Don't Stop Believing: The 2018 Platinum Vinyl Awards 3rd Qtr - Rock

The second genre among our tie this quarter is Rock. Anytime you get over a complete final in one quarter you have a healthy genre. Rock and Roll is here to stay.

Rock Music

• Jonathan Cain - The Songs You Leave Behind
• John DeGroff - Salt
• Jeremy Johnson - Legendary
• Ledger - Ledger EP
• Mainframe - Burn The Boats
• Hawk Nelson - Miracles
• Sanctus Real - Changed
• Andrew Serino - The Golden Thread
• Smalltown Poets - Say Hello

That does it for Rock. A mix of old and new. The oldest would be Jonathan Cain, of Journey's Don't Stop Believing. And John DeGroff, one of the founders of Petra (who didn't stay long). And the "new" definitely includes Ledger, though the band is fronted by Skillet drummer Jen Ledger, who has been with the band for a while. Next up is Pop. Until then, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Music Video Monday: Life is Beautiful

Welcome back to our regularly scheduled Music Video Monday. We have left Alternative Land and have moved on to Pop. 

We begin our video tour with Jason Castro, who reminds us that whatever problem you face, it's only a mountain.

Next up is The Afters, reminding us that Life is Beautiful.

Hawk Nelson is next, with Words.

And finally, a newbie. The Debut of Pop/Dance artist 1 Girl Nation and While We're Young.

That completes this edition of Music Video Monday. Tune in Friday for our weekend edition with Videos from Newsboys, among others. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Spring Songs: The 2013 Third Quarter - Pop

Pop music is usually well represented, but this time it was a little thin. Not too bad, however. With six entries it merits a post by itself, and it makes up almost an entire grouping of nominees.

Pop Music

• The Afters - Life is Beautiful
• David M. Edwards - Heart full of Soul
• Hawk Nelson - Made
• Kerrie Roberts - Time For The Show
• Hannah Rose - Hannah Rose
• Unspoken - The World is Waiting

The Hawk made an impressive showing this time around. It's good to see that the departure of Jason Dunn hasn't hamstrung the band. And things bode well for newcomer Hannah Rose from the sounds of her debut. Stay with me as I wrap up the Third Quarter here on The Night Beat. And don't forget to enter the giveaway. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Night Beat Rewind: April 2013

Welcome to the April edition of Night Beat Rewind. Before we get to the entries I want to mention that there were three special edition releases by DC Talk released this month. Re-mastered editions of Free at Last (1992), Jesus Freak (1995), and Supernatural (1998). They're not new, so I won't be giving a score. Just get them. 

There were two perfect albums. Not surprisingly they are both in dance.

Missing The Mark

• Joanna Beasley - Loud Love 3.75 Emeralds
• Chasing Tree - The Light in Miracles 3.50 Emeralds
• Coastal Rise - Call of the Sea 3.00 Emeralds
• Russell and Kristi - No Other Name 3.75 Emeralds
• Social Club - Rejects 3.75 Emeralds
• Tidewater - The Wedding 3.75 Emeralds
• Toarn - Brood of Vipers 3.75 Emeralds 
• Dr. R. A. Vernon & "The Word" Church Praise Team - We're Amazed (Live Worship At "The Word"), Vol. 2 3.75 Emeralds
• Young Noah - Mixtape Volume 2 3.75 Emeralds  

There were three Perfect Albums this month. Two of them were in the dance and electronic genres, which is not surprising. If it makes you move, it is gold, at least.

Pure Platinum

• Har Megiddo - Har Megiddo Remixed 5 Emeralds
• Paramore - Paramore 5 Emeralds
• David Thulin - Reconstruction 5 Emeralds

All three of these albums are must have. I basically had them on repeat for a whole week when trying to review them. As I said, nothing missed the mark, so we are left with that mass of musical talent known each month as 

Semi-Precious Metal

You know, not perfect, but still in the Award pool. Very Good releases actually. On a scale of 1-10 perfect is 10, these are 7-9.

• Ace Augustine - The Sick and Suffering 4.75 Emeralds
• After Edmund - Art and Commerce 4.75 Emeralds
• The Afters - Life Is Beautiful 4.75 Emeralds
• All Sons and Daughters - Live 4.50 Emeralds
• All Things New - All Things New 4.50 Emeralds
• Ark of The Covenant - Self Harvest 4.50 Emeralds
• Charles Billingsley - Charles Billingsley In Concert (Live) 4.25 Emeralds
• C3 (Christian City Church Oxford Falls) - In Your Rhythm 4.75 Emeralds
• Citizen Way - Love Is The Evidence   4.50 Emeralds
• Fallstar - Backdraft 4.50 Emeralds
• For Today - Prevailer [+digital booklet] 4.50 Emeralds
• Hawk Nelson  - Made [+video] 4.50 Emeralds
• House of Heroes - The Knock-Down Drag-Outs 4.75 Emeralds
• The Jellyrox - Embellish EP 4.75 Emeralds
• Shai Linne - Lyrical Theology, Pt. 1: Theology 4.75 Emeralds
• Matt Maher - All The People Said Amen 4.75 Emeralds
• Andy Mineo - Heroes for Sale 4.50 Emeralds
• Jonathan Nelson - Finish Strong 4.50 Emeralds
• North Point Kids -Shine! 4.50 Emeralds
• Over The Ocean - Be Given to the Soil 4.75 Emeralds
• Pilgrim (Josh White) - Pilgrim 4.75 Emeralds
• Joshua Price - Nothing Without You 4.75 Emeralds
• Kerrie Roberts - Time For The Show 4.75 Emeralds
• More Than Rubies - More Than Rubies 4.75 Emeralds
• Silverline - Lights Out 4.75 Emeralds
• Jamie Simond - Collage 4.75 Emeralds
• Martin Smith - God's Great Dance Floor, Step 01 4.50 Emeralds
• Sweet Comfort Band - The Waiting Is Over 4.75 Emeralds
• Various Artists - Come Back Home 4.50 Emeralds
• Ben Walther - Make Your Home in Me 4.50 Emeralds
• Carlos Whittaker - Fight 4.50 Emeralds
• Josh Wilson - Carry Me 4.50 Emeralds
• Young Chozen - G.L.O.W. 4.50 Emeralds

That completes this edition of Night Beat Rewind. Glad I could get it out before June. Hopefully it wont take that long for me to get May out. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply. 

The Night Beat Spring Preview

The Temperature is Rising, and so is the pace of the new releases. Winter ended with a bang, not just in the real world, where the biggest snows hit after Punxatawney Phil predicted an early Spring (we know where you live, buddy), but also in the music world. Three perfect albums were released in March. Andy Hunter's Glowing Collision, Audio Adrenaline's Kings and Queens, and JJ Heller's Loved.

April brings promise. The month begins with another reboot, though not as extensive as Audio Adrenaline. Hawk Nelson returns with Made, the first studio release since Crazy Love, and, more importantly, the first release since the departure of Jason Dunn, who was a founding member of the band. Most members of a band are replaceable, but it's always the toughest with the vocalist position. My early opinions of Made are very good.

Two Platinum winners also make their return. Kerrie Roberts says that it's Time for the show, the follow up to her self titled debut, for which she won the inaugural PVA's Best New Artist Award. In between she did an EP called Once Upon A Time for the ABC show of the same name. This should be worth the wait. Silverline was the unofficial winner of Rock Song of the Year that year with "Voices in the Night" (we didn't have a song category until the second year. The song was a great homage to Trans-Siberian Orchestra. The rest of the album gave me mixed feelings, so I will be testing this one. 

April also brings a new "Thread" to The Letter Black. Rebuild comes out the day after my birthday, and it marks the first release of this band without "hanging on" in the title. Previews of songs on youtube are promising.

May brings the return of Texas alternative act Eisley. Their foray into Deep Space wasn't award winning, but it was intriguing enough to make the pool. I expect no less from this release.

Finally, Spring gets closed out and the summer begins on a loud note. Skillet finally returns with Rise. Let's see, Collide, Comatose, Awake, Rise. We seem to be in a day in the life with titles. I guess a rose by any other name.

It will be enough to keep me busy, and the Platinum Vinyl Awards as well. To rip off Kerrie Roberts, Time for the Show. I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Music Video Monday: Bombs Away

Welcome to an all new edition of Music Video Monday. To all my loyal subcribers, readers and followers, thank you. Before I get to the videos I have a personal request. If you don't mind, would you use the share buttons underneath the post to get this before as many eyes as you can. It seems to me that the Blog Amplification Platform that I use +Triberr led by +Dino Dogan has decided that The Night Beat is blog non grata over there. None of the posts have been shared in over a month. On the other hand, I also have another blog, Welcome To The Republic, which is highlighting my fiction writing. That is getting wonderful sharing, and I am grateful for it. This is from the official +Triberr stats, so I hope it's a glitch, but the google stats seem to confirm it. Now, on to our video lineup.

We begin with a lyric video from +Hawk Nelson entitled words, which features Bart Millard of Mercy Me. Hawk is retuning to action after suffering the loss of its Lead Singer Jason Dunn. Welcome Jonathan Steingard. I hope he's as much of nut as Jason.

We continue with another Lyric Video, this time from Satellites and Sirens, one of the best reasons for Craigslist. This is You're Home, dedicated to the memory of Ruth Niedermeyer.
We close things out on a redemption theme, but with an interesting twist. You know the story of Eve and the Apple. It was all about Life Insurance. You've got to see this powerfull video to truly experience it. Bombs Away. Welcome Back to the limelight Rachel Lampa. This will definitely be among the Songs of the Year for 2013.

Sometimes you only get one song that makes you go OMG WOW. This may be it. Until next time Bombs Away, sorry, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Night Beat Rewind: March 2012

We have reached the halfway mark of the eligibility period for the Third Annual Platinum Vinyl Awards (the year is Oct 1 - Sept 30). My how time flies. So far things are pretty good except we are back to a very slow year for Children's Music. As always, we begin these rewind posts with those albums which

Missing The Mark

• The Burial - Lights and Perfections 3.75 Emeralds
• Leaders - Now We Are Free 3.75 Emeralds
• Don Moen - Uncharted Territory 3.75 Emeralds

As I say every time, these aren't bad albums, just not Award Worthy. I'll let you know if a release stinks up the joint. Don't worry.

Last month there were no releases that rose to the Pinnacled Heights of Greatness, but this week there was one result which qualified to be called

Pure Platinum

• Sarah Macintosh - Current 5 Emeralds

Was there really any question? There wasn't if you read my review. The former Chasing Furies front-woman takes fans of the late 90's band remembers her old fans in her latest release, and introduces new listeners to her memorable voice. While Current was the only perfect album of the month, there were plenty of releases which would qualify as

 

Semi-Precious Metal

• Todd Agnew - How to Be Loved 4.5 Emeralds
• All Sons and Daughters - Season One 4.5 Emeralds
• Anberlin - Dancing Between The Fibers of Time 4.75 Emeralds
• Dave Barnes - Stories To Tell 4.5 Emeralds
• Before Their Eyes - Redemption 4.5 Emeralds
• Jeremy Camp - I Still Believe: #1's Collection 4.75 Emeralds
• Adam Cappa - The Rescue 4.25 Emeralds
• Andy Cherry - Nothing Left To Fear 4.25 Emeralds
• Evan Craft - Giants 4.75 Emeralds
• Nicole Croteau - Anchors and Silhouettes 4.5 Emeralds
• Anthony Evans - Home 4.5 Emeralds
• Fireflight - Now 4.75 Emeralds
• Flame - The 6th 4.5 Emeralds
• Gateway Next - Look Up 4.5 Emeralds
• Hawk Nelson - The Songs You've Already Heard 4.75 Emeralds
• Jeremy Horn - Sound of The Broken 4.5 Emeralds
• Impending Doom - Baptized in Filth 4.25 Emeralds
• Cory Lamb - Safe In Your Arms 4.25 Emeralds
• My Children My Bride - Mychildren Mybride 4.5 Emeralds
• Jimmy Needham - Clear The Stage 4.25 Emeralds
• Britt Nicole - Gold 4.5 Emeralds
• Passion 2012 - White Flag 4.75 Emeralds
• Philips, Craig & Dean - Breathe In 4.5 Emeralds
• Rhema Soul - Red 4.5 Emeralds
• Ruth - Payola 4.25 Emeralds
• RMG - Welcome To The Family 4.5 Emeralds
• Sidewalk Prophets - Live Like That 4.5 Emeralds
• Take 6 - One 4.75 Emeralds
• TobyMac - Dubbed & Freq'd: A Remix Project 4.5 Emeralds
• Young Chozen - Class President 4.5 Emeralds
• Youthful Praise - After This 4.25 Emeralds

March is over, and I've finished as well. This has got to be some kind of miracle. To have the March Rewind up on the last day of the month. Here's to more surprises. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.