Heart Like Yours

I haven't done this in a long time, but I felt like my readers would be missing out if I didn't.. and given the fact that it was released 4 months ago and I didn't even know it existed says this album needs some free advertising. I'm not much into reviews these days, but I'd like to say that this is a great album and encourage anyone to buy it. So here's my "Heart Like Yours" (SonicFLood) mini-review/plug.

I picked up this album at a Family Christian Bookstore down in the states during our trip down to Lebanon, Ohio. I honestly didn't know SonicFlood was still around and upon checking, found they aren't.. at least not the original Grammy-winning group. Rick Heil does deserve some credit though, as I felt the sound was similar to the original group. You can read up on it at Wikipedia if you're interested. I think of this album as old SonicFlood meets Chris Tomlin (but with a little more originality).

Lyrically the album is not particular strong, but the music itself seems catchy and original. I think it's fair to say this is the second best SonicFlood album ever made.

Review: David Crowder Bands' "Remedy"

I've gotten a chance to listen to David Crowder Band's latest CD called "Remedy" more. I mentioned earlier that this was a bad CD, as several have pointed out I said "to avoid it like the plague", but after listening to it several times I think I can give it much fairer review. We had been cramped and frustrated in a car, waiting in line at the US-Canada border the first time I had heard the CD, and therefore my previous assessment may have been a little too harsh.

By the way, if you're looking for a more scathing review of the album, check out CCM's take on it here. His review sounded a lot like mine for "A Collision".

I would say the fairest comparison is Crowder's breakout album, "Illuminate". "Remedy" has a lot of upbeat songs and there is a heavy use of computer effects and electronics. Best way to describe most of his songs are that they are "busy". If you listen to track 7 you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. If you're into that kind of thing you'll like this album a lot. They do a good job of not going too over the top with it, and mix it well with the usual band instruments. The first time you listen you might think it's a bit much -- but it grows on you.

One thing evidently missing from this CD are useless tracks of people walking up and down stairs, or whistling, or a phone conversation. That's a good thing. Little interludes like that bring no value to an album and fortunately for us, "Remedy" has none of these fillers. (Remedy is nothing like A Collision).

The music in "Remedy" sounds fresh because it doesn't follow the usual Christian Music formula that all the other worship leaders follow. It's very different and feels "new" -- although not necessarily ground-breaking -- but at least it's not that 'same old thing' feeling with some other bands. The caveat is you can't really play any of the songs at church for worship.

Creativity (8/10) - David Crowder Band pushes the envelope when it comes to creativity. There is no other band like these guys in the Christian music scene. There is a strong mix of electronic stuff in with the usual band repertoire, making their music much edgier than the other Christian bands out there. This however is the bane of the band, as CCM points out, you know these guys are capable of so much more but for some reason they prefer to just make really noisy songs.
Worshipability (7/10) - There aren't very many songs on this album that I could see our church ever using in worship. Personal worship is another story. Even singalongability is low on this album, I'm just starting to figure out the lyrics after hearing the album about 20 times.
Value (9/10) - I bought the CD in the US for $5 less than it would have costed me in Canada. So yea, it was a good deal. It loses one point because of a couple songs in the album that already existed in previous ones.
Longevity (8/10) - One thing I find interesting (or is it more annoying?) that David repeats himself in his songs, several songs he repeats the same line over and over to the point where I want to punch something. I can understand you want to emphasize a point by repeating it, but this is a bit too much for me. I could see myself becoming violent, but thank goodness for FastForward. Due to DCB's catchy tunes, I can see myself listening to this CD off and on for the next few months at least.
Intangibles (9/10)- It's a nice little case, and not a hard plastic one. It's paper but it's sturdy and it's thinner than the average CD case. It's also got a neat cover and a different slot for which the lyrics come out.

Overall: 41/50

Money not well spent; Crocs aren't all ugly

We went to Buffalo on Saturday to take advantage of the strong Canadian dollar and cheap US prices. I ended up spending a whopping $67.

The first place we went to was Target, where I made the bulk of my purchases. I bought a Nelly Furtado CD "Loose", which I can tell you, has 2 good songs on it and not much else. I got a great "deal" if you think about the price I paid compared to how much it would have costed buying in Toronto, but overall not a very good buy at all.

The second thing I bought, was kind of a double whammy. They had two David Crowder Band "Remedy" CDs left, so I grabbed them both and gave one to my friend who was with us. So we both bought it. Again, overall according to my calculations we saved $6 each on the disc. I opened his up so we could listen to it for the remainder of the trip. Boy did it suck.

What in the world has happened to David Crowder Band, after promising albums like "Can You Hear Us", and "Illuminate", this band has completely lost it. "A Collision" was a total disaster, and for a second I somehow thought maybe they would get back on track with this one. Never again will I waste money on DCB. Avoid this CD like the plague, if you haven't already made the same mistake as I did.

The other purchases I made were wedding cards. Both were bargains because I paid the US price.

We then headed over to the fashion outlet where I bought some "Crocs" slippers. Amazingly this was the best purchase I made. Crocs are super comfortable, even if they are ridiculous looking. I got the kind that look like slippers -- open-toed, slippers. These slippers are not ugly, they're just slippers. No silly looking plastic clunkers, just regular slippers with fantastical soles. They are easily the most comfortable pair of shoes/slippers I've ever worn.

Holding nothing back

This CD by Tim Hughes kind of fell through the cracks for me, probably because I spent so much time listening to the Hillsongs United studio album "All Of The Above", in preparation for the concert. In the end, they only played 2-3 songs from the album. The concert was amazing by the way. Check out Andrew's blog for details and a video.

What initially attracted me to this CD was the first track "Happy Day". I had been at Mitchell's with Ina to pick up some greeting cards when I saw the CD on the sample wall. You know, where you can sample the CDs. The first song was so great I had to have the album, so I waited til there was a sale and went and got it.

Unfortunately I've lost my hosting site and can no longer post MP3s as I used to. You'll just have to buy the CD yourself, unless someone's got any suggestions of where I can host my media.. or check out his website for some samples. (http://www.timhughesmusic.com/)

One thing I think that sets this album apart from his other stuff is that instrumentally it's just so much better. The music... fills the room better, if that makes sense. It's fuller, if that makes any sense at all. I'm not sure if I observed that in his previous albums. I mean, we've always known that Tim Hughes is a great songwriter. Lyrically he is solid, like Matt Redman. But musically I think this CD stands out because you can kind of get the sense that it was produced well and that they invested a fair amount of time into it.

Maybe he got better equipment, or his band has just gotten a whole better. Lyrically and musically the album is solid. I am just getting to know the other songs and discovering bit by bit how good these songs are.

Without breaking it all down, I give it 47/50. Go buy it.

Free?

One of my friends likes to say he's "free" when his wife is occupied with something else, or if she's gone away somewhere, allowing him to do whatever he wants. He gets all excited and invites us over to play video games as if he's been liberated or broken out of jail.

I dunno, Ina's been away for a few days and I don't feel "free" at all. I just miss her a lot.

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We went to "Sushi on 7" last night, to celebrate my dad's 58th. I had a helluva time trying to find the place. First of all I loaded up Google Maps to get an approximate location before I left. Google maps was way, way off. I typed in the address and it gave me a location that was East of McCowan. Turns out the place is actually West of Kennedy! Secondly it was dark and snowing so we had a hard time looking through the car windows to see the addresses/storefronts. I missed our reservation time by about 20 minutes as a result, but fortunately the restaurant was only half full (we had to have a late dinner because my brother had a night class).

The food at Sushi on 7 is great. They have tons of variety -- over 190 different items are available on their menu. For dinner, it was $17.99 for Mon-Thurs. Food comes fairly quickly so that we're not sitting around letting our stomachs get full in between the waves of food. I've found that to be the case often in many AYCE sushi places. It's like some kind of ploy to get us full so we won't keep eating them out of their business. The service was not great, it's surprisingly difficult to get the attention of any waitress even though the place is really quite small.

Sushi on 7's specialty rolls are okay, not as flavorful as I've found in other places, but the fish is fresh enough to make up for it. Their seaweed salad is the best I've had so far. The beef ribs were cooked perfectly, very tender and tasty. They had one dish, fresh mussels that we kept ordering. Very yummy, very tenderly cooked and light tasting. My mom had some Udon which she said was good. They have coconut pudding -- one of my all-time favorite desserts, one which is fairly rare to find in any restaurant these days so that was a big bonus for me. Their tea sucked.. it was way too diluted.

I don't think they have sashimi for lunch which is a shame because otherwise I'd consider going back there for a lunch, just because they have so many other great choices.

I'd give the restaurant a solid 8/10 rating.

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I want to buy the new Tim Hughes album. I sampled it at Mitchell's Family Bookstore last weekend, and it sounded GOOD. Well, at least Track 1 sounded good. Too bad it's so expensive at Mitchell's. I mean honestly who pays over $20 for a CD these days? Why are Christians trying to rip each other off? It doesn't make sense.

I guess it's the same as any culture ripping each other off. It's more about profit and greed than who the victim is.

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The Leafs missed the NHL playoffs for the second straight year, but there are still a few Canadian teams to cheer for. Ottawa, Vancouver and Calgary. I don't like the Senators at all, but I feel we have to cheer for them because I'm just sick and tired of seeing American teams win our Stanley Cup. It ain't right. That being said, at least it's always Canadians who are hoisting the cup, even if they are playing for American teams. I can't help but cheer for the Penguins, at least for this series. I could see myself cheering for Ottawa in the next round, but for me, Sidney Crosby epitomizes the essence of Canadian Hockey -- not an idiot like Daniel Alfredsson.

Go Flames! Go Canucks! Go Canadians!

Review: Norah Jones' "Not Too Late"

This is a review of Norah Jones' latest offering, "Not Too Late". I read a review about this album on the Metro a few mornings ago and it noted that she had written most of the songs on this album, which is exciting to me because she's always just sung songs written by others. In fact, she's been criticized for that as well -- she's been labelled a good singer, but that's it.

I like her voice. She's got a really unique voice, and honestly I just like it a lot. The music is nice and mellow, and lyrics are meaningful. It's the kind of stuff you'd listen to while walking by a lake or on the street while it's raining lightly and seeing kids playing in a yard. It's a great "reminiscing" album, not that it's even about that, but it makes you think. That's the kind of mood I get from it.

In her first album, which is the only other album of hers that I own, I found every song catchy. This album is more of a mood thing, not so much a 'catchy tunes' album. It's relaxing, almost therapeutic at times. I think she's proven to any of her doubters that she can definitely write music, and write well.

I paid $14 for it after tax at Futureshop, which is decent except that I saw it for cheaper the next day at HMV. I hate that. Anyway, here's a quick breakdown:

Creativity (7/10) - There's a decent amount of variety on the CD. Different styles like jazz, country, and head-bopping-side-to-side beats. There's a song where she whistles, which I think is cool. Nothing ground-shaking though.
Worshipability (0/10 * 7/10) - I'll alter this category for the sake of not giving extremely low marks for secular music. Let's call this category "Singalongability".
Value (10/10) - Anything under $15 after tax is a good price.
Longevity (8/10) - I can see myself listening to this a lot because it's not very distracting.
Intangibles (9/10)- It's a nice little case, and not a hard plastic one. It's paper but it's sturdy and it's thinner than the average CD case. It's also got a neat cover and a different slot for which the lyrics come out.

Overall: 41/50

Review: Chris Tomlin's "See The Morning"

Chris Tomlin is a great worship leader who is also a great song writer and a budding guitarist. I've always been a big fan of his work because his songs are easy to play and therefore great for worship leading. On his CD's you will always find he's singing it at capo 4-5 because he likes to sing high, but if you tone it back down, his songs are great for (normal) people.

I picked up the special edition of this album because it had a few extra tracks -- 3 "unplugged" tracks, and 2 completely new songs. I must say that getting the SE of the album was worth it because the final song "Over Me" has become one of my favorites.

This bit may come as a surprise and you may be thinking: "What, eBrian being critical? Against Chris Tomlin? No way!".

I'm slowly finding that, to me, Chris Tomlin (and this totally just my opinion) is starting to sell out or is in danger of doing so. What does it mean to sell out in a Christian context.. of course I'm not saying he's gone secular. I mean this in the kindest possible way because I'm a huge HUGE Tomlin fan, but if you look at his track record of late, it seems like a whole lot of self-promotion going on. Again I could completely wrong about this and maybe my views are way off and incorrect, but to me a worship leader is about writing songs for people to use to worship with. When an artist starts putting out "Greatest Hits" albums, "..in Concert", or "The Early Years" albums, then it's no longer new songs popping out, it's re-packaging old songs into different profit-inducing self promotional material. Granted I'm sure the proceeds go to very charitable if not God-driven ministries. I'm just sayin'.

Anyway, back to the album itself. The album itself is good. There are definitely a few songs that can be used for worship -- "Made To Worship", "Everlasting God" (one of my favorites), "Glorious", "Rejoice", "How Can I Keep From Singing". I really like the last one, it's based off an old hymn and basically redone, and it sounds great. Also one of my favorites is "Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)", he basically does Amazing Grace but added a tag to it that makes it sound a little more contemporary and actually really fun to sing.

Overall, I would say this album is missing the kind of "Oomph" that the last album had. I remember listening to "Arriving" for the first time and being completely blown away with the lyrics of "Indescribable", and just playing it over and over and ignoring the rest of album for weeks, and then getting blown away for each song going forward. "Arriving" stayed in my car's CD player for at least 5-6 months before I got tired of it. Whereas "See The Morning" lasted about 2 weeks, and then I went into a rock phase and bought Guns N Roses.

In that sense "See The Morning" certainly has some great songs, there aren't any of those songs that you hear and go "Wow.. what a song. He is so right.." and prompt you to do some self-reflection or break out in prayer and thanksgiving. Perhaps another way to look at it, is that I didn't even bother to post any songs or lyrics up from the album.

So, a breakdown (I'm going to start using a scale for these).

Creativity (5/10) - Most of the songs sound very close to the previous stuff that we've heard from Tomlin.
Worshipability (8/10) - Songs are easy to play and can be used for worship on Sundays or fellowship. Not very many "fun" songs for jamming.
Value (8/10) - Although I did get more songs for the Special Edition, I also paid $27.
Longevity (6/10) - Perhaps because the songs all sound the same, there's nothing particular memorable about this album. When I started writing this review, I was listening to the album, but halfway through I got tired of it and switched to another band altogether. (Which also means another review is coming soon.)
Intangibles (10/10) - This is a fake category for me to boost an album's ratings. Haha.. but seriously this is about the packaging. I'm a big proponent of buying CDs and not mp3s. The album cover is nice, lyrics are neatly printed out. Also the special edition gives a 20 minute video of Tomlin, talking about his inspirations for many of the songs on the CD.

Overall: 38/50