COOL!!! Radiohead became a poppy praise and worship band!

Okay, not really. Sorry to scare you there (or get you excited, as the case may be). I just couldn’t help drawing the comparison. Sometimes, when reviewing a new band, comparisons come all too easily.

Such is the case with the Christian rock band Steve. One of the latest acts to emerge from the British worship revival, Steve is a foursome with a distinct modern pop attitude that plays like a quickly thrown-together amalgamation of most of the popular Christian bands and worship leaders to come out of the UK in the past decade, with a modest dose of Radiohead’s old rock attitude (and their new penchant for tinkering around in the studio!) thrown in just to ensure that you know what country they’re from.

You’d think that such influences, combined with as inconspicuous a name as a band could possibly come up with, would doom Steve to permanent obscurity. I was certainly tempted to write them off as a generic Delirious? ripoff after the first few times I listened to their ForeFront Records debut, Falling Down. I just wasn’t understanding what they were doing that Delirious? hadn’t already done better. It seemed far too convenient for ForeFront to throw another entry into the modern worship pile, capitalizing on the success of Delirious?’s Glo, which a rival label had put out the year before. Especially with Delirious? releasing an offbeat mainstream release to the UK in the same month that American audiences weren’t likely to swallow, it seemed like as good a time as any for Steve to put out the album that all the Delirious? fans wanted to hear.

As it turns out, my initial accusations were a bit harsh. Fine, so Steve’s approach isn’t the most original, but they’re not exactly newbies to the scene, either. The band had been doing their thing independently for a number of years before ForeFront picked them up, establishing their identity as a kicking live band when most worship leaders chose to pursue a softer solo career instead. Lead vocalist Neil Wilson was also featured alongside respected UK worship leaders Matt Redman, Paul Oakley and Tim Hughes on the successful (though in my opinion bland) All Around the World album earlier in 2001. So I think the band’s paid their dues, and it ain’t their fault that they didn’t fix what these other guys didn’t break.

Who knows, maybe I’m just a cynic, but at first, something about the songs on Falling Down seemed too easy, too instantly likeable. I guess I wasn’t up for ear candy at the end of last summer. There were a few songs that caught my ear and showed me a hopeful glimmer of ingenuity here and there. But not enough to make me pay full price for the album. It was by a stroke of great luck that I stumbled across it in a used CD store while visiting a friend up in Berkeley, going for a modest price of 5 bucks. What the heck, I figured, I need some new music for the trip back down to L.A. So I paid up, and off I went with this CD and three others, forking over about 20 bucks total. This CD was the last of the four that I opened up (it hadn’t even been opened yet!) and gave a full, fair listen. And one by one, the songs that I liked and then didn’t like became likeable again.

None of this rambling is gonna make any sense, of course, if you don’t know what any of the above bands sound like. Basically, Steve takes the anthemic worship rock of Delirious?, peppers it with similar lyrics that are sometimes straightforward worship clichés and sometimes lean towards being more original, and adds cute touches to the songs by playing around with filters and sound effects like Radiohead would (the obvious difference being that Steve’s songs are still dominated by traditional rock instruments and poppy melodies). Christian rock aficionados who emphasize the music lyrics will likely have a blast with this, since Steve can definitely rock when they want to, and they choose to keep the album mostly up-tempo. However, those who like their worship songs to be blatantly obvious in lyrical content will have to make a bit of a compromise, and those who tend to like more obscure, layered lyrics that take a lot of unraveling are likely to go home empty-handed. This ain’t rocket-science, folks. Just fun and sometimes spiritually inspiring rock and roll.

Zealous Core
Truth is I see the summit now…
A reverberating guitar riff kicks the album off, and the first track hits the ground running with a steady pop beat, somewhat appropriate for a song about running the race and keeping the faith. Lead singer Neil Wilson sounds like a dead-ringer for Delirious? frontman Martin Smith here as he describes the combustion engine in his soul that enables him to run the race and keep the faith. Lee Slater gets some good guitar riffs in (though nothing jaw-dropping), and I like the jam session that breaks back in just when you think the song’s about to end (it should be noted that the bass plays more prominently in Steve’s music than it seems to for Delirious? or a lot of there contemporaries).It’s a fairly pedestrian number, but not a bad start for the band.

My Ever My All
And I’m pursuing the secrets in Your heart, the wonder You withhold…
This is one of the obvious hits from the album, being one of its most catchy offerings. Starting with a low but bouncy bass riff, the song kicks in with a fairly energetic drum beat as Neil offers up a personal song of praise in half-mystical and half-generic language. It took me a while to get over the chorus – referring to God as “My ever, my all” just seems to be an incomplete statement, kind of like… oh, I don’t know, “My Glorious”? Anyway, this song’s got it where it counts on a musical level, with another good guitar solo in the middle, and it would make a good corporate worship number for more forward-thinking congregations, since the chords are simple without sticking to the boring standard G-C-D.

M
Illuminate and navigate me…
“M is for Majesty, that’s good enough for me…” Sorry; didn’t mean to pull a Sesame Street on you. I’m not sure why they went with a one-letter title, except that perhaps calling the song “Majesty” might bring back bad memories of that old-school praise song “Majesty, worship His Majesty…” Anyway, this deceptively slow song has a definite mystical aura surrounding it, which makes it a winner. Something about the un-distorted tone of the guitars at the beginning is refreshingly different, which isn’t something I can say about a lot of these songs. The chord structure is less predictable here, too, which is actually one of Steve’s biggest strengths – once you get under the hood and examine the actual composition of the songs, you can see that they tried a little harder than a lot of worship bands. Anyhow, the song builds to a soaring chorus (“Majesty, the mystery of overwhelming love for me”) and a searing guitar bridge, while the drums create a stormy feel during the most intense parts of the song by crashing on the cymbals quite a bit (there may even be gongs used in this song; I can’t quite tell). It’s one of those songs that sneaks up on you – you’re not quite sure what to make of it from the first minute or so, but by the end you’re swept up in its power.

Fine
You pulled out the black and made me whole…
This song seems to start off a capella for most of the first verse, which exposes Neil’s thick accent, but play this song on a system with good bass and you’ll catch a fairly deep rumble in the background, along with the sound of cars rushing by, which one of the band members recorded and chopped up and looped through the entire song. For the most part, this song is a calmer acoustic ballad, which makes it another obvious radio single, though the electric guitar still figures in, offering the song an odd, plugged-in country sort of feel. To add to the diversity, bass player Rees adds a lovely trumpet solo to the bridge. The song’s main downfall is an inexcusably weak chorus: “’Cause You’re so fine, fine, fine, fine, fine/When the walls fall down and take me by surprise/You’re my lifeline.” It also skips a beat at the word “lifeline”, which kind of irritates me because it throws off the momentum of the song. That same tactic kind of bugs me in Jars of Clay’s “Something Beautiful”, but I’ve learned to live with it.

Falling Down
Set wonders in the sky, Your sons will prophesy…
The album’s title track is definitely one of its coolest. Starting off with a systematic, electronic beep, the verses pick up with a programmed beat and a glittering guitar line, the music creating a sort of “suspended” feel that fits with the upside-down CD cover. Modern worship seems to work the best for me when the music paints a good picture of an otherworldly, spiritual subdimension, and Steve’s effort here is as good as anything The Benjamin Gate has on their debut album. While I’m on the subject of The Benjamin Gate, I should note that Steve also falls prey to the trap of overly simple and repetitive choruses. Here the repetition of “Falling down here” and “Hold me down here” doesn’t bother me too much because of everything else that’s going on in the song, but later in the album, it starts to get really annoying. A trumpet figures into the song’s coolness factor once again (I wish they’d use more of that!), creating a sense of longing in the bridge before Neil Wilson pulls a Thom Yorke on us by wailing “Yeah yeah yeah yeah!”, after which the band let all their energy loose, pounding on a single chord for eight bars or so before returning to the chorus. (Technical aside from the point of view of a guitar player – I love that they switch directly from D to D minor during the chorus. It’s not easy to compose songs that do stuff like that and still sound good.)

Divine Design
There’s a meet-the-Maker time for everyone…
Another catchy guitar riff breaks in after the feedback that closes out “Falling Down”, and sure enough, this song is all about groove. A definite disco atmosphere is woven throughout this song as Neil explains that everything good in him is because of God – as he puts it “I know, ‘cause I glow, it’s all because, all because of You.” The band threw a lot of effects at this song, including a little vocal reverb during the verses, but they still exude raw, rocking energy during the chorus. And you can practically see the disco ball glimmering above you during the bridge. Once again, the boys show a flair for subtle composition tricks – they pull off a key change between the bridge and second-to-last chorus, and then knock it back down to the original key before finishing off the song, all in such a subtle way that the untrained ear likely wouldn’t notice. Once again, they close out the song with a fun jam session, this time mostly driven by bass, drums, and a feisty Hammond organ – I feel like any moment, they’re gonna bust out into “We Are Family”. Hmmm… possible option for a fun cover tune in concert…

Smile
I’m hearing the call, louder than all, they’re cheering us on…
This slower tune is mostly electronic at first – I like the echo effects and the light percussion as the song builds. Despite all of the up-tempo rockers, this was one of the first songs to really catch my attention on the album. That’s not to say that it’s terribly original – Delirious? has done more than a few of the start-off-atmospheric-and-quiet-and-build-to-a-roar worship ballads, but there’s a memorable quality here that I can’t quite put my finger on. The lyrics focus on wanting to please God, wanting to know that “You smile on me”. They also depict a very human fear of “losing Your grace”, even though we know that’s not possible, and a desire to get everything right – “I’m crossing my T’s and dotting my I’s” is perhaps one of the stranger lines ever heard in a worship song. Just when you think the song’s gonna float by uneventfully, the band lets loose with more rocking energy to give the song a mood similar to “M”, and they mess with the basic 4/4 rhythm at this point by once again taking out the occasional beat. I have to say, that approach works much better here than it did on “Fine”.

Hunger
To know the impossible, knowing that it is possible for me…
Another upbeat song follows, in the vein of “Zealous Core”, but not as strong in my opinion, since the chorus isn’t as energetic. Here Neil is singing about “chasing my hunger for Heaven” – straightforward lyrics that would fit well into a Rebecca St. James album, for the most part. I think my favorite part of this song is the bridge, which is laden with some dinky but fun keyboard effects, and then the band rocks out for a few bars before settling back into second or third gear. Nothing spectacular, but it’s still a fun song.

Hey Now
The message on my tongue is hope for everyone…
“Hey now, I will be praying for you, hey now, you’re gonna pray for me…” Oh wait, wrong song. Sorry to scare you again; no Songs from the Loft covers to be found here (and thank God). This is one of the feistier rockers on the album, starting off with another thick drum-and-bass groove and breaking out into pure rock and roll energy for the chorus. It’s a fairly standard formula, and I tend to confuse this song with “Hunger”, since the two are back to back and composed similarly. Whatever lyrical meaning the song contains is kind of sacrificed for the sake of a simple, catchy chorus: “Hey now, hey now/Whoa, sing it out loud/Day in, day out/Whoa, come on, let it out.” Yeah, not the greatest songwriting, but the song halfway redeems itself with an excellent breakdown right smack in the middle.

I’m Here
Play the music, a melody when days are long and gray…
Steve backs off from the straightforward, praise and worship lyrics here, offering us a quiet piano ballad instead. It’s nothing like anything else on the record, though nothing different from the obligatory quiet ballad on countless other rock albums, either. The song is dedicated to David Evans, who is eulogized in the liner notes – I’m assuming he was a father or close family member to drummer Nathan Evans. He also dedicates this song to “anyone who has lost someone close to them” – it’s a touching ballad in which Neil sings softly at the bedside of someone who has reached their final days on Earth. It’s basically a song of assurance that he will stay with the person until they pass on to Heaven. A few strings add to the song’s “emotion factor”, and I guess I’ve heard more original treatments of this subject (see Jars of Clay’s “Fly Farther”), but still I can’t knock Steve’s attempt at it.

Mellow
I hold the gold, inside me it won’t get old…
The last song is true to its title, though it’s not the straightforward acoustic ballad you might expect a worship album to close with. The full band comes into play here, with the drums kicking off a slow march right after the last note of “I’m Here” and a cello adding to the overall moodiness of the song. Though cryptic, Neil’s lyrics seem to be about resting in the promises Jesus left with us, that our salvation won’t fall away and there’s no need to worry about what the future holds. This song is probably the place where the Radiohead influences are the hardest to ignore, since apparently Neil’s vocal from one of the band’s older songs was chopped up and looped through the background. Any Radiohead fan would immediately point to “Everything in Its Right Place” as the obvious inspiration there. The sung runs at over six minutes, which does make it a tad bit repetitive, but I do like the looping keyboard riff as Neil sings over and over: “So good to me…” Then the music gradually fades into an inexplicable pool of static.

Speaking purely as a critic, I know I shouldn’t like this album as much as I do. The cynic in me who’s seen and heard it all demands a rating of no higher than 3 stars, and yet the band barely manages to eke out 4 from my sympathetic and fun-loving side of my personality. The album carries enough momentum and genuine enthusiasm that I can’t help but yank it out and listen to it a lot, despite the fact that I hated it at first. Even though a lot of the lyrical phrasing and the sound effects seem to be placed on this record “just because”, with no obvious purpose other than to catch the ear with something mildly unexpected, I have to admire the band’s playfulness. Still, it makes it hard to determine exactly what Steve is all about – it is worship or just having fun? No reason why you can’t do both at once (see All Star United), but I do feel like there’s a greater potential to be tapped into here. Despite all that, I can tell that Steve has talent (especially in their melodic structure), and I’m willing to bet they’re a kicking live band (it’s a shame that their opening slot on PfR’s reunion tour never came to be). Steve could have a future if their record label would make a little more noise about them (surprisingly, I’ve seen very little hype from ForeFront) and if they’d branch out and explore more diversity in their lyrical approach. So here’s hoping that they stay on their feet, taking the heat from their zealous core.

TRACK REVIEW SUMMARY
Excellent: Falling Down, My Ever My All, Divine Design, M, Smile
Good: Zealous Core
Decent: Fine, Hunger, Hey Now, I'm Here, Mellow
Weak: NONE
Skippable: NONE

Band Members:
Neil Wilson: Vocals, guitar
Lee Slater: Guitar, backing vocals
Rees: Bass, programming, keyboards, vocals, trumpet
Nathan Evans: Drums

Website: http://www.steverock.com


Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Driving