Heat Advisory: The 2013 Fourth Quarter - Pop

Down to the Final Four. Sometimes it does seem like March Madness around here. Of Course, our final four is where the heat is, so to speak. We begin today with Pop, and the other three are Hip Hop, Hard Rock and Rock. Pop music had a very good quarter. 11 entries and a mix of new sounds and old.

Pop Music

• Love and The Outcome - Love & The Outcome
• Dara Maclean - Wanted
• Mandisa - Overcomer
• Newsboys - Restart
• 1 Girl Nation - 1 Girl Nation
• Shine Bright Baby - Dreamers
• The Sonflowerz - Love Walked In
• Ryan Stevenson - Holding Nothing Back
• Tammy Trent - Sunny Days
• Tricia - Radiate
• Christa Wells - Feed Your Soul

A few comments are in order. I've had somewhat of a hot-cold relationship with Newsboys lately. Luckily things are swinging back to hot.  I really liked Michael Tait's debut (Born Again), but was less than impressed with the Follow Up (God's Not Dead). However, like Gungor, while the studio album failed to impress, the Live Concert Album was a winner. Restart has gone dance pop and I think it suits the new lineup to a T.

 

The Same with Tammy Trent. I was thinking her music had passed me by. Kind of Like How I grew out of my Amy Grant Phase. However, I think it was just the latest albums that failed to impress. The Dance-Pop style of Sunny Days really suits her voice.

 

Three to go. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

PVA 2011 Nominees: General Field

We move on from Album of The Year to The General Field (Male Vocalist, Group, etc), mainly because I am not done with going through the song of the year candidates. Go with what's done.

I'm going to leave my exclusive General Field nominations (Comeback Artist, Lifetime Achievement, TNB DJ's Choice and CROSS/over) and go with the big ones. Once again I encourage you to check out the full list of nominees on my blog

Male Vocalist of The Year

• Dominic Balli
• Canton Jones
• Lecrae
• Andrew Peterson
• Tedashii
• Chris Tomlin
• Matthew West

I know, not a Chris August or Brandon Heath in the mix. August's Deluxe edition wasn't all that better and Heath never impressed at all, CJ had an outstanding album (5 Emeralds) and all the others were solid.

Female Vocalist of The Year

• Jackie Evancho
• JJ Heller
• Dara Maclean
• Mandisa
• Ginny Owens
• Beckah Shae
• Heather Williams

Four of the seven on this list (Evancho, Mandisa, Shae, Williams) had 5 Emerald releases. Dara Maclean leads the newcomers. The biggest surprise still continues to be Evancho. To be so good at so young an age. This is a loaded field.

Artist of The Year

• Burlap to Cashmere
• The City Harmonic
• The Civil Wars
• Canton Jones
• Lecrae
• Mandisa
• Beckah Shae

Folk-Rock Burlap to Cashmere returns after many years without missing a beat, and newcomers The City Harmonic have grabbed the spotlight with a refreshing sound. Not to be outdone is Folk Duo The Civil Wars. Another loaded field that is very close to call.

That concludes my partial look at the General Field Nominees. For the full list of General Field Nominees, including Group of The Year and Best New Artist, plus all the rest, please click on the link. Until next time, 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: The Night Beat Prediction, Part Two

Continuing with my picks in the anemic Gospel Grammy Awards category. This time we shall move on to the Contemporary Christian Music side of the aisle, having taken the Urban/R&B/Gospel side last time.

This is where things really suffer. On the CCM side of the aisle, the Platinum Vinyl Awards has a section for Children's Music, Dance, Alternative, Modern Worship, Folk, Hard Rock, Hip Hop, Rock and Pop. All these categories fight it out for the one category of Contemporary Christian Music. With only six nominees for Album and 5 for Song, how can you not snub anyone?

Contemporary Christian Music Grammy Nominees

CCM Album of The Year

• Gungor - Ghosts Upon the Earth
• Brandon Heath - Leaving Eden
• Leeland - The Great Awakening
• Mandisa - What if We Were Real
• Royal Tailor - Black and White
• Chris Tomlin - And if Our God is For Us

Who will win: Again, going with the peculiar quirks of Christian Music judging out there. There seems to be a lot of idol worship, and the current idol is Brandon Heath.

Who Should Win: Don't think I'm going too far out on a limb. A 5 Emerald Release, Knock your socks off songs ranging from Dance to R&B to Dance: Mandisa.

 

CCM Song of The Year

• Blessings - Laura Story
• Hold Me - Jamie Grace Harper
• I Lift My Hands - Chris Tomlin
• Strong Enough - Matthew West
• Your Love - Brandon Heath

Who Will Win: This one is tough, because there are no knock your socks off anthems or stirring ballads among them, but I think it is going to be a two-fer for Brandon Heath

Who Should Win: Also a tough call for the same reasons, but based on the available choices, I am going to go with Strong Enough by Matthew West, it is the best overall orchestrated song, though as a side bet I would also pick Hold Me by Jamie Grace Harper (feat TobyMac). You really can't go wrong with anyone discovered by TobyMac and the Gotee bunch. He has and knows talent.

That's it for the Grammy's. I don't think I even broke a sweat. I intentionally disregarded the Performance award and stuck to the two major ones. I will have a bigger job picking winners when the Dove Nominees are announced on February 22. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

The Night Beat Best Albums of 2011

This isn't a Ten Best List, if only because I came up with thirteen entries. No, I'm not giving up on the Platinum Vinyl Awards. Most of the albums on this list are among the nominees for the PVA's (I say most because the PVA's extend Oct 1, 2010-Sept 30, 2011 and this is straight up Jan 1-December X, 2011 - Yes, I'm cheating a bit, but not as much as the others. I am sure regular readers of The Night Beat will figure out number one before I get to it.

Just Missing the Top 10

• 13 - Stryper - The Covering
• 12 - Thousand Foot Krutch - Welcome to The Masquerade, Fan Edition
• 11 - Chevelle - Hats off to The Bull

The Top 10 Albums of 2011

• 10 - Red - Until We Have Faces - The third release by the Masters of Melodic Metal prove that this band has reached that upper echelon of "Super Group", where you can turn out a Grammy Nominee in your sleep. I had heard a few tunes from their debut, enough to be impressed and want to hear more. Innocence and Instinct knocked my socks off. That was a Career Defining CD, and not many bands can put out two of them in their career. As I said in my review
  

  The album is an almost non stop adrenaline rush. Wisely though there are two rest stops. Red has always been know for awesome ballads and here there are two. Not Alone, which is the string heavy sixth track, could almost be interpreted as a modern worship song, but it doesn't quite fit that mold. It really is a plea from Father God for the Prodigal to return, no matter what he has done, that God still loves them

  
    9 - The Rocket Summer - Bryce Avery: His Instruments, Your Voices - This is the Way Live Albums were meant to be. Audience Participation was excellent, perhaps we even had rabid fans. Though the recording was helped by a small venue, all live recordings, except this one, suffer from "Dead Air" whenever they want you to hear the audience sing along. Sometimes they even drown out Bryce. That is quite an accomplishment.
•   8 - Denver & The Mile High Orchestra - Groovy - On their first Children's Album, Denver and the band simply cut loose. The energy is contagious and you can feel that they are having as much fun as the children who are the target audience of this album. Grab Your Fedora and Swing along with your kids.
•   7 - Jackie Evancho - Dream With Me - One of four Possible CROSS/over artists on the list (The other three being The Civil Wars, Switchfoot and Evanescence). Children's voices aren't supposed to sound this good. I'm not much of a fan of Opera, but this girl puts Sandi Patti To shame.
•   6 - Mandisa - What if We Were Real - The American Idol misses again. Mandisa was one of CCMs Many signings of AI castoffs, and her early work had me scratching my head at their decision. (She was no Chris Sligh, but there was plenty of room for improvement. What if We Were Real is What we were looking for. This is a gospel/dance album that is sure to compete with Beckah Shae for the Platinum Vinyl Award
•   5 - The Civil Wars - Barton Hollow - The first 5 Emerald ratings awarded this year, and it's a folk album. There really isn't much more that can be said from my perspective.
•   4 - Various - Music Inspired by The Story - I can count on one finger the number of times a"Various Artists" album would make a 10 Best List, but that would be before this one came out. Top Notch Artists, Production Par Excellence, and a soundtrack worthy of Cecil B. DeMille himself are brought together in this exquisite package.
•   3 - Switchfoot - Vice Verses - No Dark Horse in this music race. A Show still wins you some good money at the track. A lot of CCM Ten Best lists this year have this album number 1. While we at the night beat are somewhat less impressed, even we have it in the top 3.
•   2 - Beckah Shae - Destiny - Come on Give Us Good Music. If the rest of the industry doesn't want to, Beckah Shae has no problem picking up the slack. For the squeamish CCM fan, be warned. This is UN-apologetically a DANCE Album, however it is combined with the same epic composition and strings, and Beckah's both haunting and soaring vocals. While I had the same feeling listening to Music Inspired By The Story, the fact that this comes from ONE ARTIST and not many is testament enough to its higher rating.

The Number One Album of 2011

• 1 - Evanescence - Evanescence

I say again, was this the worst kept secret. Every regular reader must know by now what a big Amy Lee fan this blogger is, and it's much earned. Most bands, after a six year hiatus would be quite a bit rusty with their return. There was no rust evident here. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a Grammy Nominee in the cards for Amy for this album. (Fat Chance on a Dove). In the three albums they have produced (for a moment I am ignoring the Live Album, only going with the studio albums) of course Fallen is far and away Number one, but Evanescence (Self Titled) I consider a strong number two, pushing The Open Door to third place. I have my Top 10 Cross Linked to the original reviews, so check them out as well to get my initial opinions. If you think I snubbed your band, mention it in the comments. As always, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

The Greatest Story Ever Sung

"Music Inspired by..." When I see a CD with this intro I know two things immediately.

1. It isn't the official soundtrack
2. It's probably not worth buying

So you can imagine my reaction when the homepage of New Release Tuesday sported a listening party for Music Inspired by The Story. Actually my first reaction was "What's The Story?" Come to find out it's not a movie, but a Bible. Yes a Bible. The Bible as a continuous story.

The Instrumental Overture kicks things off, and I kind of hope it was a movie, because the orchestral arrangement is definitely soundtrack worthy.

I have one big complaint. NRT should have broken the stream into two parts. Using my libraries account, I get 55 minutes, and that is just about the length of the first disc. However, there is no way to fast forward, so you have to start again at the beginning. So there is no way to just get to disc two. A shame.

This is a two disc CD, and like the Bible itself, Disc one is the Old Testament and Disc Two the new. One minor Biblical nitpick. Like I said, the concept is that the Bible is arranged as a continuous narrative story, but there is a chronological error. The Old Testament is as follows: Creation, Adam & Eve, Abraham & Sarah, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Ruth & Naomi, David, Daniel, Esther, Job. The error is the last song. Despite its position in the Bible, only Genesis-Esther is arranged in rough chronological order. Most Bible Scholars place Job somewhere between Abraham and Moses in time.

The Big Guns came out for this, and I think they will be having a Christmas Tour to support the album. That should be something to catch. Leigh Nash, Casting Crowns, Brandon Heath, Peter Furler, Mandisa, and Mac Powell among others. Actually, the only minor miscast here may be Mandisa. While I loved her Album, her casting as "Esther" was mistaken IMHO, considering the orchestration of the album. Overture and the filling orchestration sounds so much like Are You Ready? from Beckah Shae's album Destiny, that I think she should have been on it. Just Saying.

This is a majestic concept album, and it delivers. I'm a sucker for strings, and there are strings in spades here. I'm going to go out and give this album a full 5 Emeralds, and then figure out where I'm going to put it. Any thoughts, readers? I am Awaiting Your Reply.

The Heat is On: PVA 2011 3rd Qtr Nominees - Gospel/R&B

It's amazing how fast things can go when one genre doesn't have any possible entries and four others have so few they can go into only two posts. Such will not be the case from now on. We move on to Gospel, the real kind, as opposed to that stuff called Southern Gospel (aka "The Devil's Music"), as well as its close relative Rhythm and Blues aka (R&B). The two styles combine quite effortlessly in CCM and it makes sense to combine them, even though no one would really mistake Fred Hammond (Gospel) with say Trinitee 5:7 (definitely R&B).

Gospel/R&B

There were 6 potential nominees this time around, which is encouraging, since, for all of last year, I was only to come up with eight nominees total, which I whittled down to seven (the cast off was We Fit by K-Drama). We wont have a problem like that this time around.

• The Love Album, Kim Burrell
• Keep Living, Ricky Dillard
• What if We Were Real, Mandisa
• Never Odd or Even, Shonlock
• My Heart Says Yes, Troy Sneed
• Angel & Chanelle, Trinitee 5:7

Of the six nominees, if I had to break it down, Burrell, Dillard and Sneed (I don't know why, but that sounds like a law firm) would go into Gospel and Shonlock, Mandisa and Trinitee 5:7 would be R&B. I am familiar with four of the six artists (I never heard of Ricky Dillard or Troy Sneed before this quarter), and I was the most surprised by Mandisa. Since he is a double genre nominee, all I will say is to Check out my full reviews of What if We Were Real and Never Odd or Even by clicking on their titles.

Six down, Four to go. Next up is Alternative. As always, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Night Beat Rewind: April 2011

Things are a little backed up here at The Night Beat. It's almost the end of May and here I am just getting to the April releases, but such is the pitfalls with a one-person operation.

As always these are quick hit opinions. If the Title is a link, it will direct you to a full review that I did of the CD. In review I'll quickly say that I won't stand behind any CD with a rating under 4 Emeralds (3-4 Emeralds are a personal decision. Under 3, we wont go there:

• Abandon - Control (Rock, Alt) 4.25 Emeralds
• Ashley Aucker - The Life You Promised EP (D) (Pop) 3.5 Emeralds
• Brandon Bee - Inside these Walls (Pop, Rock) 4 Emeralds
• Marc Danyell - Close to You (Gospel) 3.75 Emeralds 
• Jonny Diaz - (Self Titled) (Pop) 4.5 Emeralds
• Ricky Dillard - Keep Living (Gospel) 4.5 Emeralds
• FM Static - My Brain Says Stop But My Heart Says Go (Pop) 4.75 Emeralds
• Jason Gray - Song Cycles: From Work Tapes to Remixes 3 Emeralds (*See Note)
• Gail Holmes - I Receive Your Love (Gospel) 3.5 Emeralds
• Hope for the Dying - Dissimulation (Hard Rock) 4.25 Emeralds
• Tim Hughes - Love Shine Thru (MW) 4.25 Emeralds
• K5 - K5 Kids Sings the Songs of TobyMac (Children's Music) 5 Emeralds
• Mandisa - What if We Were Real (Gospel) 5 Emeralds
• Rob Mathes - Psalms Alive 3.5 Emeralds
• Martha Munizzi - Make it Loud (Gospel/MW) 4 Emeralds
• New Life Worship - You Hold it All (MW) 3.75 Emeralds
• Newsboys - Born Again: Miracles Edition (Pop, Rock) 4.5 Emeralds
• Playdough - Hotdoggin (Rap, Hip Hop) 4 Emeralds
• Rebecca St. James - I Will Praise You (MW, Pop, Rock) 4 Emeralds
• Laura Story - Blessings (Pop/MW) 4.25 Emeralds
• Tidewater - The Seas We Sail 3.5 Emeralds (**See Note 2)
• Various Artists - X:2011 4.5 Emeralds
• Various Artists - Maranatha Kids Top 25 Kids Praise Songs (Children's Music) 4 Emeralds
• Derek Webb - Feedback (Instrumental, Dance/Electronica/Techno) 4.5 Emeralds
• Beth Williams - You Can Be Loved: The EP 3.75 Emeralds

* Note 1- Jason Gray Song Cycles has 16 Tracks, but in reality there are only 4. Each song is tracked in four versions (Worktape, Demo, Final and Remix (all Remixes are by Derek Webb). This might not be a problem if they grouped them by the version (all 4 worktapes, then all for demos, for example). Instead they are grouped by song, so you have to listen to each song FOUR TIMES IN A ROW. It was a bit too much for me.
** Note 2- Two problems with Tidewater. This isn't a new album. This is a re-release of an album that originally was released on August 17, 2010. The re-release only had one new song, so so much for a Deluxe Edition. Plus while the music is nice, his voice is just a tad annoying.                

What If We Were Real

Despite all its accolades, sometimes American Idol makes a mistake. Nowhere more is that evident than with its Fifth Season. I bet that people don't even remember who won that year (It was Taylor Hicks, who Jay Leno called his son). I think he was doing the Food Festival circuit last I heard. On the other hand, the Runner Up (Katherine McPhee), 4th Place (Chris Daughtry) and top 6 (Kellie Pickler) have by far proven the judges and viewers wrong.

Also having greater success than the eventual winner is top 9 finalist Mandisa with her latest release What If We Were Real. As she burst onto the CCM scene (where other Idol castoffs such as Chris Sligh, Phil Stacey and Brooke (Barrettsmith) Adams have found success) with the help of Toby Mac and Gotee Records. The latest release is a blend of Gospel, R&B and Dance. I admit to be less than enthusiastic about her earlier music, and it had nothing to do with her weight at the time.

[I want to make a weight related musical aside here. In Christian Music, especially Gospel, there are an abundance of "plus sized" women who nonetheless have the pipes. Of course there is no correlation between the pipes and the weight, and the proof is Mandisa, who still has the pipes, and having reportedly lost 100 pounds, has developed a yowza factor as well]

The album begins with the first Radio Single, the Gospel/Dance hit Stronger, and from the first notes of this third album we know we will not be experiencing the usual mandisa album. The pop is gone, and it is replaced with high energy rock/R&B/Gospel. Even if you can't dance to save your life, you will dance when this comes out of your stereo, you can't help it. Though the overall tempo is high speed from beginning to end, we do slow down to "catch our breath" twice. I put that in quotes because The Truth About Meand Just Crytake full advantage of Mandisa's vocal range, with the result that both songs take on an operatic quality. It's hard to catch your breath while it's taken away.

For my final verdict, I am giving What if we were real by Mandisa 5 Emeralds. The perfect rating sets it as the bar to be reached in the Gospel/R&B genre. Though you should never say never, unless over seven nominees reach the coveted 5 Emerald Rating, it will guarantee the album entry among the final 7 nominees in the category. Without sounding overly crass, don't cry, just buy this album.

The Anatomy of Boredom

The Anatomy of Broken is the second release by 2007 10th Place American Idol Finalist Chris Sligh. Clocking in at just under an hour in length, it is quite long by current standards. Not helping matters any is that of the fourteen songs on the album, ten of them are of that perfect "Air Conditioning" genre (Adult Contemporary) that so easily goes on in the background that you don't pay much attention to it.  Let's just say I wouldn't pop this CD into my car for a long road trip home.