Copernicus Rocks: The 2017 Platinum Vinyl Awards 2nd Quarter - Inspirational

Next up is one of the biggies. Adult Contemporary, and its sister genre Inspirational, racked up a whopping 10 entrants into the pool this quarter. Rather than waste time with explanations, let us get to it.

Adult Contemporary/Inspirational

• Jason Bare - Fearless
• Bethany (Dillon) Barnard - A Better Word
• Dante Bowe - Son of a Father
• The Brilliance - All Is Not Lost
• Daniel Doss - Praise The King
• Selah - Unbreakable
• Aaron Shust - Love Made A Way
• Laura Story - Open Hands
• Greg Sykes - Reverse EP
• Jaci Velasquez - Trust

That does it for this grouping. A Brief glitch at the start may have allowed a blank post to go out. Apologies. This is what was supposed to happen. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Music Video Monday: A New Year Begins

The New Year is officially here at the +The WENC Night Beat We're a few minutes late, but that is okay. From now on it is all Monday only Monday. Today we begin PVA5 Videos. And we start out on a Modern Worship roll. Four Videos today.

We Start out with +Laura Story  and I can just be me.

Next up we have the Vertical Church and The Rock Won't Move.

Our third Video this week is from the latest group coming out of Hillsong Church. This is +Hillsong Young & Free  with Wake.

And we conclude things with +Dustin Kensrue  complaining that with 4 videos, It's Not Enough.

I happen to disagree. Four is more than enough. We will continue with Modern Worship Next week. Until then, I am Awaiting Your Reply.   

The 43rd Annual GMA Dove Nominees

I had hoped to have my list of nominees for the 2nd Annual Platinum Vinyl Awards out before the Dove Awards were announced, but it soon became obvious that that would not be the case. No big problem when you are only a one man job. Apart from their being two categories for Inspirational Album of the Year (a complete mystery) they seemed to do a lot better picking nominees this time. Not enough to cede them the playing field, however. Competition keeps one sharp.

It would stand to reason that the Dove's would improve greatly if they would just add a dance category. Or at least something called Electronic. Right now some of the contortions they pull off in putting people in some categories would astound a Cirque du Soleil gymnast.

We will begin with the album of the year categories, since that is where I am strongest (I am starting to get a handle on Song of The Year this time around).

Rap/Hip Hop Album

• Blacklight - Tedashii
• Captured - Flame
• Culture Shock - Jai
• Rehab: The Overdose - Lecrae
• The Whole Truth - DA T.R.U.T.H.

The GMA hit this one out of the park. With the exception of Lecrae's choice of album (I went with Rehab: Deluxe Edition over Rehab: The Overdose) It was Five for Five with my picks, at least artist wise. Oh, one minor tweak. Jai is Dance not Hip Hop and I have rewarded her accordingly.

Rock Album

• Control - Abandon
• Until We Have Faces - Red
• Vice Verses - Switchfoot
• What I've Become - Ashes Remain
• With Shivering Hearts We Wait - Blindside

Red and Switchfoot are no brainers, though having no hard rock category really means some deserving artists are left out in the cold. While Abandon, Ashes Remain and Blindside had good albums, I thought some others were better. Sorry folks, no spoilers here.

Pop/Contemporary Album

• A Beautiful Life - Mikeschair
• Blessings - Laura Story
• Hundred More Years - Francesca Battistelli
• One Song at a Time - Jamie Grace
• What if We Were Real - Mandisa

This is where the GMA's and I part ways. While I had Mandisa among my picks, I thought that What if We Were Real fit squarely in the Gospel/R&B genre, at least to this DJ's ears. Francesca, Laura and Jamie, at least in my opinion, were good, but just edged out by better material.

Rock/Contemporary Album

• Ad Astra Oer Aspera - Abandon Kansas
• Come Home - Luminate
• Crazy Love - Hawk Nelson
• Mountains Move - Kristian Stanfill
• The Reckoning - Needtobreathe

This will be the last category for this post. Luminate was the only one nominated for a Platinum Vinyl Award among this bunch, and they went into Modern Worship. Even busting the limits in nominees couldn't get the others in. Someone will always be robbed, that's just the way it is.

That concludes the first post of the Night Beat Dove Awards Nominations Coverage. Predictions will be made at a later time, closer to the April Awards. 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.