Night Beat Rewind: July 2014

We have come into the Dog Days of Summer. Though of course this is, with a few days excepted, a year without a Summer. Not that I'm complaining. 

Also, while we are only five days into August, I have completed this edition of Rewind for July. Pretty Good. We shall see how long it takes to type. Perhaps I will wait on links. 

As is the recent pattern, we begin with a few Single releases, or what I tongue in cheek refer to as 

The Singles Scene

• Lauren Daigle - How Can It Be 4.50 Emeralds
• Disciple - Radical 5 Emeralds
• Thousand Foot Krutch - Born This Way 4.75 Emeralds

While I love Trevor and TFK, Disciple just blew me away, so I had to give them the perfect score. Not so perfect are the first group of albums, they are they which are

Missing The Mark

• '68 - In Humor and Sadness 3.75 Emeralds
• Bizzle - Well Wishes 3.75 Emeralds
• Carman - Beginnings 3.75 Emeralds
• B. Cooper - While The City Sleeps 3.75 Emeralds
• Hillary Jane - Stix and Stones 3.75 Emeralds
• Hillsong Worship - No Other Name 3.75 Emeralds
• JT - Moment of Silence 3.75 Emeralds

Now all of these just missed the opening bar of 4 Emeralds to get into the Platinum Vinyl Pool. No problem with the next group missing out. These are all

Pure Platinum

• Anberlin - Lowborn 5 Emeralds
• For The Fatherless - For The Fatherless 5 Emeralds
• Gungor - I Am Mountain (Deluxe Edition) 5 Emeralds
• Moriah Peters - Brave 5 Emeralds

It is sad to see Anberlin go, but what a way to go. Gungor has impressed those of us at night Beat HQ since they went New Age/Alternative, and For The Fatherless had a very strong debut. Next up are those releases which, while not Pure Platinum still made the pool. These are the 

Semi-Precious Metal

Before we begin with the regular list, Capitol Christian Music Group (Sparrow, Forefront) has joined its Parent in releasing the 20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection. This month's releases were Carman, Emery, Norma Jean and Starfield. Now with the exception of Carman, only Norma Jean (founded 1997) qualifies. The other two are 21st Century Masters. Nitpicking? Maybe? but that is my job. In order listed, my ratings were 4.25, 4.75, 4.50, and 4.75 Emeralds. Now to the rest of the list.

• About a Mile - About A Mile 4.75 Emeralds
• Aaron Bagwell - The Sound of Jesus 4.50 Emeralds
• Bellarive - Before There Was 4.50 Emeralds
• Cadence - Home 4.75 Emeralds
• Colony House - When I Was Younger 4.75 Emeralds
• Covenant Worship - Kingdom 4.50 Emeralds
• Mr. Del - Hope Dealer 2 4.50 Emeralds
• Bethany Devine - Daily Confessions 4.75 Emeralds
• David Dunn - Crystal Clear 4.50 Emeralds
• Forevermore - Telos 4.75 Emeralds
• J-Giles Son - Employed by The King 4.75 Emeralds
• Golden Youth - The Kingdom 4.75 Emeralds
• Guardian - Almost Home 4.75 Emeralds
• Gungor - I Am Mountain (Bonus Material) 4.75 Emeralds
• Islander - Violence and Destruction 4.50 Emeralds
• Canton Jones - God City USA 4.75 Emeralds
• The Lasting Hope - Sunsets and Second Chances 4.50 Emeralds
• MxPx - MxPx Acoustic Collection 4.75 Emeralds
• Jonas Park and David Bollman - Forward 4.50 Emeralds
• Phanatik - The Art of Battle Rap: Puns and Punchlines, Vol. 1 4.75 Emeralds
• Red Coalescence - Killers 4.50 Emeralds
• Kierra Sheard - Graceland 4.75 Emeralds
• Summit FutureNow - The Now and the Not Yet 4.75 Emeralds
• Various Artists - Pass The Mic: The Rise of Christian Hip Hop 4.50 Emeralds
• War of Ages - Supreme Chaos 4.75 Emeralds
• Ian Yates - DNA 4.75 Emeralds

That concludes July. Two more months left in this eligibility year. I have decided to forgo links at the moment. They will be added little by little. Keep checking back for updates. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Music Video Monday: Moment to Moment

Welcome to the latest edition of Music Video Monday. Since I am continually getting new readers care of Facebook, I think it is only proper that I should continue with my introduction every week. Music Video Monday is where I share the best in Christian Music Videos on the web. Think of it as my way to resurrect the original MTV.

We have come to the Rock Genre for the 3rd Quarter Releases of 2012. Due to the abundance of videos out there, (there were 10), I am once again splitting this into two weeks, and part two will be out on Labor Day. Todays edition will be somewhat more sedate than next. We'll leave the hard stuff for the holidays.

We begin with Big Daddy Weave, one of those bands that I had somewhat forgotten about. This is Redeemed off of their album Love Come To Life.

We move on to our next band, the Rock/Worship band Deluge. This is a live performance of Your Joy from their release Swell.

Continuing with Rock/Worship, this is The Hurt and The Healer, the song from the album of the same name by legend Mercy Me.

We conclude with the harder stuff, a preview to next week. We Begin with a band originally called Magnified Plaid. Thankfully it got shortened to MxPx. This is Far Away from Plans Within Plans.

And we conclude with Sibling Punkers Children 18:3 and Moment to Moment from their latest release On the Run.

That concludes this edition of Music Video Monday. We will be having an MVM post on Labor Day, and we will finish up the Rock genre with videos from The Rocket Summer, Thousand Foot Krutch, Willet, Write This Down, and Classic Petra. Until then, or my next post, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Sonic Awakening: 3rd Qtr Nominees - Rock

We end our rollout of the third quarter 2012 releases that are eligible for Platinum Vinyl Award consideration with Rock. Ten entries made the cut this quarter, and that would be more than enough on its own. As always, this one will have a lot of whittling down to do

Rock Music

• Big Daddy Weave - Love Come to Life
• Children 18:3 - On the Run
• Deluge - Swell
• MxPx - Plans Within Plans
• Mercy Me - Hurt & The Healer
• Petra - Best of the 80's
• The Rocket Summer - Life Will Write the Words
• Thousand Foot Krutch - The End Is Where We Begin
• Willet - Love On the Outside
• Write This Down - Lost Weekend

That's a lot of entries, and if you would like to help The Night Beat, click the titles to go to Amazon and purchase. We are an Amazon Associate, and your purchase will help support this blog. If you want to read my original full reviews, click on the band names.

That concludes the 3rd Quarter Rollout. We now continue with the final quarter of eligibility. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Children On The Run

"11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things." 1 Corinthians 13:11 (KJV)

This verse came to me as I have been listening to the latest release by Minnesota Punk Rockers Children 18:3. In short I could have called this "The Kids Grow Up". Now granted, my experience with Children 18:3 has been fairly limited, but I am acquainted with two of their radio singles Homemade Valentine (from the Self Titled Debut), and the frentically paced Cover Your Eyes (from Rain's A Comin').
 
On the Run isn't really fast or hard. Most of the songs are decidedly radio friendly and have gone punk in the vein of Bleach rather than say MxPx. Personally, I like it better, because it's a bit easier on the ears. I can save them for stuff like Demon Hunter and The Devil Wears Prada.
 
Harmonies abound on this album. That's not to say there's no hard stuff. There is: Moment to Moment, Drifter and I Tried to Do The Right Thing. Most of the songs are mid-range rock, and a number of them We'll Never Say Goodbye, Nowhere to Run, Always on The Run, and and Holding On are pop ballads.

Reviews seem to be either love it or hate it. It's either "What happened to Children 18:3?" or "The Best Punk Album Ever". I'm going to split the baby, metaphorically speaking. As I said, I really like the harmonies. Growing up in an era where rock meant Petra, Stryper, Rez and others that relied as much on harmony as volume, I love it. At the same time I wish It rocked a bit more. I'm going to give On the Run a final rating of 4.5 Emeralds. That will put it in contention for an Elpy (Platinum Vinyl Award) in Rock, and we shall she how it fares.

What are your thoughts? Do you think it stands up to their previous work, or is it a rare Tooth and Nail Misfire? Love it or hate it, we at The Night Beat want to hear from you. On the blog, on Twitter, and now on Facebook. Whatever the means, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

The Best Played Plans

It isn't exactly Robert Burns (Steinbeck just used a line for his novel) or even the magnitude of Ezekiel's Wheels within Wheels but Plans Within Plans, the latest release by Bremerton, Washington Punk Rockers MxPx (The name was supposed to be Magnified Plaid, but someone thought the periods on the small poster were an x So MxPx it became. Seriously, would you listen to a band named Magnified Plaid) is equally momentous. The album marks the bands return to the recording studio for an original album in five years (a Covers album On The Cover II came out in 2009).

I'm not a big punk rock fan, though I am a fan of several punk acts, most notably Bleach. Of course bleach was known for longer songs. Actually that's the biggest gripe I have with this album. It goes bye too fast. I could call it speed punk. I know that it isn't true, because the album is around 35 minutes long, but it goes by fast. Of the thirteen songs on the album, nine of them clock in at under three minutes in length and one of them, Screw Loose, clocks in at just over one minute in length.

The album opens with one of my favorite songs on the album, Playing Aces, and the line "You may have to bluff sometimes". Considering that my novel in progress has my heroine (at least one of them) as a lady gambler in the old west, I think this would be her song.

The album is a speed rush. If you are looking for a slow ballad breather, there isn't one. If you're an adrenaline junkie, this is your album.  Actually, The Times would probably be considered an MxPx slow song, but to nobody else.

The album grows on you, and the songs will get quickly stuck in your head. In a good way. The album is a memorable one in that it marks the bands Twenty Year mark. Not many CCM bands these days last twenty years, much less put out such good music after all that time. The norm is to start mailing it in and living on ones reputation. Not these guys.

I would be doing a disservice to my readers if I did not give you the opportunity to experience a bit of the band. I close my review with a live performance of Far Away, the ninth cut on the album.

I am going to give Plans Within Plans a final rating of 4.75 Emeralds this album is Pure Platinum Punk, though not Perfectly Pure, if only because it is so short. I want more MxPx. We shall see a lot more from this band as the Third Platinum Vinyl Awards takes shape. Check it out, let me know what your opinion of the band is. If you choose to buy, please do so at the link and help support The Night Beat. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.