Justified In Light: The 2020 Platinum Vinyl Awards 1st Quarter - Gospel

The final set of ties is a three way tie. Gospel, Hard Rock and Rap are tied with ten entries apiece. These are only tied in the third place position however.

Gospel/R&B

• Anthony Brown and Group Therapy - 2nd Wind: Ready
• Kirk Franklin - Past and Present, Volume 1 EP
• Kirk Franklin - Past and Present, Volume 2 EP
• Travis Green - Broken Record
• Tasha Cobbs Leonard - Smile (Live)
• Donnie McClurkin - A Different Song
• Gene Moore - Nashville Sessions (Live) EP
• Noel Robinson - I Surrender 
• Kanye West - Jesus Is Born (ft Sunday Service Choir)
• Kelly Wright - The Love Train

It still seems strange typing Kanye's name in Gospel, but God does Amazing Things. Next up is Hard Rock. Until then, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Night Beat Rewind: November 2019 - Album Edition

The Second Album Edition of Night Beat Rewind is upon us. Let's not waste any time with formalities. The Seasonal stuff starts it off.

Christmas Music (Non-Eligible)

• 116 - The Gift: A Christmas Compilation 5 Emeralds
• All Things New - Joy of Christmas EP 4.75 Emeralds
• Audrey Assad - Peace EP 5 Emeralds
• David and Nicole Binion - Dwell Christmas 4.50 Emeralds
• Lincoln Brewster - A Mostly Acoustic Christmas 5 Emeralds
• Building 429 - A Thrill of Hope EP 4.75 Emeralds
• Caleb and Kelsey - Christmas Worship 5 Emeralds
• Cloverton - Come And Adore EP 4.75 Emeralds
• Quinten Coblentz - Some Songs I Wrote About Christmas EP 4.75 Emeralds
• Fresh Life Worship - Motion EP 4.75 Emeralds
• Future of Forestry - Light Has Come EP 5 Emeralds
• Keith and Kristyn Getty - Incarnation Sing!: The Life of Christ Quintology (Live) EP 5 Emeralds
• TaRanda Green - The Spirit of Christmas (Deluxe Edition) 4.50 Emeralds
• Xay Hill - Million EP 4.50 Emeralds
• Highlands Worship - Shine Heaven's Light: A Christmas EP 4.75 Emeralds
• Mallory Hope - Christmas Is All About You EP 4.75 Emeralds
• Jars of Clay/SHEL - A Family Christmas EP 5 Emeralds
• Jadon Lavik - Christmas 4.75 Emeralds
• Sandra McCracken - Christmas 4.75 Emeralds
• The McCrary Sisters - A Very McCrary Christmas 5 Emeralds
• LEAH McHenry - Ancient Winter 5 Emeralds
• Stephen McWhirter - Come Adore Him EP 4.75 Emeralds
• Shama Mrema - Shama and PD's Christmas EP 3.50 Emeralds
• Christy Nockels - The Thrill of Hope Renewed 5 Emeralds
• Ginny Owens - A Midnight Clear EP 4.75 Emeralds
• Matthew Parker - Irwin's Christmas Collection EP 4.75 Emeralds
• Planetshakers - It's Christmas 5 Emeralds
• Plumb - Behold EP 5 Emeralds
• Plumb - It's Christmastime EP 5 Emeralds
• Sidewalk Prophets - Merry Christmas To You (Great Big Family Edition) 4.75 Emeralds
• Salt of The Sound - And On Earth Peace 5 Emeralds
• Holly Starr - Born is the King EP 4.75 Emeralds
• John Thurlow - Christmas Songs 4.75 Emeralds
• John Thurlow - The Story of Christmas 5 Emeralds
• Chris Tomlin - Christmas Songs of Worship EP 4.75 Emeralds
• Various Artists - Dream Christmas Volume 4 4.75 Emeralds
• Visible Worship - A Visible Christmas, Volume 8 4.50 Emeralds

A very good month for Christmas Albums. On to the judged music. We begin with the music that will not make the Platinum Vinyl Awards pool.

Missing The Mark

• 1k phew - What's understood 2 4.25 Emeralds
• Grave Robber - Dry Bones 4.25 Emeralds
• nobigdyl - lowercase tape 3.75 Emeralds
• Rusty Shipp - Liquid Exorcist 3.75 Emeralds
• Selah - Firm Foundation 4.25 Emeralds 
• Theory Hazit - I Love It Down Here 3.25 Emeralds
• Various - Simple Hymns: Songs of Thanksgiving 4.25 Emeralds

Seven albums that miss the mark is quite encouraging. The year is getting off on an even keel. The next are the perfect albums.

Pure Platinum Perfection

• Casting Crowns - New York Sessions 5 Emeralds
• Casting Crowns - Voice of Truth: The Ultimate Collection 5 Emeralds
• CTZN Worship - Welcome Home 5 Emeralds
• Kirk Franklin - Past and Present, Volume 2 EP 5 Emeralds
• Dear Gravity - The Pilgrimage Series: Arrival EP 5 Emeralds
• Travis Greene - Broken Record 5 Emeralds
• Hammock - Silencia 5 Emeralds
• Andy Hunter - Presence, Volume 4 5 Emeralds
• Donnie McClurkin - A Different Song 5 Emeralds
• RED - The Evening Hate EP 5 Emeralds

Ten to Seven in favor of Pure Platinum is still a good balance. Now we go to the music in the middle which is still Platinum Vinyl eligible.

Semi-Precious Metal

• Bethel Music - Without Words: Genesis 4.75 Emeralds
• Aaron Bucks - California, Volume 2 4.75 Emeralds
• Noah Cleveland - The Worship Sessions, Volume 1 Ep 4.75 Emeralds
• First Free Music - Live at Letterbox Theater Ep 4.75 Emeralds
• ICF Worship - Fearless (Acoustic Sessions) EP 4.75 Emeralds
• Coby James - Happier EP 4.75 Emeralds
• Greg LaFollette - Like Locked Rooms EP 4.50 Emeralds
• Matt Maher - Alive and Breathing, Volume 3 EP 4.50 Emeralds
• Chris McClarney - Fill This Place (Live) EP 4.75 Emeralds
• Derek Minor - Nothing But A Word (ft Propaganda) EP 4.75 Emeralds
• Mission House - Mission House EP 4.75 Emeralds
• Gene Moore - Nashville Sessions (Live) EP 4.75 Emeralds
• Brooke Nichols - Pursue EP 4.75 Emeralds
• NLC Worship - Heart Set Free EP 4.50 Emeralds
• Courtney Ramirez - Amada En Verdad EP 4.75 Emeralds
• Slick Shoes - Broadcasting Live 4.75 Emeralds
• Stillman - Wherever You Are EP 4.75 Emeralds
• What We Do In Secret - Repose 4.75 Emeralds
• Wicked's End - Flood 4.50 Emeralds
• Worship Mob - Venture 12: Do It Again EP 4.75 Emeralds

November is finally in the Bag. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Chaotic Symphonies: The 2019 Platinum Vinyl Awards 3rd Qtr - Gospel

What would a quarterly wrap be without a tie. And we get it out of the way right away. It's a two way tie, and first up is Gospel Music.

Gospel/R&B

• Kirk Franklin - Long Live Love
• Gloria Gaynor - Testimony
• Byron Juane - Hopeful Soul EP
• Karlos Nichols - Be Alright EP
• Titus Showers - Who? EP

And we are underway. I know there are a lot of the older folk out there who say, "Gloria Gaynor is Christian?" Yes, she's come a long way from "I Will Survive". The second part of our tie is Hard Rock and Metal. Until then, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Dove Wrap: 2016 Edition - Album Results

Well, this is one of those delayed posts I was talking about. I will progress through the results as I covered them. So that will be Album, Song and The General Field. I will link the prediction posts to save room here, and I hope that I can finish this in one post.

We start with the Album of The Year Awards. Like I said in that post, an album is more important than a song in that it is more difficult to make. We begin with Adult Contemporary/Inspirational Album of The Year. I shocked all of my regular readers when I picked Hillsong Open Heaven/River Wild. You see, I am a regular critic of the Church as it has spawned such a crop of copycats that it has almost wrecked the Modern Worship genre. Plus the fact that for the past few years the releases have had a "mailed in" quality, lacking fire. But I liked this one. It was the best Hillsong release in years. However the Dove Awards liked Amanda Cook and Brave New World better. (Score: 0/1)

Next up was Worship Album of The Year. I went with Let It Echo by Jesus Culture. The Doves went with Hillsong. Hillsong United and Empires. I panned the album for #PlatVnyl6 and it Missed The Mark. (Score: 0/2).

Moving On to Contemporary Gospel/Urban Album. I felt that the best album of the available choices by far was Kirk Franklin Losing My Religion and to my surprise so did the Doves. (Score: 1/3). I guess even a broken clock is correct twice a day.

The final Album Award that I made a pick for was Pop/Contemporary Album of The Year. They had a full slate of albums for this one, and it was difficult for me to pick. Of course they had Hillsong United here as well (a Miss The Mark for the PVA's) as well as This Is Not A Test by Toby Mac, an excellent album, though not particularly Pop. Perhaps Dance, Perhaps Rock, and Perhaps Rap, but not Pop. I went with Big Daddy Weave and Beautiful Offering. Well I may have felt that Toby Mac was miscast here, but not the GMA. They said This Is Not A Test. I guess I failed here. (Score: 1/4) 0.250 after the album portion of my predictions. 

Remember when I said I wanted this to be done in one post. Yeah, me neither. Wishful thinking. The Song Award recap will be next. Until then, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

#PlatVnyl6 The Nominations Begin: Video by A Male Artist

We had a full plate of Video Entries this Year, and we have a full slate of genres as well, where we had dropped a few last year. We come to the General Field Based Video Awards nominees. There are 4 of them: Video by a Male Artist, Video by a Female Artist, Video by a New Artist, and Video of The Year. We Start with Video by a Male Artist, the Video Companion to Male Vocalist of The Year, though the two are not identical.

The Nominees are: Letting Go ft Josh Lane by +Jekob Washington ; Volcano ft. Jonathan Thulin by +Rapture Ruckus ; Wanna Be Happy by +Kirk Franklin ; The Way That You Love Me by +Jonathan McReynolds ; and We Gon Reign by Flame.

Our playlist of the nominated videos follows: 

Next up is Video by a Female Artist. Until then, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

#PlatVnyl6 The Nominations Begin: Gospel/R&B Video of The Year

We had a full representation in the video awards this year (well, with the exception of Children's Music, but that would just be a veggie tale adventure anyway). We move on to Gospel Music, along with R&B. The nominees for #PlatVnyl6 are: I Luh God by Erica Campbell; Invincible by +armarraehillVEVO (Armar'rae Hill and True Foundation); Wanna Be Happy by +Kirk Franklin ; The Way That You Love Me by +Jonathan McReynolds ; and You Are Worthy  by JJ Hairston and Youthful Praise.

The Playlist follows: 

Alternative Video is next. Until then, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Mistletunes: The 2016 1st Quarter - Gospel/R&B

We move on to Gospel, Black Gospel, Urban Gospel, The Real Gospel. Southern Gospel Music, according to us here at The Night Beat, is neither Gospel nor Music. All we will agree is that it is Southern. Supposedly Southern Gospel, like a lot of Christian Music, was an alternative to some popular mainstream music of the era. For the life of me I cannot figure out what that would be. Polka Perhaps? Before you polka lovers, (all 3 of you), decide to write a nasty letter, I am of Polish Extraction, and when I was growing up there was a Polka Music Show on The Radio. Talk about torture. When your hit songs are "Roll Out The Barrel, Roll out The Barrel of Fun" and "She Likes Kielbasa Better Than Fish" you know you are scraping the bottom of the musical barrel. We shall go to the list.

Gospel/R & B

• Alache - The Chronicles Of The Mrs
• Bri (Briana Babineaux) - I'll Be The One
• Kirk Franklin - Losing My Religion
• Deitrick Haddon - Masterpiece
• James Jackson & Atlanta Praise - Nothing but High Praise

Two more perfect albums with this genre. One was almost expected. I never just simply hand out a 5 on reputation, but you almost could with Kirk Franklin. He very rarely disappoints. James Jackson is new to me, but is really good. Our final tie with five is Dance music. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Dove Songs in an Open Field

I am going to try to cover both the Recorded Song of the Year and General Field Awards in a single post. It may be long, but I don't think a third post would be worthy.


Let's begin with the General Field. I think the GMA really blew it this year. Jason Crabb ARTIST OF THE YEAR!!?? With Casting Crowns, Laura Story and Lecrae in the mix. Then you let him double dip as Male Vocalist when Tomlin and SCC would have been far better choices. Not sure on Kirk Franklin for MV. Never thought the award should go to someone who can let a choir do the heavy lifting. Or a band frontman either, unless they do ALL the vocals. Female Vocalist went to Natalie Grant. No, wrong. Based on pure power I would have gone Mandisa.


New Artist went to Jamie Grace. It was a good pick though I would have went with The City Harmonic. Group of the year went to Needtobreathe. Again, a goog, but not perfect, pick. Definite would have gone Crowder Band here.


Now, to the Song Awards. Urban Song went to Kim Burrell and Sweeter from The Love Album. Personally, this should have been a no brainer. Window by Canton Jones.

When I originally looked up the nominees Rock Song looked unusually long, and it was called Rock/Contemporary. Considering they pulled two winners out of the list I think it was an error on their part. The Dove Judges went with Switchfoot and Dark Horses from Vice Verses and Slumber by Needtobreathe from The Reckoning. It's hard to argue against Switchfoot here but I will try. Just being contrary I will go with Invisible by Disciple on Power, but it's a weak argument. Excellent Choice here. On needtobreathe and the softer rock. One out of Two ain't bad. The Obvious Choice here would have been Lucy by Skillet.

Now to the rest of the awards:

The General Field Awards

• Artist of The Year - Jason Crabb (Complete Fail)
• New Artist - Jamie Grace (B+)
• Male Vocalist - Jason Crabb (Complete Fail)
• Female Vocalist - Natalie Grant (C)
• Group of The Year - Needtobreathe (C-)

Recorded Song of The Year Awards

• Song of The Year - Blessings, Laura Story (C)
• Rap/ Hip Hop - Hallelujah, Lecrae (C)
• Pop/Contemporary - Blessings, Laura Story (C)
• Urban - Sweeter, The Love Album, Kim Burrell (C)

That concludes the Night Beat Coverage of the Dove Awards. Until the next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

The Frozen Chosen: Gospel and Dance

Continuing our announcements, by genre, of the albums which qualified for the 2012 Platinum Vinyl Awards during the winter months. Moving on from Modern Worship we go to Gospel.

Gospel/R&B

• Vanessa Bell Armstrong - Timeless
• Myron Butler - Worship
• Anthony Evans - Home
• Kirk Franklin - The Essential Kirk Franklin
• Fred Hammond - God, Love and Romance
• Isaac Simpson and Divine Providence - The Process
• Various Artists - WoW Gospel 2012
• Youthful Praise - After This

Yes, this is short compared to Modern Worship, but that is normal. Still, my cutoff for a solo post is five and this makes it. As I was going over the genre's I saw that the Dance genre was a little short of entries to make a post of its own, so I decided to tack it on here. So without further ado.

Dance/Electronica

• Gateway Next - Look Up
• Rhema Soul - Red
• Tidewater - This Beautiful Life EP
• TobyMac - Dubbed & Freq'd: A Remix Project

That concludes this post of the best Gospel and Dance entries for this past quarter. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Dove Songs

The finale of my Dove Posts. I had originally planned for this to be rolled out over the course of one week. "The best laid plans of mice and men" and all that.


Song of the year is where the committee doesn't worry about editing. Two of the categories had TEN nominees. I am taking the safe way out here and doing those categories with Ten Nominees in them. A long post with little effort.

Not surprisingly, the two unedited categories were Rock/Contemporary and Song Of The Year. The Doves refer to these as Recorded Song of The Year instead of Song of The Year as the Grammy's do, but they are essentially the same.

Rock/Contemporary Recorded Song of The Year

• Dark Horses, Vice Verses, Switchfoot
• Faceless, Until We Have Faces, Red
• Invisible, Horseshoes and Handgrenades, Disciple
• One Day Too Late, Awake, Skillet
• Your Love is a Mystery, Crazy Love, Hawk Nelson
• Born Again, Born Again (Miracles Edition), Newsboys
• Crazy Love, Crazy Love, Hawk Nelson
• Drifting, TBA, Plumb w/ Dan Hasseltine
• Lucy, Awake, Skillet
• Slumber, The Reckoning, Needtobreathe

If the GMA Voters were going to vote on a powerful song, there is none more powerful than Lucy. Personally, I hope that one wins. Here is the official music video for it. Warning: Kleenex is a must.

Song of The Year

• Alive, Natalie Grant
• Blessings, Laura Story
• Celebrate Me Home, Perry's
• Glorious Day (Living He Loved Me), Casting Crowns
• Hold Me, Jamie Grace
• I Smile, Kirk Franklin
• I've Been Here Before, Ernie Haase
• Please Forgive Me, Gaither Vocal Band
• Who Am I, Jason Crabb
• Your Great Name, Natalie Grant

This one is a bit tougher, because I detest Southern Gospel, and 40% of the list is SG. Actually I guess that makes my picks easier, but that also increases my probability that I will be wrong. Alive is a good pick form me, not because Natalie Grant is such a great singer, though she is great. It's just that Music Inspired by The Message was a very powerful album, and garnered 5 Emeralds. I think the GMA's will go with Haase.

That concludes my Dove Awards nomination coverage. I will return with Music Video Monday. Enjoy the rest of the weekend, and as always, 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,

Gospel Grammy Results

The Grammy Awards are now over and the second guessing can begin. For those of us covering the Gospel Section, it's a really short job.

Since this is a Music Blog, it is proper that I give Night Beat Condolences. I found out about the death of Whitney Houston via my twitter stream. She was a great singer who began in Gospel. With Two Emmys Six Grammys and a host of other awards, her talent was unquestioned. And a note to the religious out there. God wants all of us to have a long life. 48 is not long. Too anyone who says it was "Her Time", quiet.

Now, on to the second guessing. As I said previously, there were only two real awards: Song and Album of the Year in Both Gospel and CCM. For my predictions click on the genres.

I thought that I would be able to do pretty well due to the sparse choices, but that was not to be. For the Gospel section, album division, I thought that they would be honoring the return of a legend in Andrae Crouch, but I was wrong. I also thought that Mary, Mary was the best choice, and I still think that was the correct way to go. The Grammy went to: Kirk Franklin. This is one of the cases where an award goes based on past results. I have heard quite a bit of music from Kirk Franklin, and in my opinion this was not his best album. Still the Grammy's have spoken Score: 0/1.

Moving on to Gospel Song. I hit it out of the park. For some reason I felt that Grammy would award Kirk Franklin best Gospel Song for Hello Fear. Even though I felt Canton Jones had a better song in Window, I guess I was picking Name Recognition for the win, and it paid off: Score 1/2.

Christian Contemporary Music is up next, and here the consequences of savaging the Christian categories becomes painfully evident. Gungor is alternative, Royal Tailor is Pop, Mandisa is Dance/Gospel/R&B, Chris Tomlin is Modern Worship/Pop, and Leeland is Modern Worship/Rock. No Rock. No Metal, No Hip Hop or Rap. All fighting for one prize. I am underwhelmed.

I figured they would go for Brandon Heath considering how gaga they were over Leaving Eden when the album came out, so that was my prediction. I said that the strongest entry would have been Mandisa, but I was wrong and they gave the Grammy to Chris Tomlin. A good modern worship album, but I never saw it coming: Score: 1/3

I guess I was mailing it in on an anti-Brandon Heath rant for song. Though the Grammy's would go for Your Love and made a split pick of I lift My Hands by Chris Tomlin and Hold Me by Jamie Grace Harper but the Grammy went instead to: Blessings by Laura Story. I guess we were on a mellow bent. It was the quietest of the songs.

Final Score: 1/4 (0.250). Hey, that is okay for a major league stint in Baseball, but it wasn't what I was expecting. So, I'm no Carnac.

Well that's it for the Grammy Awards. Dove nominees come out on the 22nd. I will return with my picks for that shortly afterward. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Gospel Grammy: The Night Beat Prediction, Part One

The Grammy Awards are Sunday Night, and I just heard about it. Now while I don't follow all the Award Shows religiously, I am a music blogger, so I should have been more up on things.

Personally, I am blaming the Grammy Awards themselves. In their reinvention of the awards, they have savaged the CCM portion. I mean, it makes a critic cry (figuratively). I may have been critical of their picks in the past, but there are now really only two categories in the entire show. (In the Interest of full disclosure, there are technically five gospel categories but I am doing a genre combining trick. We Have Gospel and Contemporary Christian Music awards in Song And Album of the Year as well as a combined Gospel/CCM Performance of the Year- Basically 2.5 awards. This one's going to be tough.)

Gospel Music Grammy Nominations

Gospel Album of The Year

• Kim Burrell - The Love Album
• Andrae Crouch - The Journey
• Kirk Franklin - Hello Fear
• Mary Mary - Something Big
• Trin-I-Tee 5:7 - Angel & Chanelle Deluxe Edition

Who will win: I think that the Grammy's are going to go with a legend and Pick Andrae Crouch. Crouch is among both Gospel and Christian Music in General a Legend and his albums deserve a place on any 100 Best List.

Who Should Win: From my listening viewpoint, the best of all the albums nominated was Something Big by Mary Mary. It got a near perfect 4.75 Emeralds and really wowed me.

Gospel Song of the Year

• Kirk Franklin - Hello Fear
• Sitting With Me - Mary Mary
• Spiritual - Donald Lawrence
• Trust Me - Richard Smallwood
• Window - Canton Jones

Who will win: Honestly, I have no clue, not having regularly heard a lot of these songs, except for clips. Based on the Grammy's quirks, I am going with Kirk Franklin, though I thought the album was only worthy of 4 Emeralds. Reputation usually wins.

Who Should Win: Based on hearing the complete album and having the song in regular rotation in my iTunes library, I would go with Window by Canton Jones. It's a get up and dance type number that is also word based and encouraging. I love it.

For the sake of post brevity, I think I shall hold off the CCM nominations for a second post. Until Next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Night Beat Rewind: January 2012

This has got to be some kind of record. Here it is only the first week of February and the January tunes are done. Plus I have just finished the First Quarter Platinum Vinyl Awards announcements. Now that that is done, it is time for the January 2012 edition of Night Beat Rewind.

For the newcomer, let me explain. Having only limited resources at present for obtaining full album streams of new releases, the great majority of the new releases are quick-hits from Amazon samples. At the end of each month I compile all the releases, both those I have been able to fully review and those I have not, and put them into a "Rewind" column where I give a rating to each. Without further ado, the January Rewind.

Off Target

• Andrew Greer - Angel Band: The Hymn Sessions 2.25 Emeralds
• Theory Hazit - Thr3e 3.75 Emeralds
• Various Artists - Anchors of Faith, 100 Hymns 3.5 Emeralds

My opinion on these releases? For the most part they are OK. For the most part. Note the first one on the list. My advice - Avoid it. I take no responsibility if you buy it and then say "my ears, my ears". You have been warned.

Purest Platinum

• Blessed By A Broken Heart - Feel The Power 5 Emeralds
• David Crowder Band - Give Us Rest (A Requiem Mass in C) [The Happiest of All Keys] 5 Emeralds

The Polar Opposite. These are the Perfect albums, at least as defined by The Night Beat. Anytime we can get over one in a month is a very good month. Most of the releases, however, fall short of perfection.

Semi-Precious Metal

• All Sons and Daughters - Reason To Sing EP 4.5 Emeralds
• Anthem Lights - The Acoustic Sessions 4.5 Emeralds
• Jon Bauer - Forevermore 4.5 Emeralds
• Bethel Music - The Loft Sessions 4 Emeralds
• Myron Butler - Worship 4.5 Emeralds
• Rachel Chan - Go 4 Emeralds
• Kirk Franklin - The Essential Kirk Franklin 4.75 Emeralds
• Scotty G - Real Life 4.5 Emeralds
• Group 1 Crew - Outta Space Love: Bigger Love Edition 4.75 Emeralds
• Fred Hammond - God, Love and Romance 4.75 Emeralds
• High Society Collective - Circa MMXI: The Collective 4.25 Emeralds
• Kari Jobe - Where I Found You  4.5 Emeralds
• Calvin Jones & Teresa Scanlon - Dueling Pianos: White Water Chopped Sticks - City of Peace 4.75 Emeralds
• Lindsay McCaul - If it Leads Me Back 4.5 Emeralds
• One Sonic Society - Forever Reign 4.5 Emeralds
• Parachute Band - Matins: Vespers 4.5 Emeralds
• Pioneer - Pioneer 4.5 Emeralds
• Rapzilla - King Kulture 4.5 Emeralds
• Rend Collective Experiment - Homemade Worship by Handmade People 4.75 Emeralds
• Sanctuary - Reveal 4.75 Emeralds
• Michael W. Smith - Decades of Worship 4.5 Emeralds
• Starfield - The Kingdom 4.75 Emeralds
• Tidewater - This Beautiful Life EP 4.25 Emeralds
• Various Artists - Seasons of Hope 4.5 Emeralds
• Various Artists - Seasons of Joy 4.5 Emeralds
• Various Artists - Seasons of Reflection 4.5 Emeralds
• Various Artists - WoW Gospel 2012 4.5 Emeralds
• Worship Central - Spirit Break Out 4.5 Emeralds
• Yancy - Little Praise Party: Happy Day Everyday 4.75 Emeralds

That ends the first edition of Rewind for 2012. Check out the new releases, and enjoy. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Spring Beats: PVA 2011 2nd Qtr Nominees - Gospel/R&B

The Second Quarter Rollout continues. Next up is Gospel/R&B. It was a good quarter for entries this time around, with seven entries. Last year there was only seven total eligible entries, so, while there were no eligible entries last quarter, unless we are shutout in the next six months, which I doubt will happen, it should be a good year for Gospel.

The Eligible 2Q Entries for the 2011 Best Album Platinum Vinyl Awards in Gospel/R&B

• Kirk Franklin - Hello Fear
• Deitrick Haddon - Church on the Moon
• Canton Jones - Dominionaire
• John P. Kee - The Legacy Project
• Mary Mary - Something Big
• Smokie Norful - How I Got Over: Songs That Carried Us
• Alex Williams - Epic Salvation

Haddon and Jones are double nominees, also getting a Rap/Hip Hop nod for the moment. Still to be announced is the second quarter results for Dance, Rap, Alternative and Folk, so keep it locked here.