Diamond Rain: The 2017 Platinum Vinyl Awards 4th Qtr - Gospel

Tied for "Last Place" among the single genre posts is Gospel. Of course nine entries is nothing to sneeze at. And if you do sneeze at a pool entry you have a really weird allergy. Let's get to it. 

Gospel/R&B

• Anthony Brown & Group Therapy - A Long Way From Sunday
• Ricky Dillard & New G - 10
• Todd Galberth - Decrease
• Deitrick Haddon - Deitrick Haddon and Hill City Worship Camp
• Koryn Hawthorne - Koryn Hawthorne
• Le'Andria Johnson - Bigger Than Me
• Ruth La'Ontra - I Got You (Live)
• Bryan Popin - I Got Out
• Anita Wilson - Sunday Song

Adult Contemporary is next with 11. Until then, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Music Video Monday: Favor

Welcome to an all new edition of Music Video Monday, the first for August 2017, We are really starting to pick up speed here. We have three great videos for your viewing and listening pleasure. We begin our journey in the rap genre. First up is Beacon Light. This is the music video for his new single I'm In It.
Staying with the rap genre we now go to Reconcile and the music video for his new single Ain't No Way.
Wrapping up (sorry) this edition of Music Video Monday, we go to gospel music. Gospel Music and Rock have led the way to embrace the Word of Faith Message into its music, which is great, since it is Biblical. Deitrick Haddon is singing of Favor (That's Grace To You, my friends)

That does it for this edition of Music Video Monday. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

MVM Special Edition: #PlatVnyl7 Gospel Video Of The Year Nominees

The final group of video nominees which has been narrowed to the final 5 is Gospel Video. The video awards are still being narrowed in most categories. Let's get to it. The #PlatVnyl7 nominees are:You are Worthy JJ Hairston and Youthful Praise; Invincible by Armar'rae Hill and True Foundation; Your Love by William Murphy; Sinners (Saved By Grace) by Deitrick Haddon and Big Boi; and Better by Hezekiah Walker. Once again we have packaged everything in a nice little playlist.

We have to get back to judging these videos, but there is plenty enough to keep us busy at Night Beat HQ, so until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Rising Beats: The 2014 Third Quarter - Gospel

The penultimate 3rd Quarter Post. Gospel Music (the only Gospel Music allowed at Night Beat HQ. None of that Devil Music here. AKA as Southern Gospel) along with its sister genre Rhythm and Blues. A Very good showing this quarter with a bakers dozen entries (that's 13 for the rest of you). On to the list.

Gospel/R&B

• +Arkansas Gospel Mass Choir - You Alone
• +Chanel Haynes - Trin-i-tee 5:7: According To Chanel
• +RickyDillardVEVO - Amazing
• +Joe Douglass and Spirit of Praise - Redemption
• +James Eichelberger - Capture
• Anthony Evans - Real Life / Real Worship
• +Deitrick Haddon - Deitrick Haddon's LXW (League of Xtraordinary Worshippers) [+digital booklet]
• Sheri Jones- Moffett - Power & Authority
• +The Mississippi Mass Choir - Declaration of Dependence
• +Wess Morgan - Livin'
• +Ann Nesby - Living My Life
• Various Artists - Gotta Have Gospel! Classics
• Anita Wilson - Vintage Worship [+digital booklet]

That does it for Gospel. And in case you haven' figured it out by now, the big winner this quarter was Modern Worship, with a whopping seventeen pool entries. There will be a lot of whittling in that category to make the seven final nominees. You try to explain to Darlene Zschech why she didn't qualify for an award. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Heat Advisory: The 2013 Fourth Quarter - Gospel

We continue our 4th Quarter Pool Eligible Releases with Gospel, which includes the more mainstream friendly R & B. Usually that goes without mention, but this quarter one of the 7 entries is R & B.

Gospel/R&B

• Billy Buchanan - Fact, Fiction & Other Contradictions
• Andrae Crouch - Live in Los Angeles
• Deitrick Haddon - R.E.D. (Restoring Everything Damaged)
• Donald Lawrence - Best For Last
• Ernest Pugh - The W.I.N. (Worship in Nassau) Experience
• Tye Tribbett - Greater Than
• Trin-I-Tee 5:7 - Trin-i-tee 5:7 Hits

Only four more genres to go. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Sonic Awakening: 3rd Qtr Nominees - Gospel

We Continue our revelations of the early nominee pool for the 2012 Platinum Vinyl Awards. Another well represented genre this quarter, and every quarter, is Gospel/R&B. Now as I gain new readers every day via our Inaugural Giveaway, I feel I should explain that the fact that these albums are in the pool does not guarantee that they will win an award. There is still the voting process. But just like they say you can't win if you don't enter, if you don't make the initial pool, you can not win an award. This is the first hurdle.

Without further ado, the 3rd Quarter initial nominations for

Gospel/R&B Music

• Regina Belle - Higher
• Todd Dulaney - Pullin Me Through
• Deitrick Haddon - A Beautiful Soul (Music Inspired By The Motion Picture)
• Israel & New Breed - Decade
• Israel & New Breed - New Season
• Forever Jones - Musical Revival
• Mary Mary - Go Get It
• Marvin Sapp - I Win
• Anita Wilson - Worship Soul

Now I have one caveat, and that is that both the Israel and New Breed releases, while qualifying on content, are re-issues, and this year that has produced a new curve for me. There are a lot of re-issues, and I have to decide whether to include them. One more time, I encourage you to enter the giveaway either on this blog or at My Facebook Page (click on the giveaway tab). And while your at it, get extra entries by liking the page or following me on twitter. Until the next time I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Night Beat Rewind: May 2012

We're almost caught up. This is great, I managed to get the Platinum Vinyl Awards out this weekend (well, Thursday to Sunday) and I may get May wrapped up within the first week in June. WOO HOO!!!

For those new on The Night Beat, each month I put out a "quick hits" post wrapping up the releases of the past month and assigning an Emerald Rating to each. Let's get to it for May.

Missing The Mark

• Karen Davis - Songs In The Dark 3.75 Emeralds
• Jennie Lee Riddle - People and Songs, Opus 1 Collective 3.75 Emeralds
• Switchfoot - Vice Re-Verses 3.75 Emeralds

If you've read my rewind posts, you know I don't hold back on the attitude. Sometimes it gains me a little notoriety. Sometimes even the artists themselves comment. With the case of Karen Davis, I think the phrase "Hillsong in Hebrew" should suffice. Even though the majority of the songs were in Hebrew, the sound reeked of Hillsong, which is good for itself, but not in all situations. For someone whose experience in Messianic Music is Lamb and the Liberated Wailing Wall, I expected better.  For Riddle, I was unimpressed with the Opus. Sometimes it was too country, sometimes good. I thought it was uneven. I will save my biggest criticism for Switchfoot. WHY?? I loved Vice Verses, I gave it a perfect rating, but this. I usually love remixes because it makes it Techno, and I love techno. No to the remix in this case. Stick with the original.

Pure Platinum

• Lara Landon - Overcome 5 Emeralds

One Perfect album this month. What a voice. I still have my fantasy concert lineup of Lara Landon backed by Denver and The Mile High Orchestra in a speakeasy. I mean, the girls got pipes, and a voice that melts ice. Look up Torch singer and you'll find her picture. Buy Overcome or Beloved on Amazon by clicking on the links.

Semi-Precious Metal

• Bluetree - Kingdom 4.5 Emeralds
• Ben Cantelon - Everything In 4.25 Emeralds
• The Choir - The Loudest Sound Ever Heard 4.75 Emeralds
• Coopertheband - Kings 4.25 Emeralds
• Patrick Dopson - Open The Heavens 4.5 Emeralds
• Family Force Five - III.V 4.5 Emeralds
• For Today - Immortal 4.25 Emeralds
• Deitrick Haddon - A Beautiful Soul 4.75 Emeralds
• Brandon Heath - Give Me Your Eyes (The Acoustic Sessions) 4.5 Emeralds
• Mat Kearney - Young Love (Deluxe Edition) 4.5 Emeralds
• The Letter Black - Hanging On By A Remix 4.75 Emeralds
• Martha's Trouble - A Little Heart Like You 4.5 Emeralds
• Mary Mary - Go Get It 4.5 Emeralds
• Jon McLaughlin - Promising Promises 4.5 Emeralds
• Mewithoutyou - Ten Stories 4.5 Emeralds
• Mercy Me - The Hurt and The Healer 4.75 Emeralds
• Owl City - Shooting Star EP 4.5 Emeralds
• Phillips, Craig and Dean - Here I am to Worship 4.25 Emeralds
• Point of Grace - A Thousand Little Things 4.5 Emeralds
• John Schlitt - The Greater Cause 4.5 Emeralds
• To Speak of Wolves - Find Your Worth, Come Home 4.5 Emeralds
• Rita Springer - The Playlist 4.5 Emeralds
• Stuart Townend - Ultimate Collection 4.5 Emeralds
• 12 Stones - Beneath The Scars 4.75 Emeralds
• Various Artists - Mighty To Save 4.5 Emeralds
• The Washington Projects - Space Time Continuum: The Remixes 4.75 Emeralds
• Phil Wickham - Singalong 2 4.5 Emeralds

That's it, I am officially caught up. The June releases await. Until next time I am Awaiting Your Reply.

On The Wings of a Dove

Treasure that title, SG fans, it's as much as you're ever going to get from The Night Beat.


The Dove Awards have been long ago handed out, the TV show is over, and we at The Night Beat missed it. Since I never made a prediction post in time I declare that no picks were wrong. I do reserve the right to comment on the GMA picks, however.


Album of The Year Awards


One of the best evidences that there is in fact a God is that Martha Munizzi was shut out of both AOY genres that she was nominated in. From my perspective, the album started out Gospel but then ran out of gas midway through and sounded like a tame modern worship project. The powers that be at the GMA nominated each half. Contemporary Gospel and Praise and Worship Album of The Year. More sensible heads prevailed and Chris Tomlin got the MW nod and the Contemporary Gospel went to Kirk Franklin. Now while the PVA's were not impressed with Mr Franklin's work this time around we'll say it was a better pick than Munizzi would have been. , and none of the other nominees made our list either. As to Tomlin I will only say that he is a PVA contender this year, so good choice bt the GMA here.


If there ever was a no brainer it was Children's Music. Denver and the Mile High Orchestra made a Children's Music Album that will have parents grooving to as well. Will they bring home an Elpy as well? Time will tell.


Finally we will comment on Rock Album. The Dove went to Switchfoot for Vice Verses. I think it was a tossup beyween them and Red, and right now I'll say Switchfoot deserved it. Tomorrow I may say Red was robbed. One thing is certain, they may both win an Elpy because they are nominated in different genres. Here's to both.


The rest of the AOY winners, with just a little comment

• Rap/ Hip Hop: Rehab: The Overdose - Lecrae (A+)
• Pop/ Contemporary: Blessings - Laura Story (B-) Would have went with Francesca or Mandisa, but that's just me.
• Rock/ Contemporary: The Reckoning - Needtobreathe (C). Would have went with Hawk Nelson here.
• Inspirational: Hope for the Broken World - Selah (B+) Really the best of the available picks, but a pretty weak field overall.
• Urban: Church on the Moon - Deitrick Haddon (A+)
• Traditional Gospel: Promises - Richard Smallwood (C) Due to the fractured Gospel listings in the Doves I didn't have any of the albums in this category nominated for a PVA.

By no way a full list of winners, I am only going with the categories which closely resemble my own. They had a country and bluegrass category. I don't. Nor do I have Southern Gospel, so I left a bunch out. They did a much better job here than last year. Things may be improving.

I will try to get both the General Field and Song of the Year done in a single post. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Dove Album Nominations Part Two

Letting the Dove Nominations go first has had an unexpected benefit. Clarity and focus. While trying to rush the nomination process I blew up the field of nominees, with the result that some genres doubled. Now, seeing the competition, I refocused and all the categories, except those which lacked a full slate, now are at the seven nominees.

We continue with the Album of the Year Categories. For this year I think I will stick to "major awards", so I will not mention them all, at least to keep the number of posts down. I have my own awards to promote, after all.

Urban Album of The Year

• Angel & Chanelle - Trinitee 5:7
• Church on the Moon - Deitrick Haddon
• From Now On - Dawkins & Dawkins
• Something Big - Mary Mary
• The Next Dimension - GI
• How I Got Over - Smokie Norful

I had 3 of the 6 on this list (Trinitee 5:7, Deitrick Haddon and Marry Mary). Of course I put them all into Gospel/R&B. Sometimes things can be a bit too nuanced at awards shows. "Urban?" wouldn't that apply to any band located in a city as opposed to out in the sticks?

Traditional Gospel Album of The Year

• If You Didn't Know - Norman Hutchins
• Promises - Richard Smallwood
• The Legacy Project - John P. Kee
• XV Live - Chicago Mass Choir

A very short section, and I had none of them, though I had Kee and Smallwood among the early contenders among the Gospel Crowd.

Contemporary Gospel

• Becoming - Yolanda Adams
• Change the Atmosphere - Christ Tabernacle Choir
• Committed - Committed
• Hello Fear - Kirk Franklin
• Make It Loud - Martha Munizzi

Though I didn't think Franklin shone strongly enough this time around, I thought Committed was more R&B than gospel. (Most of the songs were secular covers). My only gripe here is with the inclusion of Munizzi, she's whiter than white bread, and while she went for the Gospel sound (instead of her usual Modern Worship) on her latest album, in my opinion she ran out of steam midway through.

Praise and Worship Album

• 10,000 Reasons - Matt Redman
• Aftermath - Hillsong United
• And if Our God is For Us - Chris Tomlin
• Ghosts Upon the Earth - Gungor
• Make It Loud - Martha Munizzi

Wrapping up Album of The Year with this category, mostly it is also a matter of pigeonholing. I had Gungor as Alternative and Tomlin In Modern Worship. I guess the GMA decided to award each half of Munizzi's album separately.

That concludes my coverage of the Album of the Year Dove Nominations for this year. I will return to them in April for my predictions. I am going to try to handle the General Field and Song of The Year with a post for each. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply,