album has a minimalist banjo strum accompaniment. Strum, not Pick. A little Bluegrass would be an improvement here. Andrew's singing technique as in (In the Garden) seems to be an overly emphasized talk that would make Five Smooth Stones or Happy Goodman happy. Sorry, but it's not singing. And when he tries to hit a high note, his voice obviously cracks. In short, it is painful to listen to.

Here's where mercy kicks in. I'm going to give Angel Band: The Hymn Sessions a final rating of 2.25 Emeralds. I was going to go even lower, but then I thought, then why even bother writing the post. Besides, in a few tracks, he goes to a more traditional hymn arrangement, and that saves the album. My advice, avoid the album. I think even Angels Banned Angel Band. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

P.S. - There is Bluegrass Banjo Picking on Uncloudy Day. It would be a great song  as a bluegrass instrumental. Unfortunately though there are vocals.

As Long as I'm Here...

I might as well review this CD. A new year is upon us and the new releases are starting to trickle out. The first out of the gate, so to speak, is Brandon Heath's latest Leaving Eden. After a few listens I'll just say, somebody had to go first, and like the Olympic Figure Skating competition, it is an almost foregone conclusion that the first out will not win the Gold Medal. In the Night Beat galaxy, the Gold Medal is the 2011 Platinum Vinyl Award for Pop.

Let me start out by saying that Leaving Eden isn't a bad album. For an example of a bad album, see last years post The Anatomy of Boredom. Leaving Eden is a pretty good album, but pretty good isn't good enough.

Things went bad right of the bat for me. Leaving Eden, the title cut and opening track, struck me as a pretty depressing number, sort of one of those great "The World has gone to Crap, get me out of here Jesus" songs of the faith. I think he decided to write a song that included just about every bad thing he could think of and then wrote it (neighbor forgot her own name, Salvation Army robbed to name a few examples). As to the title. It seems to me that Eden is here and Heaven once again is Home. Eden was relatively perfect, except for the serpent, and Present Earth is nowhere near Eden, East or otherwhere. A better title would be Back To Eden or something like that.

After the downer of an opening track, things pick up for a while with Your Love and The Light in Me. The latter of these is in the vein of the Lazy Christian songs that want God to do everything for them, with lines like "keep me from going dim" and "keep me close to you". The bible tells us to "Stir ourselves up in the most holy faith".  Some things we are supposed to do for ourselves. The somewhat cryptic Only Water is a head scratcher for me, and I am still trying to figure out what the water is. If it is referring to the "Washing of Water by The Word of God" then I'm sorry, it is not ONLY WATER. I don't think it means the Cana Miracle, because that wasn't mentioned until the last seconds of the song. The fifth track is called Stolen, and though beautiful, all references to "a thief in the night" in the New Testament refer how to the unprepared will be caught. The bible refers to "The Thief" as the Devil, not Jesus. As much as it offends Christian sensibilities, Jesus will let a person walk away, and though the Holy Spirit will convict, he will not steal you back. He will wait for you to return where you will find Him where you left Him.

It's Alright and Now More than Ever are two songs about heaven as home, and how all things will be better once we are there. While that will be true, it will only be for a short 7 year vacation, though some did get an extended stay. Sorry folks, when the Bible says "The World" it doesn't mean "The Earth". The Earth is our home, so much so that in Eternity, God sets his home among men and not our home among God. It is a big distinction. He is coming back to a new Earth.

Finally, I'm going to nitpick. Two songs, Leaving Eden and Only Water have the dreaded "Death Pause" in them. I don't know what happens now with automated radio stations, but in the DJ era, when we detected a pause of over 3 seconds, we figured the song was over and cross faded into another cut. In this case no one would ever hear the last portion of the song. For another example of this I would suggest Hello Sunshine by Barlowgirl on their Love and War CD. To all the artists out there, for the remaining DJ's mental health, I say, in warmest Christian love, knock it off. If you want to fade in and out, do it quickly.

If it were Only Music (sorry, I couldn't resist), I would give this album 5 Emeralds, because it is Gorgeously orchestrated. Unfortunately, there are lyrics, and in CCM, the words are equal to the beat, if not more important. For me, the lyrics on Leaving Eden knock off two full Emeralds. I give it 3. A good, but not great album. I know I am in the minority, and the 2011 Best Male Vocalist is in the bag already as well as best pop or inspirational artist, but so be it. I will be Leaving this CD on the shelf.