Sweet Melodies of The Fallen

I begin with a disclaimer. I have been a fan of Evanescence since they were a bunch of kids out of Little Rock, Arkansas. The first song I remember hearing was Even in Death on Christian Industrial.com internet radio. Then I heard Bring Me to Life and My immortal on the Daredevil soundtrack. Fallen was the only album I have put on pre-order. So while this review is honest, it also is coming from a fanboy.

The Bitter Truth is the fourth studio album from Evanescence and the first in eleven years (the Night Beat had barely got of the ground. I started the blog in July of 2010). It is amazing to realize that I could say that I have been following the Band for my entire career as a blogger. Of course the Night Beat started as a radio show in 1984 when Amy Lee was in her terrible two's. 

The Bitter Truth gets off to a different kind of start with a two song intro. Artifact/The Turn and Broken Pieces Shine could be the best 1-2 punch to open an album ever. I would call Artifact/The turn an EDM song and it begins with a question "Where do we go now?" The answer is up to 11 on the volume. A simple countdown of three, two, one zero into the metal anthem broken pieces shine is the best transition since Tourniquet and Imaginary from Fallen. Survival Hurts, and I don't know if I will be alright, but I have to try is Amy's commentary on the death of her brother. As someone who has experienced the loss of a lived one I understand her completely.

There isn't a bad song on the album, but the album does sound different. Any lack of production can easily be forgiven by me in that this album was put together during a lockdown. I would say it sounds great despite the obstacles. Yeah, Right may be the only Pop Happy song that Amy ever records. That's not to say that her songs are depressing, but the pain that she channels in her songs work healing for the listener. In that way the song works.

Use My Voice is another different song, in that it came out in the middle of the Presidential campaign, that is different. Evanescence has pretty much stayed clear of any political statement. Conservatives like metal too. When the song originally came out I confess I took a hiatus from the band, not wanting to be disappointed. I decided to check it out and am pleasantly surprised. The song and video steer a good middle course and has a patriotic flair. My only wish is that Amy et al doesn't get petty and do cease and desist orders if Republicans use it in 2022. Both sides should be allowed to say you don't speak for me.

I'm a sucker for the epic ballad, see My Immortal or Lost In Paradise for proof. Far from Heaven is Amy at her spine chilling best. It is full of pain and prayer, and may be one of my favorite Ev Worship tunes. I can't see your light anymore, cause I've spent too long in the dark. I am not ashamed to say it's an emotional trainwreck of a song and will leave you in tears. Best song on the album.

You know where this is going.

The Bitter Truth is that this is a 5 Emerald perfect album. Is it multi-platinum like Fallen. It should be, it has that kind of impact, but since Fallen was a debut, I don't know if that lightning can strike twice. Still, it cements Evanescence status as legendary. That's the (not so) Bitter Truth. The revenge of the fallen. until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply. 

A Righteous Babe Set Free

The Platinum Vinyl Awards is celebrating it's fifth birthday, and as we move into that season and collect entries for #PlatVnyl6 we have come full circle, and with a somewhat bittersweet remembrance.

Christendom in general and the Christian Music Industry in specific has had a really tough time violating Romans 14:4. For the Biblically Uninformed that verse reads "Who are you that judge another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand". Whole ministries have been founded on the basis that they alone would decide who was a Christian and who was not (the late Walter Martin and his ilk). As such I have always had a very prized place in my music heart for the K.O.O.K.s (that's Kicked Out Of the Kingdom). It goes at least to Leslie Phillips, at least in m recent memory. However Evanescence was the one who got the last laugh on the industry, and so in the inaugural Platinum Vinyl Award I created the Fallen Award, which honored the K.O.O.K.s in Christian Music.

The first award went to a Folk Rock Legend, the original Knappster. +Jennifer Knapp pretty much created modern Folk Rock, and the babe from Kansas grabbed a entire generation of Rockers who thought that RSJ could be a tad too tame. She burned bright for a while and then, burned out by the industry, she retired at the top of her act. She returned in 2010 after a 9 year hiatus with Letting Go (2010). Though the album was initially embraced and promoted by the CCM industry, like Fallen before it, soon information "leaked out" that Knapp announced she had come out of the closet. The only thing the industry didn't do was burn her at the stake. Musically however, there really wasn't that much difference between Letting Go and her "Christian Work". Letting go won (actually Split) the Folk Album award.

The gorgeous Kansan returns now with Set me free [+digital booklet] . Now 40 (my how time flies), this could be her best work yet. It is almost pure Folk, but she does Rock out on Remedy and Why Wait, which show she's still the Top Dog. There is also a song called What Might Have Been, which is probably the most beautiful song on the album. Actually the album most resembles Kansas, her debut. She is coming back home, and let me welcome her with 5 Emeralds. This Righteous Babe (her label, love it) has set the Folk Bar for #PlatVnyl6. 

The Knappster is also an author. She has written her story, appropriately titled Facing the Music: My Story . I would label it a must read. Until next time at the Night Beat Candy Store, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

A Tale of Two Amy's or When Grant Met Lee

I am convinced that God has a sense of humor, the great majority of Christendom however otherwise convinced. For proof one need look no further than the Christian Music Industry. Fortunately for me, that is where I spend my career.

During the Jesus Music Era (the 1970's to the rest of humanity) a star arose on the landscape. While this teenage girl barely merited notice at seventeen when she debuted, two years later EVERYONE knew about Her Fathers eyes. Amy Grant was suddenly into Christian Music Deity (one thing Christians have down pat is Idolatry). She Was "OUR AMY", and pretty much was if you said Amy, your mind filled in Grant. Not that she didn't deserve some of that Idol Worship, 

Christian Music proceeded to settle into the Amy and Smitty Rut, where any release by Amy Grant or Michael W. Smith was deemed Award Worthy based on name recognition alone. While the 80's may have been the golden age for releases, in the award venues we were pretty much tin.

When God got tired of Amy this and Amy that, he decided that Christian Music needed a little rebellion, and He introduced the Christian Music World to an Arkansas girl by the name of AMY LEE. No Baby Baby for this girl. She looked like a Vampire and sang of death. Even In Death our love goes on were lyrics that got short lived Christian Magazine 7 Ball to say "somebody sign these guys". When Wind Up Records did release Fallen in 2003 by a band fronted by miss Lee, a revelation that these goth rockers were less than totally sanctified forced an instant purge from Christian Bookstores, and a guaranteed ride to 7x Platinum in the United States and 17 Million Sales Worldwide. Heart in Motion was waving a surrender flag. 

Things settled down for a while and then another Christian Singer Songwriter by the name of (no, not Amy, look at the title) Joy Williams, with 11 Dove Nominations under her belt, decided to form a Folk Band she called The Civil Wars. Barton Hollow received Christian Music Promotion, but with the Sophomore self titled effort, Crickets are all that was heard from the CCM industry at large. I guess they weren't Spiritual enough.

Amy Grant, Amy Lee, The Civil Wars. You can't make this stuff up. It's better than six degrees of Larry Norman. I guess this Christian Civil War wont be settled until the Rapture. Time for one more joke from The Almighty. The Rapture. A Sudden Vanishing Away of The Church. There's a word for that, it's called EVANESCENCE.

I am Awaiting Your Reply.

The Songs of The Mourning Dove, Part Two

In my last post I discussed the return of the Dove Awards after an eighteen month hiatus. In that post I gave the GMA some suggestions from the recently concluded 3rd Platinum Vinyl Awards. In this post I will make suggestions, without showing all my cards, from the upcoming 4th Platinum Vinyl Awards Pool. The eligibility year for that is now in its fourth quarter.

Because the folks at the Gospel Music Association are terrified of synthesizers (They may have accepted electric guitars, but I think they still believe Mr Moog was an agent of the devil), there are a few possibilities that I don't think they will ever consider. Especially since good Christian boys and girls don't dance.

• III - Shiny Toy Guns
• The Electro Pop: Deluxe - V. Rose
• Glowing Collision, V1 - Andy Hunter
• Har Megiddo Remixed - Har Megiddo
• New Horizons - DJ Magellan (feat Lara Landon)
• Reconstructions - David Thulin

Then there is that pesky "spirituality test" that pops up whenever an artist successfully "takes the cross over" to the mainstream. If there is even a bobble on the Christian tightrope, they join the ranks of "the fallen". Hence, in addition to Shiny Toy Guns (I love that name), I doubt we shall see any of the following among the nominees.

• Almeria - Lifehouse
• Paramore - Paramore
• Vital - Anberlin

This final list I believe should make it though the Dove Committee, though you never can tell with them.

• A Creation Liturgy - Gungor
• O God Save Us All - Disciple
• Kings and Queens - Audio Adrenaline
• Loved - JJ Heller
• Miracle - Third Day
• The Space We Create - Terra, Terra, Terra
• Still Believe - Kim Walker-Smith
• The White Room - Jonathan Thulin

 That finishes my recommendations to the Dove Award nominating committee. We shall see, when the nominees are announced on August 21, 2013. Comment on this post or the previous one about possible ones that I missed, or additions you would like to see. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Time To Panic

I think that Record Companies need to start discovering bands once again. I know what you're thinking. Don't they do that all the time. Maybe some do, but the recent practice seems to be that they sign an independent band that has plugging around the concert scene for perhaps 5 or 10 years, and then when they don't really go on to super-stardom, they break up. It's time to retire they say. Retire, they've only been in the public eye for 2 or 3 years. Yeah, it was the 15 years in obscurity that really took the toll. At least when you discover somebody that just formed, you expect the first record to stink, and you let time work to mature you, and like Petra, you're around for 40 years.

Which brings me to RED. The band came to the attention of The Night Beat right from the start, thanks to internet radio. (If it was up to local CCM radio, nothing harder than the Talley Trio would cross these ears. Talk about a puke-fest).

End Of Silence started things off in 2006. No band could more artfully blend Hard Music and Orchestral Strings. It became RED's trademark. Especially with a song like Breathe Into Me (re done acoustically on the current album) and Already Over. Also, you can't deny, it's one of the most honest titles out there. Could things get better than this?


The answer came three years later. It was all a matter of Innocence & Instinct. The only word to describe this album is "Masterpiece". It should have been the "Fallen Moment" for red, you know, multi platinum stardom. 260,000 sold is a bit short. Still, any rock fan should have this album. Get the deluxe version with DVD if you can.

Until We Have Faces and Faceless appeared two years later. The Hymn for the Missing is hauntingly beautiful. Not as good as the first two, but still, a recognizable RED album.

Now comes Release The Panic , and I want to scream, "WHAT HAPPENED TO RED!!!" Somebody must have kidnapped the band and impersonated them in the recording studio. The Red Sound is gone. Thank god they escaped and took control before the album got released and so they return by track 7, but why keep those first 6 tracks. There wont be any real keepers with this album. It's the first Red Album that wont make the initial pool of the PVA's much less win. Panic Folks, Red seems to be in a tailspin. Maybe we can get a great album next year. This is good, average, okay 3.75 Emeralds. It becometh not Red.

Flashback Friday: The Turning of CCM

If you were here from the start of this blog, or at least from the first Platinum Vinyl Awards, you found out about the Fallen Award. The Fallen Award was named for the debut album by Evanescence. Soon after the CD was released an interview with the band surfaced in Entertainment Weekly in which they swore. Quell Horror! (Hey, I have to make High School French work for me). Evanescence CD's disappeared from Christian Bookstore shelves faster than you could say witch hunt. Evanescence was the most famous, but it certainly wasn't the last (Jennifer Knapp and possibly P.O.D.). It also wasn't the first.

While I can't be absolutely certain about such things (It can be awfully hard, if not impossible, to track down EVERY friendly fire incident), it is probably true that the first witch hunt of the modern era was Sam Phillips, who in the early 1980's as a rising Christian pop star, recorded under the name of Leslie Phillips.

Leslie Ann Phillips (born January 28, 1962) released five albums in the Christian Market: Beyond Saturday Night (1983), Dancing With Danger (1984), Black and White In A Grey World (1985), The Turning (1987) and Recollection (1987), which was a best of album. We'll start with Heart of Hearts from her debut album.
Leslie Phillips "Crime" was to criticize the Christian Music Industry. While she was marketed as the Christian Cindy Lauper, in a long tradition that there must be a "Christian Alternative" to every secular genre or artist. Phillips didn't want to be squeezed into the mold and left the fold, going from Myrrh Records to Virgin Records. This is a youtube audio of Strength of My Life from Dancing With Danger (duet with Russ Taff of The Imperials) I figure I should close with a "Now" video. Suffice itself to say that Leslie's life as "Sam" has been longer than "Leslie". Since assuming the moniker with The Indescribable Wow (1989). she has recorded eight studio albums and five digital EP's. And there have been a few brave Christians out there. From time to time my local Christian Concert Promoter has advertised a Sam Phillips appearance at a Boston area club. This is Holding On To The Earth from The Indescribable Wow.

So a special Night Beat round of applause to all those trailblazers who proved that Christians could make music that crossed the Sacred/Mainstream Divide. Sorry you had to dodge some arrows while doing it. I guess an honorary Fallen Award to Sam Phillips is in order. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

The Second Coming of Amy Lee

"A Sudden Vanishing Away", that is one possible definition of the word EVANESCENCE. A possible synonym is Rapture. And for a moment, the fans of the band by that name may have thought is what happened to the band. Well all except for those in the "official" CCM circles. They kicked Amy out of the Kingdom a long time ago.

A few days ago Christian Music Zine posted a question on their twitter account as to what Album you were looking forward to. Since I heard of it, this was it.

Evanescence came to everyone's attention through the movie Daredevil (2003). Now as a movie, well, it pretty well stunk up the joint, now the soundtrack was pretty good. Evanescence contributed two songs to the movie. Bring Me To Life and My Immortal had me hooked on the new band, and I eagerly awaited the debut album, and put in an pre-order at Christian Book Distributors. In full disclosure, this is the only time I have ever made a pre-order.

Release day arrived and my order didn't. I checked. The album was on back order for weeks and then finally the product was dropped from the website. Wondering what was up, I decided to do some research. As part of their promotion for the album, Amy and band did an interview with Entertainment Weekly. Among the shocking things they said in the interview was that "They weren't a Christian Band". I know, can you believe it. It's not like it was never heard before. I believe DC Talk, Audio Adrenaline, Creed, U2, Skillet, Paramore, Evolett and just about every band not in the modern worship genre has said that they are not a Christian Band at least once. It's all about the restrictiveness and boneheadedness of the CCM Industry at large. I think they also said damn. Once. Such filth could not be tolerated. And the purge from Christian Outlets began. I bought my copy of Fallen from the local Target.

A funny thing happened on the way to the Tar and Feathering. Fallen went platinum, and then double platinum. As is usually the case, Christian Protests usually are a great source of cash for those getting protested. Everybody wants to know what the kerfuffle is about. Fallen is now listed at Septuple-Platinum (7x) in the United States and 17x Platinum in the World. Amy laughed all the way to the bank. Good for her. Their success prompted me to name one of my Platinum Vinyl Awards the Fallen Award.

Fallen was followed up by Anywhere but Home (2004), the bands first live album, and then The Open Door (2006). Neither album was as good, but it is hard to attain those heights on a regular basis. Soon after the Open Door, like their name implies, they vanished. I can hear the industry laughing, "I knew they wouldn't last."

"Hello, Hello, Remember Me. I'm everything you can't control...." So says Amy on What You Want, the opening song on Evanescence, their self titled release. The break has done them good. This is an awesome album. Amy's vocals have never been more haunting or spine chilling. The band has responded to their rush of copycats by upping their game. The use of strings on this album has exploded.



Did I ever tell you I am a sucker for strings. This is no exception. The layers are just gorgeous. As is Amy herself. Some shallow individuals on youtube were commenting that they think she's fat. Well, they're blind. Just watch the video. She's fit as a fiddle. There isn't a bad song on this album, and not a bad word in sight. Note to the mainstream. You can put out awesome music without a parental advisory.

October 1 Started the nominations for the Thrid Platinum Vinyl Awards and we already have our first shoo-in for Best Rock Album. I am giving Evanescence a perfect 5 Emerald Rating. I am not just a fan. This has the potential to go as far as Fallen, though that may be quite a stretch. I have Fallen as #1 on my list of the top CCM Albums of all time, and with songs like What You Want, Lost in Paradise, Sick, Oceans, and Swimming Home, I think this is a fair lock for number two. That's my vote and I'm sticking with it. Agree? Disagree? Comment Below. As always, I am Awaiting Your Reply.