newsboys: born again

looks like there has been another shake up in the newsboys line up! newsboys is a group that has been changing members for a long time, back when i first started listening to them, right around 'take me to your leader', it was five guys with lead singers were john james and peter furler. over the course of their career the band has gotten many different members and even some different lead singers. i thought they hit their stride around the 'step up to the microphone' and 'love liberty disco' phase, which are my favorites. as the years went on they lost some direction as a band, putting out some pretty generic work, but they found their direction again with their worship albums. after that they floundered again with a couple forgettable albums (especially 'in the hands of God', very bland). turns out, it was time for them to change it up again. this time their lead singer, peter furler, left the band. it looked like it was time for the 'boys' to wrap it up and call it a career. then they found a new lead singer in the form of michael tait, one of the former lead singers of d.c. talk. i wasnt sure what to make of this radical change. even though they had mixed up their line up before, they still kept their basic sound. this was going to change everything! i had loved tait in d.c. talk, and even enjoyed a couple of his solo albums under the band name 'tait', but i wasnt sure if his sound fit with the newsboys. turns out, i didnt have anything to worry about! the latest album, fittingly titled 'born again', shows the 'boys' back at it, and the influence of michael tait has reinvigorated all of them, it seems. this album is fantastic! the first single 'born again' is so catchy and wonderful that you cant help but love it! well, it looks like that song wasnt a fluke- the whole album is amazing! as i look through the song list, i cant even pick out a favorite. 'one shot' is a lot of fun, 'way beyond myself' is really catchy, 'when the boys light up' is good old fashioned newsboys fun, and the rest are great as well. the only misstep on the album was the choice to rerecord an old d.c. talk song 'jesus freak'. that one was great for its time, but has not aged well... and if you are going to rerecord it, at least give us something new- it sounds exactly like the original. fortunately, the other 11 tracks are so much fun that one misstep can be forgiven. the newsboys certainly have been 'born again', and better than ever!

U2: no line on the horizon

ive like U2 for a while now. i didnt get into them until they released the album 'pop' (which i realize i am in the vast minority here, but think is their best album so far). i loved the resurgence they had at the beginning of the decade with 'all that you cant leave behind', but was pretty disappointed with 'how to dismantle an atomic bomb'. due to that disappointment, i didnt plan on picking up this newest album. that, and the dislike of their first single off this disc 'get on your boots'. well, with some encouraging from my old roommate sean, i gave it a listen. turns out that its pretty good! after listening to it a couple times through i was hooked. i guess bono's still got it! there are some real stand out songs in this album, such as the title song and 'i'm going to go crazy if i dont go crazy tonight'. they are good old U2 at their best! which begs the question: who is picking the lead single for these guys?!? after spending a month or two listening to this album exclusively and really enjoying it, i must say that 'get on your boots' is one of the weakest songs on the album! why would they put their weakest 'boot' forward? (pun intended...) i'm sure there are a lot of fans who heard that one on the radio and, like me, gave the album a pass. they missed out on some really great U2 songs because of that poor first single selection. well, hopefully they are in the studio again getting ready for the next album, and this time they wont make the same mistakes...