Music Video Monday: Dead Man

Welcome back to our 4th Quarter Music Video Monday. There will be only one MVM this week, folks. Last week was special to clear out the Satellites and Sirens videos.

We begin our trip through the 4th Quarter Video Releases with Wolves at the Gate, this is the Official Music Video for Dead Man.

From the big guns to the up and coming. Gideon is the name of this band, and I have not heard much from them until lately. This is No Acceptance.

Back to the big guns. P.O.D. recently came out with an album entitled Murdered Love which created quite a stir in the Christian Music Community. This is the Official Music Video for the Title Cut.

Our last video is somewhat of a rarity. The album didn't make the initial cut to be considered for a Platinum Vinyl Award, but I really liked the video. This is Shipwreck by Your Memorial.

Four videos to get things "started" this quarter. A different genre next week. Until then, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Flashback Friday: WWMT - The Tribe

Welcome back to an entirely revamped Flashback Friday. We are going to rotate this column among three subjects for the near future. We start with "The Commonwealth of CCM", where we will cover some artists within the British Commonwealth. Christian Music isn't just a US Centric Phenomena after all.

Take a group of Christian Evangelists, add Public Schools, and add a bit of Music to it. What do you get? Here in the USA, nothing, because  All Crazy Liberals United (a better acronym for the ACLU) would be invoking the fictional "Separation of Church and State" faster than you can say Activist Judges. (Any actual idea of separations would have been trying to protect the Church from Government Control, not the other way around. The founding fathers always figured this would be a moral country). Rant aside, in the more enlightened UK, they had no problem with the arrangement, and the result was THE TRIBE.

Officialy the World Wide Message Tribe, Christian Music's most influential dance band grew out of the Message 88 and Message 89 Youth Meetings in Manchester, England, that were put on by brothers Andy and Simon Hawthorne. Those meetings grew into the Message to Schools Trust, and from there the tribe was formed, which had at its core

• Mark Pennels
• Zark Porter
• Cameron Dante

and others, including Beth Redman (Matt Redman's Wife) who was in a band named Storm at the time. WWMT burst onto the scene with WWMT - Take a long hike with the Chosen Few (1993), but they are best known for their multi album and friends series Jumping in the House of God. All together from 1993 until 2004 when they broke up Chistians everywhere danced with a full dozen releases. Here's a promo video for WOW 1998 with them in action. All I can say is I wish we had stuff like this when I was in school.

Mark Pennels and Zarc Porter weren't content to just create dance music themselves. They were always on the lookout for the next generation. One of the most promising of these new acts, at least from my perspective, was a US/UK duo by the name of V*ENNA. The Christian Music world was in a mad rush to create an "alternative" to Britney Spears and other boy and girl bands. Unfortunately they weren't alone in the chase. Sparrow/EMI brought out the big guns (Nichole Nordeman, Clay Crosse, Carman) to support their choice, ZOE girl. If the big co-stars weren't enough, they also had Rebecca St. James producer in their corner. Lucy Britten and Sharnessa Shelton lost out to the trio of Alisa Girard, Kristin Swinford and Chrissy Conway.

Now in the interest of full disclosure I wish to mention that during the 2001 Festival Season I was working with Sparrow Records and had to push ZOE girl, but I listened to both CD's and, while the trio vastly improved their work in later albums, their debut is almost unlistenable. The power of PR.

As always, click on the links to go to Amazon and help support The Night Beat by buying through them. Next week we will switch gears and go to our next group, which I am calling The Industrial Revolution. Until then, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Night Beat Rewind: August 2012

Getting back to a somewhat normal schedule after an unexpected Music Video Monday Marathon, thanks to our friends at Satellites and Sirens. If you missed these posts you can catch Part One, Part Two and Part Three by clicking on the appropriate links.

Now it is time to get to the latest edition of Night Beat Rewind, our quick hits column for the previous months releases. August had a lot of releases and a lot made the cut, but a lot didn't. Also, surprising for late in the eligibility, we had one perfect album. One more caveat. A few releases this month were unavailable for preview and so I have not included them. So for right now the verdict on Heath McNease: The Weight of Glory; Derek Minor: PSA Vol 3: Who is Derek Minor?; Phil King (Self Titled); and Showbread: Cancer, are incomplete. Once I can get some samples to here I will check them out, and if they pass muster they will be grafted in.

As always, we begin with those releases which

Missed The Mark

• Jason Castro - Starting Line EP 3.75 Emeralds
• The Chariot - One Wing 3.75 Emeralds
• City of Peace Media - i Stand With Israel 3.75 Emeralds
• Covenant Worship - Standing 3.75 Emeralds
• Eleventyseven - Attack of the Mountain Medley 3.75 Emeralds
• Brian and Jenn Johnson - Undone 3.75 Emeralds
• Shelly Johnson - Power of the Cross 3.75 Emeralds
• Eddie Kirkland - Kings & Queens 3.75 Emeralds
• Letter to the Exiles - Make Amends 3.50 Emeralds
• Chris Lizotte - Power in Weakness 3.75 Emeralds
• Stan Whitmire - Seasons of Life 3.75 Emeralds
• Karyn Williams - Only You 3.75 Emeralds

I always feel compelled to point out that these are all good albums. Even Stan Whitmire (nothing against the album, but it was entirely instrumental piano, and got kind of monotonous after a while). From the misses to the home run. There was one release that was

Pure Platinum

• Project 86 - Wait for the Siren 5 Emeralds 

Of course most albums are somewhat less than perfect, and that is the case this month as well. As is usually the case, the longest list is for something I call

Semi - Precious Metal

• Abandoned Pools - Sublime Currency 4.75 Emeralds
• An Epic No Less - Echo Of Love 4.75 Emeralds
• Chris August - The Upside Of Down  4.50 Emeralds
• Avalon - Number Ones 4.50 Emeralds
• The Classic Crime - Phoenix 4.75 Emeralds
• Jeff Deyo - Moving Mountains 4.75 Emeralds
• Benjamin Dunn & The Animal Orchestra - Fable 4.75 Emeralds
• Israel & New Breed - Jesus at the Center 4.50 Emeralds
• Jordan Lara - City of Hope 4.50 Emeralds
• Luminate - Welcome to Daylight 4.50 Emeralds
• Toby Mac - Eye On It 4.25 Emeralds
• Mandisa - Get Movin 4.50 Emeralds
• Tamela Mann - Best Days 4.25 Emeralds
• VaShawn Mitchell - Created 4 This 4.75 Emeralds
• The Museum - My Only Rescue 4.50 Emeralds
• Owl City - The Midsummer Station 4.50 Emeralds
• Andrew Peterson - Light for the Lost Boy 4.50 Emeralds
• Mac Powell - Mac Powell 4.50 Emeralds
• Satellites and Sirens - The Covers 4.75 Emeralds
• Sixpence None The Richer - Lost in Transition 4.75 Emeralds
• Tenth Avenue North - The Struggle 4.50 Emeralds
• Tourniquet - Antiseptic Bloodbath 4.75 Emeralds
• The Wrecking - So Much For Love 4.50 Emeralds

No real surprises here. Except for Mac Powell. It was billed as a country album and I was very apprehensive considering I hate country. However, do not be disheartened Third Day Fans. He has not strayed far from Third Day.

You may notice the number of links increasing as time goes on. Due to the amount of eligible releases this month I am going to keep adding the Amazon links as the time goes on. I want to get this one out today. So, until tomorrow, when I start an entirely rebooted Flashback Friday, I am Awaiting Your Reply.



MVM Special Edition: Cover Me - White Flag

Today we conclude out special all Satellites and Sirens Themed Music Video Monday posts. We needed three days to do all of the videos that inspired The Covers. Once again I remind you to click on the link and purchase any of the songs from Amazon. The WENC Night Beat is an amazon associate, and your purchase will help things keep humming smoothly at Night Beat HQ.

Today's edition wraps things up, and it is the longest post of all, with six videos in the mix. We begin with what I believe was the video that started everything off, and that was the cover video of the Goyte song Somebody that I Used to Know.

We continue with the new hot thing (at least for the tween crowd) One Direction. I have been told by one parent that this version is much more tolerable than the original. This is One Thing.

Keeping things light and fun, we move on to Katy Perry. For those not in the know, Katy used to be a CCM artist by the name of Katy Hudson. The label that had her self titled debut album went belly up shortly after its release. She went into hiding and reemerged as dance queen Perry a few years later. This is a cover of Part of Me.

We move on to our only CCM video this time around (as per the originals, of course). This is White Flag by Chris Tomlin.

Only two more to go. The penultimate video is from Jason Mraz. This is I wont give up.

We conclude with Fun (yes, that's the name) and We are Young.

Whew, that's a marathon. If you missed Part One or Part Two of the series, you should click on the respective post link to get all the video cover goodness. Tomorrow we will have the August Edition of Night Beat Rewind. Until then, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

MVM Special Edition: Cover Me - Awake and Alive

Welcome to a special edition of Music Video Monday on Tuesday, as I mentioned in my previous post, we are celebrating the recent release of Satellites and Sirens mp3 only (at least for now) release of The Covers by sharing the videos that started it all.

We will begin this edition with Maroon 5. This is Payphone, something you don't see every day.

From mainstream to Christian, we continue with So Much Love by The Rocket Summer.

Taking the Train for our next song. This is Drive By, something you will not do on a train.

Back to Christian Music once more. This is the cover of Skillet's Awake and Alive.

We conclude this special edition of Music Video Monday with Coldplay singing about Paradise.

Once again I wish to remind you to click on the highlighted link and buy any of the songs on The Covers or indeed the entire album, and support The Night Beat at the same time. Until next time, when we will share covers of Katy Perry, Chris Tomlin and others, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Music Video Monday: Cover Me - Eyes Open

Welcome to the 4th Quarter of 2012, at least as far as Platinum Vinyl Award eligibility is considered.

A funny thing happened on the making of the first 4th Quarter post, and that is an abundance of videos from a single artist. Satellites and Sirens to be specific. They have been making a Cover Video every Friday and just recently released an album of those cover songs.

So this is what we're going to do. For the next three days we will be doing a MVM post of these cover videos. We begin with the video that first captured my fancy. The Hunger Games inspired cover of Taylor Swift's Eyes Open.

Next up is an animated video using Pixar's Up. This is a cover of Poison and Wine by The Civil Wars. Get your hankie ready, it's a tearjerker.

We move on to Gavin Degraw's Not Over You.

And next we have a Switchfoot Classic. I Dare You To Move. This song isn't on The Covers, but I wanted to include one more Christian Song, so I put it in. You'll have to wait for covers 2 to get it though.

And we conclude this edition with Shadow Days by John Mayer.
We will be continuing our Music Video Monday posts through Wednesday so we can get through the covers. These are great twists on some songs, and I wanted to share them with you. As an added benefit, since Satellites and Sirens are Christian, not only do they come with a Sythpop Twist, these versions may in some cases be fit for public singing, if you're Karaoke minded. Until tomorrow's edition, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Flashback Friday: Here Comes The Bride

Welcome Back readers to an all new edition of Flashback Friday. Now that Labor Day is over we can get  back to our retrospective of some of the Best CCM Bands of all time.

When you think of Heavy Metal, or rock and roll in general, I think we can all agree that Kentucky isn't on your short list of heavy metal meccas. Nevertheless, in the 1980's one of the most loved bands in Christian Heavy Metal came out of Louisville, Kentucky.

I discovered Bride in College, and was it an eye opener. First there is the shock between the innocent Band Name and the Death on A Horse motif. This was Christian Death Metal, aka Apocalyptic Rock. Not your typical Christian Music, even in the burgeoning Heavy Metal Scene.

You could humorously state that Bride was CCM's Thompson Twins (who were actually a trio, and none of them was named Thompson.) The original Louisville Lineup was brothers Dale and Troy Thompson, Steve Osborne on guitar, Scott Hall on Bass Guitar and Stephen Rolland on Drums. That lasted only through the debut album Show No Mercy (1986). I came in on Live To Die (1988), and the already had their first lineup change with Frank Parpatillo on Bass. Silence Is Madness (1989) finished the metal era.

From metal Bride morphed into an Arena Rock Band and then to an Alternative Band. Unlike more polished bands they were not able to bring a lot of their fans along with each change. Their last album was entitled Tsar Bomba (2009), and they brought back original guitarist Steve Osborne.

This wound up a bit of a different post, as there is a bit of a bittersweet taste. Osborne, I discovered while researching the post, committed suicide on November 17, 2011, at the age of 45. Though I never knew him, it was a bit of a shock, not only because of his young age, but because we were born only a few weeks apart. Now I've got too much to live for, so you don't have to worry about your intrepid blogger.

I usually include a video if I can, and I am going to do double duty with one video. This is the music video of Heroes, and Bride has promoted it as a tribute to Steve Osborne, and I will do the same. R.I.P. Steve. Click on the link at the start of the article to go to the Bride page on Amazon. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.