I should probably clarify that there are two bands called The Normals before I begin this review. One band was apparently a punk band or something like that who came out with a song called “Warm Leatherette”. I don’t know anything else about them.

These “Normals”, on the other hand, are a Christian rock band, hailing from Normal, Illinois (at least, in the case of the two remaining original members). In their original three-member form, they signed to ForeFront Records about three years ago, and put out an alternative rock album that contained the smash hit ballad “Everything (Apron Full of Stains)”, and apparently, not much else. A few years went by, and not much was heard from the band other than their one big hit. In the summer of 2000, however, after a significant change in the members of the band and their musical focus, they put out their second album, Coming to Life, which has slowly but surely managed to catch the attention of the Christian music industry. It’s sort of a difficult album to describe – their brand of music this time out seems a little more geared towards classic rock than modern or alternative rock. Maybe throw in a little Southern rock for good measure – in any case, they’re not exactly jumping on a hot modern trend. And I can safely say that the band’s lead singer and chief lyricist, Andrew Osenga, has a disarming way with words. He has a knack for matching up some rather difficult life situations with more complex theological issues than your average Christian rock band would attempt to handle. He’s probably one of the most underrated songwriters in the genre today.

You’d think this would be right up my alley, right? Well, it took me a surprisingly long time before I truly started to love this album. Something about the way it was produced bothers me. Despite all of the critical acclaim that this album has received, and despite how much I respect the Normals for being true artists, something has gone horribly wrong in the production of this album. It’s not overproduced – I don’t hear any synthesizers or weird vocal effects or sampling, and very few programmed drum loops. This is mostly the softer side of good old rock and roll. I wouldn’t call it underproduced either – there are enough instruments in the mix to keep the record from feeling raw, and the vocals are generally pretty clear. It’s just strangely produced. The guitars (both acoustic and electric), the bass, and the drums seem to muddle together in most of these songs, so much that many of them seem to muddle along and mask the true talents of the band. This is especially a crime in the case of the production – I’ve seen them live, and their drummer is awesome, yet he seems relegated so far into the background in most of these songs. What gives? The album’s producer, Malcolm Burn, has apparently been working with some classic rock acts for quite a while. What the heck went wrong here?

Beats me. But don’t let that discourage you from giving this CD a few spins. The songs, at their core, are truly great works – mostly based on simple melodies and song structures, but packed with lyrics that are at once hard-hitting and poetic.

Every Moment
We’ve got worlds upon our shoulders, Atlas to our sin, from trying to be too good for a broken dying man…
Everything starts off promisingly enough. Based around a moody but resounding guitar riff, this song is an upbeat celebration of the many different people who struggle to follow Christ and who cling to the promise of a better life ahead. Andrew handles this concept by explaining how ignorant and selfish we can all be during the verses, but bringing it home during the rousing chorus, seeming to almost describe Heaven as being part of our current life on Earth: “Lovers and loners, vagrants and kings, we’re finally home.” He hits a couple high notes during the verses that seem to be a bit of a strain for him, but for the most part, Osenga and the band’s guitarist (Mark Lockett, the other remaining original member) handle the vocals wonderfully. The song seems reminiscent of U2 in their arena-rock days, and Osenga’s voice has its shades of the Bono-growing-older that you’d hear on All That You Can’t Leave Behind. But that’s not the only style that the Normals have up their sleeve.

The Best I Can
I wish I could conjure up a love song, wish I could pray the way my friends do back home…
This song is mostly carried by an earthy drum loop and a harmonica that reminds me of Alanis Morissette’s “Hand in My Pocket”. The Alanis comparison ends there, though – this song is a tale of wisdom gleaned while out on the road, doing the traveling band thing. Already, Andrew is pouring out his heart to his audience, describing places they’ve been, places they have yet to go, and his overall confusion about how things haven’t exactly ended up the way he thought they would. Still, he seems confident to take what God’s given him and do “the best he can” with it, despite all the prayers that remain unanswered (such as a girl who finds his words beautiful, a son who calls him “dad”, etc.) This song backs off a bit on the rock factor, but it’s still a solid tune, and I think it performed decently as the first single from the album.

Black Dress
I know I’ve got no right now, but no one can tell me that I’m wrong…
This is the most rocking tune you’ll find on the album, in terms of its speed and the amount of electric guitar used. It took me a few listens to realize that this song was meant to be an account of King David’s affair with Bathsheba, told from David’s point of view. That obviously got my attention, since it’s one of my favorite stories in the Bible (I know, it’s not one of the happier stories, but if David could screw up so royally, break at least half of the ten commandments, and still find forgiveness and even pull some excellent Psalms out of the difficult aftermath of his sin, then there’s hope for the rest of us, too.) Though she’s never named in the song, Bathsheba is the character in the “Black Dress”, and the song takes place as David awaits her arrival after summoning her to his chambers. I love how Andrew handles this feeling of “drowning in desire” without ever once mentioning anything blatantly sexual – we all know that lust is the issue here, and yet he doesn’t have to preach at us like so many of the Christian songs that attempt to address the topic of sexual immorality. He knows that what he’s about to do is wrong, even though he’s the king and no one can stop him, and he’s going crazy inside, wondering if he can talk himself out of it before it’s too late, but then, there she is, standing right there in that lovely dress of hers. Mark Lockett really nails it on the guitar – not ripping the song to shreds with a heavy-metal inspired solo, but adding rough, distorted strokes to the song just to give it the right desperate feel. Here’s where I started to notice my annoyance with the drums, though – most of the percussion here seems to have been done by hand instead of with drumsticks. Maybe I’m wrong there, but since the percussion’s so limp, it’s hard to say. That may be a cute approach for bands like Guster, but I’ve seen the Normals rock this one live, and it hurts to hear it so bottled up. Still, it’s the standout track on the album.

We Are the Beggars at the Foot of God’s Door
Oh we of little faith, oh You of stubborn grace…
“Black Dress” falls apart into the somber echo of church bells, bleeding into this song, a mellow but powerful theological treatise on the nature of God’s mercy. While the point of the song is pretty much summed up in the title, it doesn’t bother me that the song takes over six minutes to explain this concept, because Andrew describes the living contradiction of sin and salvation so beautifully here. I don’t know if I’ve ever heard anyone describe how much we suck so poetically! The point of the song is not to lament our sin, of course, though there is a degree of sorrow here – the point is to exalt God’s counterintuitive practice of welcoming us in even though there’s nothing we can do to earn this state of “being made royalty”. It really steps on the toes of any Christians out there who think they’re so cool that sin’s not a problem for them any more, and God’s generally pleased with everything they do, but it does it so eloquently that you might not even notice your pride’s been taken down a few notches.

Hillary
Jesus says, “All I want is to love her, but she won’t believe me yet…”
A short little acoustic tune about a character named Hillary. The way she’s described actually reminds me of the girl in Delirious?’s “It’s OK” – someone who is lovely but won’t let God into her life. There’s really not much here, though – the song is over in less than a minute. It’s similar to the title track from Coldplay’s Parachutes album in that respect.

Don’t Hold Back (Full On)
We’re getting burnt like flies who think the light will hide the fact we’re broken…
This is probably the Normals’ mission statement – a message of honesty and love, no holds barred. Something that is pretty impossible for humanity to live up to, but it sure sounds compelling. I’m probably a little biased about this song, since I’m a guy who pretty much wears his heart on his sleeve, and I can tell that Andrew Osenga is the same way. Lines such as “Could you kiss me if I were crying” hit pretty hard, after all – that’s not the most comfortable request to make. This is also one of the more rocking tunes on the album, and Mark Lockett soars on the guitar, especially as the song fades out. He also wails in his vocal contributions to the chorus, singing “Don’t hold back!” over and over as Andrew sings the rest of the words. Once again, though, due to the rather subdued drumming, the song falls disappointingly short of what it could be. At the same time, it’s interesting that most of the intensity of this song is provided by the lyrics and vocals. And it’s one of my favorites, because I identify with it so much. Personal connections like these may well be the Normals’ saving grace, which I suppose is a better thing to rely on than any musical trend or gimmick.

No Alibis
Is this the part where you get scared and run away? On your way out, don’t forget your lines…
Another long, slow acoustic ballad – this one has more of a folksy feel to it, though there is an understated electric element. It wouldn’t be too out of place on a Caedmon’s Call record – Andrew reminds me of Derek Webb from CC at times. This is a pretty sad song – it seems like Andrew is dealing with a lover who’s ready to call it quits on the relationship. He seems to think that they’re a perfect match – “a pair of aces” is the metaphor he uses – but he knows she’s frightened, and all he can ask her to do is be honest with him. He is forced to admit at the end that “I could do without you”, but it seems to be more of a resignation that if she wants to leave, he’ll survive, but he won’t be all that happy about it. Come to think of it, this track wouldn’t be out of place on Matchbox 20’s Mad Season; it has a similar bittersweet flavor to ballads like “Bed of Lies” and “Leave”. It’s reportedly one of Osenga’s favorites – he tends to be more of a mellow songwriter, and he admits that if left to his own devices, would probably put out an album of nothing but ballads. Gotta give the rest of the band some credit for picking up the pace every now and then!

These Times
It’s these times you crucify me, it’s these times you’re still my son…
This is probably the song where the limp percussion bugs me the most. It starts off with a promising drum loop, which you’d expect to provide a nice, grooving low-end for the song, but it backs off after only a few bars, and remains in the background, which makes it hard for this song to really get going. It fills out later with a piano and more guitar work, but the overall format of the song is fairly repetitive. Osenga is still great at giving us some lyrical contradictions to chew on: “It’s these times when you’re the victim, it’s these times when you’re the saint, it’s these times when you’re the bad guy who’s inflicting all the pain”, and so forth. But the fact that nearly every line starts with “It’s these times…” starts to bug me after a while.

Two Wrongs and a Right
He told her no, but she bit down to the apple core…
I heard this song was used on an episode of Dawson’s Creek once (they seem to grab a lot of random Christian songs to use in the background on that show), but don’t quote me on that. This is a slightly more whimsical tune, which provides a slight breath of fresh air from the moodier feel of the past few songs. It was written by Mark Lockett, and it’s actually the only song on the record that Andrew didn’t contribute lyrics to. I think it’s based around an Adam and Eve allegory – a couple is described as they go through a difficult stage in their relationship, dragging each other into sinful things, which once again are described through allegory. The chorus, which is a bright, piano-backed declaration that “Love finds a way to be free, it keeps on holding us closely”, is a curious counterpoint to the tragic nature of the rest of the song, but the message is clear – two broken people can’t hope to make each other whole without God in the equation. “Two wrongs don’t make a right.”

Coming to Life
And all this time I thought that she had killed me, and all these years I spent in the graveyard weeping…
As title tracks go, this one does a decent job of fleshing out the concept of the album. It opens with an oddly-timed guitar strum that settles into a normal rhythm once Andrew begins singing, and it returns us to the mood of lamenting lost love. However, there is a determination in this song not to be dragged down by whoever this girl was the he used to “dream of falling in love” with – he can’t go on “looking for a girl to make me real”. The themes of lust, betrayal, disappointment, etc. that occurred in some of the previous songs come into play here as Andrew slowly realizes that God is the only one who can make him feel real and alive again. The story may not wrap itself up all nice and neat, but Andrew is assured that “I feel blood pouring through these veins after all”.

Heaven Heals
It cannot be right just to leave you, but God it’s just so hard to stick around…
Okay, it’s obvious at this point that the tempo is lagging a bit. Anything remotely upbeat in the second half of the album goes about it in a more understated manner, and most of these songs honestly bored me the first few times through the album. This song fits right in with the softer, folksier feel of most of the album, but it was always a bright spot for me because it addressed an issue that hit close to home – the difficulty of mending a damaged, awkward relationship. Apparently Andrew has been through a few difficult situations with friends, he starts off by singing, “Goodbyes are never easy, and goodbyes never tire of making me feel guilty for being dragged through time.” More specifically, the song seems to deal with the other original band member who was asked to leave the group in between albums (though he’s never mentioned directly). Things like that have got to be tough on friendships, but there’s still an assurance that forgiveness is there and the pain we hold inside in this life will be gone in the next, where long lost friends can run and embrace each other. It’s a nice alternative to the usual “see you in Heaven” song – here, the focus is not on people who were separated due to external events such as going away to school or whatever else, but on people who hurt each other and never got to say their peace.

The Survivor
I know peace lies in silence, and prayer is its heartbeat, but I don’t feel it beating in me…
The record closes with a slow, jazzy, piano driven tune that affirms new life in the midst of brokenness. The mood of the song is very sparse and lonely – Andrew opens the song with the grim lyrics “I stand on the bloodfield, shell-shocked and guilty, the sole survivor of what we had coming”. He acknowledges what little he has left to offer up to God, but offers up his thanks anyway, just for being alive, just for making it through despite his sin and the pain it has caused. It seems like a bleak outlook, but it’s a very realistic one, which is actually assuring to a Christian who’s seen his share of tough times. No pat solution is offered – as Andrew sings, God’s response is this: “The answer to my question is ‘Be still and know that I Am, and I Am Love.’” As the final track on the album fades out, you can hear him saying, “I know that it’s not safe here, but I know that it is good”, even though these lyrics aren’t printed in the booklet – it’s a fairly accurate description of life as a Christian in a fallen world.

Ultimately, I love this record for how real it is. It’s not afraid to hurt and to leave struggles unresolved and questions unanswered. I just think that the packaging is misleading, which might be partially due to their record label – ForeFront. There are some great acts on ForeFront (dc Talk, Audio Adrenaline, Rebecca St. James, etc.), but by and large, most of them have a more in-your-face, rock-out-and-take-the-charts-by-storm approach to their music, and as much as I love a lot of that stuff, it just isn’t the Normals’ modus operandi. A quick look through the CD booklet brings back memories of dc Talk’s Jesus Freak album, with a lot of brown-tones and a layout that just screams “alternative”. Instead, the record is very fragile – almost breakable at times, it seems. And while I can’t complain about the composition of most of these songs, the execution has left a lot to be desired. Still, there’s so much food for thought here that I never regret buying it. I just have to be in more of a pensive mood to listen to it – if I want something with a more upbeat sound or even more of a well-defined groove, this album is just going to annoy me.

Hopefully, the next Normals album (which I guess will be out in early 2002) will resolve these issues. They are an awesome live band, at least from what little I got to experience when they opened for Caedmon’s Call, and hopefully they’ll harness more of that energy in the new songs. But for now, Coming to Life is a good starting point, and it definitely proves that they’re not the cookie-cutter Christian rock band that their first album made people think they were.

TRACK REVIEW SUMMARY
Excellent: Black Dress, We Are the Beggars at the Foot of God's Door, Don't Hold Back (Full On), Coming to Life
Good: Every Moment, The Best I Can, No Alibis, Hillary, Heaven Heals, The Survivor
Decent: Two Wrongs and a Right
Weak: These Times
Skippable:

Band Members:
Andrew Osenga: Vocals, guitars
Mark Lockett: Guitars, backup vocals
B.J. Aberle: Bass, programming, vocals
Mike Taquino: Drums, percussion
Cason Cooley: Piano, keyboards, vocals (also the band’s road manager)

Website: http://www.thenormals.com

Great Music to Play While: Reading something deeply theological (if you’re the type who doesn’t get distracted from your reading when music is playing, anyway.)



Recommended: Yes