Pros: An array of catchy tunes fused together into a well-themed album.
Cons: A few songs don't fit the theme as well or stand out musically.
The Bottom Line: It's a little smoother than Jesus Freak, and there's no rap on this album. I think they've actually outdone Jesus Freak, because this album flows so amazingly well.
Whether you like it or not, if you're into Christian music, you've probably heard most of this CD by now. dc Talk has been riding a wave of huge success across several genres for the past few years (most notably the pop/rock crowd, but also some of the alternative crowd, and even a few leftover fans from their pseudo-rap days), taking numerous fans on an interesting musical ride, never knowing what styles or influences will hit them next, and yet having the assurance that it will be sweet to the ears. Yet it's left some people scratching their heads, and the group has earned criticism for their conversion into a rock group. Some feel that they shifted styles because Christian rap was too small of a subculture; others felt they were just selling out and throwing in every musical style they could to get people to like them. I tend to believe that the music they're doing now is the music they really want to be doing, but that's just me. In any case, you can't deny that 1995's Jesus Freak was huge. So huge, in fact, that every song on the album (minus a couple of joke tracks) got radio play. How on Earth does a band (or more appropriately, group, since this trio concentrates on singing while others back them up musically - another source of criticism) follow up a success story like that? I don't know - but somehow dc Talk did it. But sit tight - it's gonna take a little getting used to.
The first thing that longtime fans of dc Talk will notice is that there is no rap on this record - whatsoever. If that sounds strange to you, consider it a relief that the group can succeed entirely apart from the musical style they started out with. The second thing you might notice is that there are no cover tunes on this album. Evidently the group felt the need to compose an album around a theme without a whole lot of outside help. On past albums, Toby MacKeehan (who provided that ever-so-catchy rapping) was the main lyricist, but on this album, all three of the guys collaborated on just about everything, with a little assistance from writers like Mark Hemiermann (whose name pops up everywhere in Christian music, but his contributions to dc Talk have been excellent). The result is a breathtaking mix of pop/rock tunes, many of which are likely to go down as classics right alongside "Jesus Freak", "In the Light", "Between You and Me", et cetera, in the CCM hall of fame. What truly makes dc Talk stand out among several groups that turn out hit singles one after another is that the album flows so well. Songs are intelligently positioned beside each other (and even bled together in some places) to give this diverse batch a more unified feel. Most of it revolves around the central theme - the physical world versus the supernatural.
Okay, another thing you'll notice: Why isn't track 1 listed? It's just an intro, but a very cool one, fading in with the guys dreamily singing "Supernatural" again and again, and then...
It's Killing Me Michael Tait's voice, alongside an acoustic guitar, cuts the intro short and the roller coaster ride begins. As the song unfolds, some electronic noises and solid percussion assert themselves until a rocking, edgy chorus comes crashing in with all three guys singing together and you're left with no doubt that the group intends to continue pursuing their fascination with alternative rock - some of the most melodic you've ever heard. It's not exactly a happy album opener - it's about a tough decision to part ways with a friend who is only dragging you down, and the struggle to leave on good terms. You can feel the tension in this song. Everyone who was rocking out to "Jesus Freak" when it came out will be doing the same here, though they'll have to think a little harder to get the message. Michael Tait and Kevin Max really belt it out at the end of this song, right before it comes skidding to a halt - but not quickly enough to avoid colliding with the next one.
Dive
Here we are treated to more of the electronic effects (something they didn't play with as much on the last album) as they combine with real drums to create an incredibly cool mid-tempo beat. Some creepy, ghostlike vocals from three three guys precede the verse, where Kevin's singing and Toby's whispering (remember, he's not rapping anymore) flesh out a story of a successful businessman at the end of his rope when he is trapped in a burning building. His only escape is to dive into a net fifteen stories below. The story gets abandoned after the first verse, which is okay, because we've all seen the metaphor by then of setting all of our uncertainties aside and just diving into God's will, knowing we will emerge safely. The theme seems to shift from diving through the air to diving underwater somewhere in the middle, but it works well with the submarine-like sound effects in the bridge, and once again comes to a great conclusion with all three guys singing their different parts and pretty much flustering people like me who are trying to figure out which one of them to sing along with. It's unintentionally funny towards the end when they start saying "Jump! Jump!" and I am given frightening flashbacks to Kris Kross. But this ain't no jumpin' around party song. This is a streetwise testimony.
Consume Me
This one has a slightly more acoustic tone to it, but there are still electronic elements present, and all of the elements come together quite beautifully for a gorgeous meditation on what it is like to be surrounded by God's love. It's really a perfect follow-up to "Dive" - as if the guys are describing what happens after you dive in and realize you can breathe underwater, and you are just swimming around in awe of the beauty around you. Typical Christian lingo cannot describe God so compellingly, and it's so refreshing to hear a love song to God that doesn't try to masquerade as a typical romantic ballad. (This song has a rather enigmatic music video - I won't give it away, but it's weird.)
My Friend (So Long)
Ready to shift gears? This song will make you laugh, or at least chuckle. However, the guys didn't write it to be a silly song. It seems at first to be a sharp indictment of a Christian musician who has "sold out" to pursue a career in mainstream music. But wait just a minute before you go making assumptions that it's their point of view on Amy Grant or Jars of Clay or whoever... it soon becomes clear that the song is really indicting people who are always accuse musicians of "selling out" (because Lord knows it's happened to them, too). According to the group, it's addressed to a fictional fourth member who has left and found a more successful career. They take the stance of wishing him well, saying they still thank about and pray for him, even if they can't explain why God chose that road for him. (Some of this is my interpretation). I absolutely love how they stuck a brief sound bite from "Jesus Freak" in the middle, as if to say, "We know what some of you think of us, but we haven't sold out yet." The whole song has a very taunting attitude to it, but breaks into a great melody on the chorus. You have to see the music video for this song - it's absolutely hilarious!
Fearless
At first you're tricked into thinking that this is where the record slows down. The opening guitar chords and Michael Tait's gentle crooning seem tame enough - then the power chords hit you concurrently with Kevin Max taking control for the chorus. I guess that would qualify this song as a "power ballad" - it is a great example of the constant change in dynamics that makes dc Talk so accessible and addictive. They just never get boring, even during the slower songs. Lyrically this is a simple, yet eloquent, message of faith before fear, drawing a little bit on Isaiah 40 for its inspiration. That's what really makes the dynamic of the song work - a shift back and forth from careful, quiet, and calculated, to letting everything pour out in a rocking chorus. There is even some 80's rock influence thrown in as the song fades out in a combination of a wailing electric guitar and some "na na na"s from the guys.
Godsend
Awww... how sweet. At first, I complained when I heard this song that it didn't make sense to place another slower song after "Fearless" (I didn't realize how much it rocked at the time), and that musically it seemed like a softer, mushier rehash of "Between You and Me" (their first real mainstream hit, though in an altered state, but I digress). And yes, it is a more typical, somewhat cheesy love song, not too different than something you might hear out of some of the less hip-hop influenced R&B groups out there. It really is a wonderful romantic ballad that has no doubt become "our song" for a kazillion Christian couples (someone was smart enough to release it as a radio single around Valentine's Day 2000), and it definitely worked as one for me and my girlfriend, given that we got together around the time this CD came out. Yes, I know it's cliche to refer to your lover as an angel. But the spacey sounds that begin and end this song, and the gentle, almost floating quality of the song really back up that sentiment to make it so much more convincing. It's interesting to note that Michael Tait handles the verses on this one, being that he is the only unmarried member of the group (and one of the most eligible bachelors in Christian music!) Kevin Max joins in for a sweet bridge section between the second verse and chorus, which is probably my favorite part of the song - and then he goes and repeats it (slightly changing the words) again later! How cool is that?
Wanna Be Loved
My first reaction to this song was, "Huh?" The 70's disco/funk style of the song is a bit jarring at first, given that I expected another fast rocking song after the two semi-ballads. It seems to follow an overly simple theme of loving and respecting one another, which I first thought was a little too cheesy for dc Talk, but let's just say that this song grows on you a lot. The instrumentation is really great, and the guys may have never sounded so soulful as they do here. Given that Kevin Max's vocals often have a mind of their own (he'll sing things completely different in concert, making it hard to sing along), this song especially suits his style, as evidenced by his skatting/as-libbing/whatever you call it as the song fades out. Also notable is the breakdown in the middle of the song (once again, a really cool section that radio deejays often take out, one of my pet peeves) with Toby's "chillin' at the party" dialogue. It's probably the closest thing to the attitude of the rap genre that you'll find on this CD. It's entertaining, but it's probably the song that wanders the most from the album's theme, given that it's so focused on human relationships. It was a blast on their Supernatural Experience tour, though, when the horn players from The W's came out to add a little extra instrumentation to the mix.
The Truth
This song was written by the guys and submitted for the soundtrack to the X-Files movie, but didn't make the cut. While some Christians I know choose to attack the music industry for supposedly being biased against an overtly spiritual song, I think it was simply a matter that it wasn't as musically interesting as a lot of the songs the band has put out. I admire their creativity for blending lounge sounds with alternative rock, but something in this song fails to grab me the way most of these songs have. Its lyrical content seems to echo that of "Minds' Eye" on their last album, but the fact that they use the X-Files mantra "The truth is out there" in the chorus makes it seem like it was on the soundtrack and then recycled for the album. Thematically, it actually fits quite well, but somehow there just isn't enough musically to anchor it down. Still, it works a lot better than most attempts by Christian bands to get somebody's attention with obvious references to pop culture phenomena.
Since I Met You
Surf's up, dude! Okay, this isn't really a surf song, but it sure has that "riding a killer wave" attitude to it. It also has the intensity of a punk song, minus the usual sloppiness of that genre. Think PfR meets MxPx and you'll get the idea. Well, maybe not entirely. There are slower sections at the beginning and in the middle where Kevin Max's crooning gets to shine once again, giving you a breather from the frantic pace of the rest of the song. Most of it flies by so past that you might not realize it's a five-minute song. But people who are carefully paying attention to the track time may be wondering how they're gonna finish before the 5 minute mark when they shift into yet another rhythm after the final chorus for an off-kilter jam session. That's just the final touch to an infectiously fun song - it just ends abruptly, and the next song starts right in, taking you a couple seconds to realize what happened!
Into Jesus
This one is more of a mid-tempo unplugged jam, though it does have its programmed elements. It was out on the radio before the album came out, so I'd already had my fill of it before the CD was in my hands. It's not a bad song at all; it's just that from the title, I expected some deeper reflection on travelling farther "into Jesus" as we mature as Christians - instead it takes on more of an evangelistic focus by simply saying "Hey you, I'm into Jesus". Given that the first draft of this song was "Hey you, I'm a believer", I can definitely credit them for turning down a really cheesy lyric when they saw it (though they do reprise the old version in concert, often in a medley with "My Will" from the Exodus compilation). It has a nice, moody acoustic guitar line that gives the song more of a mystical touch, which helps the song to sidestep being pigeonholed as typical Christian fluff. The verses really help flesh out why they believe - because they've seen so much that they can't not believe, and rather than trying to beat someone over the head with the Bible, they're simply saying, "Open up your mind and you'll see what I've sen, and you won't be able to deny the truth either". Which is really more like how evangelism should work.
Supernatural
This is one of my favorite songs in the whole world. I was hooked on it ever since a week before the album release when I saw the band play it in concert - I was swept away by its hard-rocking, almost spooky power. It's a good title track in that it sums up the theme of the album instead of just being a song that the group thought would make a cool title for a CD. I've had many debates with people who think they'll never beat "Jesus Freak" - for me, this song does. No, it doesn't have the catchy, rapid-fire rap verses (though Toby Mac's "yeah, yeah, yeah"s still reflect that attitude), and no, the guitar solo isn't as dissonant this time out. But it won my over with its awe-inspiring feel. "Jesus Freak" made me wave my hair around and totally rock out and basically act like a freak - a good thing for a rock song to do. "Supernatural" does all that while leaving me with a sense of breathless awe. To quote the song - "I can feel Your power surging through the whole of me". It is wonderfully descriptive of the thinly veiled supernatural world that permeates the reality we live in, and it has that trademark dc Talk chorus that smacks you over the head. The bridge alternates between an account of miracles God has performed as read about in the Bible, coupled with a reprise of the eerie "Supernatural"s from the album intro, then some cool sound effects and Toby Mac whispering, and a searingly powerful guitar solo that leads you back into the final chorus. My friends and I were quite thrilled when we found out that such a great song was buried so far back in the album - usually that's a good sign! It ends with a reminder that faith is based in more than just what we see and understand as Toby whispers "Some things just can't be explained."
Red Letters
Here we find dc Talk once again trying on a new style - a meditative piano-based ballad to close the album peacefully and yet powerfully. The positioning of this song after "Supernatural" to wrap things up is pure genius. The group describes the character of Christ, drawing heavily on Biblical imagery (no surprise, given the title which references the words of Christ in your typical Bible), and they really succeed in bringing it off the two-dimensional page and into a three-dimensional reality - perhaps even four-dimensional due to their emphasis on His "changing the course of history" instead of just being a cultural icon of His time. It is steeped in history and yet in brings Jesus into the here and now. I get the feeling that they set out to write an epic song here, due to its length (over six minutes) and its ever-swelling instrumentation (complete with strings) that builds up to the bridge, where the tempo and urgency of the lyrics increase, and the song briefly ventures back into power ballad territory until giving way to the slower, simpler, piano-dominated mood with which it started, allowing you to take in the chorus one more time and dwell on all that the "red letters" have to offer you. Spiritually compelling and excellently artistic in one fell swoop. The song fades out instead of coming to a conclusion, as the three guys once again weave their three-part vocal tapestry. It's a perfect "final song".
There Is a Treason at Sea
Consider this a "bonus track" that isn't hidden or delayed by meaningless silence. Like "Alas My Love" (which was hidden on the unnamed track of Jesus Freak), this is a poem, written and recited by Kevin Max, with an eerie soundscape behind it. This time around, that soundscape is more based on ambience than actual music - it opens with strange electronic sounds, as if a space-age sea vessel is surfacing and taking in it surroundings as the waves roll in the background. I recommend studying the art on the front and back cover while listening to this one. Those eerie "supernatural"s echo once again in the background, and the word "supernatural" even occurs in the poem, as Kevin depicts himself as a desperate sailor, stranded all alone in the ocean and fighting to survive on his own. It echoes themes from several songs on the album, which further proves that the guys worked really hard to stick with the concept of this thing while not losing the value of each of the songs when taken individually.
I know that I have given this CD an almost sickeningly glowing review, but dc Talk deserves it. They may have been lambasted for being a seeming chameleon in the musical landscape, but I think they're awesome for bringing together so many different elements to create some of the tastiest pop/rock music ever heard. It is artistic without sacrificing pop appeal, and it is somehow universal without masking an overtly Christian worldview. And for those of you who are concerned about them not playing their own instruments, take a look at the list of players who contributed here (most notably a few guys from their tour band, as well as ex-Grammatrain front man Pete Stewart, who plays a mean guitar!) Sure, the CD has its flaws, and its points where it deviates from a theme. But that doesn't stop me from wanting to give this album six stars. Regrettably, I can't do that.
Personal Favorite Songs: Supernatural, Godsend, Dive
Personal Least Favorites: The Truth, Fearless, Into Jesus
Group Members:
Michael Tait: Soulful vocals
Kevin Max: Passionate, unbridled vocals
Toby MacKeehan: Quirky vocals, shouts, and whispers
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