I wanted to like Casting Crowns. I really did. They're one of those groups that seemed to be getting a lot of acclaim when they first came out, kind of a big rock band meets Steven Curtis Chapman-esque songwriting and folksy stuff. Right up the alley of Christian radio, to be sure, but from what I had read about the group, they seemed fairly intelligent and accomplished. And I had heard that their live show was a hoot. Indeed, the group's first two singles showed promise. "If We Are the Body", while a little bogged down by its Christian-ese (a factor which worked against the song's call to reach out to hurting people who don't feel comfortable in our churches), made a fairly solid point and blended the folk and rock in a compelling way. "Who You Are" was above average for a softer worship ballad, really driving home the point that we can do nothing to earn God's grace on our own. Perhaps the tone in both songs was a little preachy, but I was intrigued, so I checked out their album. And boy, what a frustrating experience that was, meandering through cliché upon cliché, a few bouts with lead singer Mark Hall's political grandstanding, and a general feeling that I was a kid in youth group either being told what to do by some adult who didn't know me from Adam, or being cheer-led in a series of vapid praise choruses. And it wasn't until the end of the album, "Your Love Is Extravagant", when the folk influence really shone through in a compelling way. And that song was written by someone else.

So you could say that I'm not a fan of Casting Crowns. I certainly wasn't excited when I realized I was slated to review their second album, Lifesong, which came out about a month ago. I tried to keep an open mind, but listening to the new album just seals the deal in terms of reminding me why I'm so frustrated with this group. I've picked it up and put it down since then, and found a few scattered qualities that can be considered endearing, but for the most part, what I'm hearing is a band that should be diverse and literate settling for straight-faced, cookie-cutter AC rock, throwing out a lot of clichés in the hope that emotion will overtake us and we won't realize the lack of creativity. Judging by most of the CCM audience's reaction, it's working like a charm, but you know me, beat of a different drummer and all. I just can't get into this group as a whole. One minute Mark Hall is evoking a raspier Steven Curtis Chapman with even drier lyrics than Chapman's latest flop of an album, and the next minute, the band is making like every other worship band in existence and ripping off U2. And the folk influence? Nary an acoustic guitar on this record, not to mention the shoving into the background of violin player Melodee Devevo. If she's playing at all, she's only adding to the canned "weepy strings" type stuff that we're all used to hearing on Christian radio ballads. Booooo-RING.

I will say that the group does get a little introspective from time to time. If Casting Crowns are good at one thing, it's challenging the church to wake up and get out there and love the unlovable. OK, well actually, it's more like loving the people who pass through your church doors, and the theme gets a little old after three songs attempting to recapture the spirit of "If We Are the Body". I get temporarily interested when they're not just throwing around "I'm in my little bubble and I'm sold out to God and it's all warm and fuzzy" stuff. But Mark Hall's weakness as a songwriter is that he always has to ruin the storytelling vibe by quickly jumping to a chorus that practically screams, "Now here's the moral of the story, son." It's like how Papa Smurf had to look at the screen and wink and offer a wise adage, usually involving a bad pun, at the end of every Smurfs episode. Another prominent CCM songwriter (whose identity will remain undisclosed) once mentioned to me that this band needs to "Show, not tell." Couldn't agree with you more, man.

Despite all this, I do think that the spirit of this band is admirable. They do put forth a solid sense of conviction and wanting people to be truly sold out to the God they claim to worship. Hey, nothing wrong with that. The problem is that when you do it in a way that makes people feel like they're having orders barked at them, and that doesn't involve a lot of ingenuity in the songwriting department, it might make you popular with a conservative audience, but I don't think it's gonna make people think all that much. I could be wrong about the reactions of others, I guess, but I know it makes me want to tune out and go to sleep. The music isn't all terrible - it's mostly just annoyingly average - but this is a textbook case of Christian music settling for the status quo when it could try so much harder.

Lifesong
Empty hands held high
Such small sacrifice
If not joined with my life
I sing in vain tonight...
So here's our big title track, a swelling worship anthem that shamelessly channels U2 with its big, big sound and liberal use of guitar chiming. Yeah, we know, U2 was cool in the 80's when they were so earnest and spiritual and supposedly easier to interpret - funny how nobody in Christian music rips off their 90's stuff. I thought this sort of thing was fun when I first discovered Delirious? and SonicFlood in the late 90's, but dudes, enough already! As lyrics go, this one's fairly auto-pilot, though somewhat compelling in its delivery. Mark Hall at least acknowledges that just singing songs isn't very meaningful if one's life isn't truly dedicated to Christ. He wants his "lifesong" - i.e. his actions - to speak louder than his words, and he wants to "sign Your name to the end of each day, knowing that my heart was true". That's an admirable declaration, aptly depicted on the album cover with the man holding a hymnal as its pages spontaneously fly out of the book and into the sky. Even if it's not a terribly original song, it sets the album up nicely enough, I guess.

Praise You in This Storm
I was sure by now that You would have reached down
And wiped our tears away, stepped in and saved the day
But once again, I say "Amen", and it's still raining...
The album downshifts into contemplative mid-tempo, setting us up for the obvious power ballad in the second slot. I was intrigued by this song's title, but no so much when I realized the music was taking such an obvious approach. (I'm getting used to disappointment these days.) I do really like the idea that Mark Hall is singing from the perspective of someone caught inside a very difficult situation in this song - he's vowing to praise God even though the answers aren't apparent and he can't get himself out of this mess, which is a major theme on this album. I think I'd like this song better if (a) I hadn't already heard Steven Curtis Chapman do a way better job with this theme on "Sometimes He Comes in the Clouds", (b) I hadn't already heard Steven Curtis Chapman do a way better job with this theme on "God Is God", and (c) they didn't paraphrase Psalm 121 in the bridge instead of coming up with their own way to present the theme of that verse in a way that intelligently connected to the "storm" theme.

Does Anybody Hear Her
If judgment looms under every steeple
If lofty glances from lofty people
Can't see past her scarlet letter
And we never even met her...
Cue the sad ballad about one of Christian music's archetypes - the sad, lonely girl who has a history of sexual promiscuity and/or abuse. Not saying we shouldn't care about such a person, but it's becoming a bit of an easy character type to just pull out of thin air. There are plenty of other people with plenty of other painful situations to write about, but... ah well. No use trying to fix a rigid songwriting style that is generally beyond help. The question posed here is whether anyone pays attention to this lonely person and hears her silent cries for help. Essentially, it's just a re-do of the "girl walks into a church, sits in the back, and gets ignored and/or teased" theme already presented in "If We Are the Body". I like that we're being encouraged not to cast judgment upon this person. I don't like that her story is glossed over in such a generic, textbook manner. Instead of true storytelling, we get bad metaphors about how "She is running a hundred miles an hour in the wrong direction". A vague "he" is mentioned as running after her at the end of the song, but that same "wrong direction" line is used, and it just smacks of lazy songwriting to me... um, if he's trying to help her, why is that the wrong direction? I'd mention the music here, but it's the same as Casting Crowns' typical ballad - quiet verse, chorus where Mark Hall attempts to bust a gut singing like he's a rocker or something. It just doesn't suit the voice.

Stained Glass Masquerade
The performance is convincing
And we know every line by heart
Only when no one is watching
Can we really fall apart...
OK, now we get something a tad better in the songwriting department, if only because the generally respectable Nichole Nordeman helped Mark out with this one. Nichole is much better at introspection, imagery, and asking poignant questions, and her talent shines through on a song about how Christians like to act all pious in church and pretend nothing's wrong with them. The song is sung from the perspective of a guy (and later a girl, voiced by backup singer Megan Garrett) looking around and wondering if the other "happy plastic people" are just as troubled as what he/she is trying to cover up. Too bad the music retains the uninspired, electric-guitar-driven lukewarm rock template that most of the album is based on. If performed by Nordeman on one of her albums, it could unfold more subtly with better music, even if it seemed like an ordinary song at first - many of the songs on her Woven and Spun album worked that way. But I've kept listening to this one and it hasn't grown on me, despite the better lyrics.

Love Them Like Jesus
The gifts lie in wait, in a room painted blue
Little blessing from Heaven would be there soon
Hope fades in the night, blue skies turn to gray
As the little one slips away...
In case you hadn't gotten the point yet that we need to get off our butts and start loving people, the group goes for the gut-wrenching approach on this sad piano ballad, about a couple facing an impossibly difficult situation - the loss of their baby. At the beginning, the song does a fairly good job of conveying that sense of hopelessness - wanting to lift these people's spirits but having no clue what to do, and I know what that feels like when a friend loses a loved one in an untimely manner. The song encourages us not to try to give them all the religious pat answers to their problems, but instead to just "love them like Jesus", and OK, but what does that even mean? The song comes off as rather impotent because it wants to be instructional but fails to be all that helpful. Again, it's the "Show, not tell" thing. A brief glimpse into one such instance where a person was just able to be there for them, and be an example, would have been nice. Instead it comes across as more of a lecture, and you know, lectures are boring.

Set Me Free
Now I live among the dead
Fighting voices in my head
Hoping someone hears me crying in the night
And carries me away...
For a change, I actually like the music on this one. It's as subtle as a sledgehammer once the chorus hits, but for once, that doesn't bug me too much. I like the tense (for this band, anyway) piano chords that open it, kind of like one of the more intriguing numbers on Steven Curtis Chapman's more recent albums, and Mark Hall goes forward with a description of himself as a spiritual captive wanting to be set free - fairly standard stuff. There's a convincing sense of emotion to this one that does really capture that elated feeling of breaking free from a sin that's been constraining you for years - but the lyrics fall short due to how they timidly stick to standard, comfortable terminologies. If we don't know what really happened in the "dark days" or how life is different now, how this person has really promised to walk the hard road and make the change, then the freedom, however good it may feel temporarily, ultimately comes across as superficial. So, we're basically reduced to a song that kinda sorta proves Casting Crowns can rock.

While You Were Sleeping
And while you're lying in the dark
There shines an everlasting light
For the King has left His throne
And is sleeping in a manger tonight...
Oh, man. Please tell me you guys are joking. This song sounds like a laughable leftover from an aborted Christmas album. Mark Hall pulls the old Chris Tomlin trick of trying to sound clever by taking an ancient song and rewriting it with a way less interesting melody (sorry, Mr. Tomlin, I like you, but remakes aren't your strong suit) - he grabs lines from "Silent Night" and uses them to paint a picture of Jerusalem being sound asleep when the baby Jesus arrived. It'd be an interesting start, if not for the extremely awkward juxtaposition of the "Silent Night" stuff and the title of an extremely cheesy romantic comedy. I mean, hey, I like cheesy romantic comedies, but using such a title here is hardly clever or appropriate. It's just done as an attention-grabber. The song is frustrating in the way that the music unfolds, with long pauses between each line of Mark Hall's lyrics. There are some fragments of good ideas here, particularly the theme of Jerusalem being "a city with no room for its King". But the whole thing goes down the toilet once Mark pulls a contrived shift in focus and starts singing about the "United States of America" and the things that he thinks are politically wrong with our country. Republichristian alert! (I have nothing against Republicans, just so It's clear - I just don't like those who equate their politics with their religious beliefs.) He goes so far as to suggest that because America is asleep at the wheel, morally speaking, that Jesus will pass us over when we return. Um, didn't you guys write a song before about how God's grace is not because of what we've done, but because of who He is? Then let's rethink this awful, guilt trip-laden excuse for a song that tells us we're going to hell in a hand basket because we allow abortion and try to save trees, OK? (Hey, I'm not a big fan of abortion, either, but I hate it when a highly polarized subject like that gets thrown in out of context just to get a rise out of a largely conservative audience.)

Father, Spirit, Jesus
Lord, the worship we bring
Is more than songs that we sing
It's a reflection of our ever-changing lives
The best we have to offer...
Here comes the cheerleading worship song. Yay. This one returns to the upbeat, U2-esque feel of the title track, but with more of a cheesy, danceable beat to it. It doesn't say anything that "Lifesong" didn't say better, and that wasn't even that great of a song. There's a certain richness to the production and sound of it, and lo and behold, the group actually has a pretty catchy chorus, which unfortunately means that the insane repetition causes it to be a bit of an earworm. In lieu of a second verse, Megan just sings whatever Mark sang the first time around, and here, the perkiness of it is just too much for me. It's about as inane as whatever the song was that she sang lead on for the first album.

In Me
If You ask me to run, and carry Your light into foreign land
If You ask me to fight, deliver Your people from Satan's hand...
Hey, 3/4 time with a semi-interesting, rolling drum cadence - that's a nice enough change-up for this band. Our trip down Cliché-ville's Main Street continues, though, as the group goes on about "The power of Christ in me", and making all sorts of Charismatic victory claims, and OK, it's nice to be humble and admit that we're no good on our own, but um, guys... creativity? The most intriguing this song gets is the line "How refreshing to know You don't need me", which temporarily gets the attention, just because the concept of God wanting us but not needing us in order to get work done is not something Christian music often addresses. I've just heard much better songs on that subject, and the vocal trading-off with Megan playing the "meek wife" role on the second verse is starting to bug me. Give this girl something with personality already - she's giving me bad flashbacks to the non-smiling Danielle Young at your average Caedmon's Call concert. To make matters worse, a kid gets to sing the chorus near the end, and while he sounds cute with his Southern accent, he's totally off-key. Yeah, I get how that fits with the theme of not getting by on our own ability, but all the same, I prefer to listen to records with people on them who actually do have the God-given gift of singing on key.

Prodigal
Curse this morning sun
Drags me in to one more day
Of reaping what I've sown
Of living with my shame...
Ah, the prodigal son - a well-worn theme in Christian music, but one that I think a lot of folks can relate to just because it's an honest, vulnerable, and truly amazing story. Mark Hall actually does a pretty decent job playing this role, being the guy who has told God he'll be perfectly fine on his own and has "held out as long as I can" before finally breaking down and going back home. The music is delightfully acoustic here, gently picked along with a gentle drumbeat that resounds more forcefully later, but thankfully never develops into an overpowering rock chorus. (I don't mind that sort of thing from time to time, but this band just isn't convincing as a rock band.) The song retains a contemplative tone, where Mark is found cursing each new day that drags him back into reality, and finally coming back with tears, saying "Daddy, here I am again". It's a vulnerable moment that accurately reflects the Biblical story, and while it could use a little more detail to make it really hit home in a contemporary setting (songs like this generally assume we already know the story, and I can see Andrew Peterson or Chris Rice hitting a home run with the same music set to a more poignant allegory), it's probably the song that makes the best use of Mark Hall's usually tiresome similarity to Steven Curtis Chapman. The song would actually sound at home on one of SCC's records, and it's better than most of his last records.

And Now My Lifesong Sings
I don't know how, but when He touched me
I once was blind, but now I see...
Guys, I thought you already had a theme song for this album. I guess they wanted to bookend the album with the "lifesong" idea, which isn't a bad plan, but the way they did it here is totally boring. I think I mentioned the "Chris Tomlin trick" earlier - it's even worse here, with lines stolen from "Amazing Grace" and set to an extremely monotonous piano ballad that repeats the same line (variations on "I once was lost, but now I'm found") three times, not telling us much of anything in terms of a personal testimony. Then it gets even slower before petering out at a completely unsatisfying ending consisting of "Hallelujah, hallelujah, let my lifesong sing to You". What a snooze-fest this one turned out to be.

I've tried really hard to be patient with Lifesong, and it's gotten to the point where it's pleasant enough as background music (hey, at least I don't get yelled at on this album for watching Oprah or anything!), but man, the lack of true musical substance and lyrical vision to back up the group's conviction is a real buzz-kill. One pretty good song and a handful of other decent ones don't make for much of an album, and once the radio singles are played out (I can guarantee you that "Prodigal" will never be one of them, sadly), this album will likely be forgotten as the band continues to make more clones of It in the future, slightly modified toward whatever the cookie-cutter sound-of-the-previous-year is that Christian radio is embracing at the time. This group probably does have some true talent in its ranks, and as much as I'd love to hear that come forward, why should they bother when they can be totally successful on auto-pilot in an industry that only cares to hear them preach good morals, regardless of the talent shown? Casting Crowns likely has a long, long lifesong ahead of them to sing because of how the Christian music industry is set up, but I, for one, will be tuning out.

ALBUM WORTH:
Lifesong $.50
Praise You in This Storm $.50
Does Anybody Hear Her $.50
Stained Glass Masquerade $1
Love Them Like Jesus $.50
Set Me Free $1
While You Were Sleeping -$.50
Father, Spirit, Jesus $.50
In Me $0
Prodigal $1.50
And Now My Lifesong Sings -$.50
TOTAL: $5

Band Members:
Mark Hall
Megan Garrett
Hector Cervantes
Chris Huffman
Juan Devevo
Melodee Devevo
Andy Williams
(Note: I have no idea what the heck most of these folks actually do, as it's not mentioned in the liner notes.)

Website: http://www.castingcrowns.com

Recommended: No