Relient K: Two Lefts Don't Make A Right...But Three Do (2003)

Tracks:

1. Chap Stick, Chapped Lips and Things Like Chemistry
2. Mood Rings
3. Falling Out
4. Forward Motion
5. In Love with the 80's (Pink Tux to the Prom)
6. College Kids
7. Trademark
8. Hoopes I Did it Again
9. Over Thinking
10. I Am Understood?
11. Getting into You
12. (untitled)
13. Gibberish
14. From End to End
15. Jefferson Aero Plane

 So...I guess four lefts go up?  In the "Forever 21"  world of Relient K, geometry is merely a metaphor for morality and/or relationships, I guess.  On their third album the band continue their fixation with pop culture, puns, and nostalgia, and also throw in a good measure of teenage drama.  "Chap Stick..." starts out as a day at the theme park, with the singer bemoaning his lack of cell phone minutes, then segues into a completely different song about the titular chemistry.  There's a witty song suggesting that girls should wear "Mood Rings" to warn their respective boys what emotional state they are in, and another that recites the struggles of "College Kids" in navigating student loan debt (tell me about it), relationships and the job market.  

At first listen, the band seems to have added an extra layer of packaging to their message, as there are no overt prayer or praise songs on Two Lefts.  Only "Getting Into You" makes any mention of God, and it's a good one: "I'm getting into you /Because I've got to be/You're essential to survive/I'm going to love you with my life."  Many songs speak to God on a personal level, and often use human relationships as a metaphor for connecting with God.  Or not: In "Trademark" the singer is speaking to an Unnamed Someone Who Is Very Important, and confessing his tendencies to run away from rather than toward that Someone.  He even goes as far as to declare: "I'll kill the thing that turns me away/Amputate the arm that will disobey."  Sounds a little emo there, Matty T.

Musically, there's not a huge progression from Anatomy, although Thiessen plays more keyboards on this one, and his vocal delivery seems a little more nuanced, with everything from breathy whispers to nasal nerdiness to a few shouts here and there.  He's piling the lyrics on, too:  Lots of cutesy sayings and wordplay.  And there's the obligatory nostalgia trip in "I'm in Love with the 80s," which reads like a script for one of those VH-1 reminiscence shows with the similar title: "Ocean Pacific shirt (insert comedian comment here)...Left ear piercing (insert celebrity comment here)..."

So what we're left with is the singles, and they range from the precious ("Chap Stick.."), to the anthemic ("Forward Motion") to the one with a good chorus but little else ("I Am Understood?").  "Motion" is the best song on the record, a song whose construction reminds me a lot of those classic Def Leppard songs from the 80s (specifically, "Foolin").  It's not so much a standard verse/pre-chorus/chorus progression, but a sequence of hooks: The punkish "Whoa-oa" hook, the fast "I got evicted" hook, the slight break of "When car crashes occur" hook, then the Big Hook and best lines on the album: "To experience the bittersweet/To taste defeat then brush my teeth."  We finally get to the "chorus" which mentions the title, but it's slow and sans drums, so it almost feels anti-climactic.  It's modern songwriting at its best: throw together a stack of hooky verses and bundle 'em with a big beat.  Chorus?  Who needs a chorus?

Two Lefts doesn't blaze any new trails as far as style, although it does take a step or two off the beaten path to look at the flora and fauna along the way.  And really, unless the band decided to fire a guitarist, hire a pianist, and go for a whole new sound, there isn't a whole lot of trail to be blazed.  Pop punk, like any other kind of punk, is limited in its scope and development.  So it's up to Matty T & the boyz to find new ground, and with their knowledge of melody, hooks, and the zeitgeist of the 21st Century, they've got a good shot to do just that. 

Third Day: Time (1999)

Tracks:

1. I've Always Loved You
2. Believe
3. Took My Place
4. Never Bow Down
5. Your Love Oh Lord 
6. Don't Say Goodbye
7. What Good
8. Can't Take the Pain
9. Sky Falls Down
10. Give

After the wrong turn down Grunge Street, Third Day needed a course correction.   So they hit the highway and met up with producer Monroe Jones, who took the boys down to Southern Tracks Studios in Atlanta to start recording their third album.  Rather than try to fix what had been running smoothly, Jones and the band went back to where they started, reloading the Fixible Peach Bus and riding the Southern gravy train of gospel rock.  But rather than remake Third Day, the band worked out a new batch of songs in the old mold, just with a little more hot sauce.

The resulting record, Time, is a return to the basics, made by a band with nothing to prove or conquer, but rather, being themselves, playing the style that best suits them, and writing more mature and intelligent songs in that style.  There's still gospel throw-downs like "Believe," a challenge to doubters to have faith in what God has done in their lives, and "What Good," a funky number that asks the age-old question, "What good is it a man to gain the whole world, and to forfeit his soul?"  But there's a sensitive and emotional side to the music that is coming to the surface.  The lead-off track, "I've Always Loved You," is a country-flavored, first-person Jesus ballad in the vein of "Love Song."  Mac takes a more laid-back approach on this one, to an acoustic-led track with pedal steel guitar and multiple Macs singing backup.  It's a sign that the band is starting to move in a new direction, one that is focused on more rootsy elements and Nashville-like arrangements.  

The real new direction is in what was the big radio hit off of the album, "Your Love Oh Lord," a worship song based on Psalm 36.  To a strangely mechanical beat, Mac sings one verse and chorus over three times, again with the acoustic backing and minimal arrangement.  The song became a concert staple for years and heralded the next phase of their career as the hardest-rocking worship band on the planet.

Other highlights include "Never Bow Down," a powerful song based on the biblical story of the three exiled believers in the fiery furnace; "Sky Falls Down," a sort of End Times Dixieland-ish rocker with horns and sly vocals; and the ballads "Don't Say Goodbye" and "I Can't Take the Pain," which show the band starting to bring a personal angle to their music.  They also close the record with the eight-minute "Give," another slow worship number like "Your Love", except they drag it out with a long coda that features almost a minute of feedback before going back into a driving finale.  It's a good song, but the band would find a better setting for it in the live show.  Long ambient worship numbers are not the TD strong suit.  

Like its somewhat generic title, Time is a quiet return to the basic Third Day approach of Southern rock with a strong gospel message, but with a little sweetness and humility thrown in to take the edge off.  It almost has a feeling of a long exhalation after the tension and weirdness of Conspiracy.  Things are coming back to where they should be, but that doesn't mean the band will stop moving forward and developing their sound and message.  But sometimes you gotta go back home before you go out to take on the world. 

Audio Adrenaline: Live Bootleg (1995)

Tracks:

1. Intro
2. We're a Band
3. Can't Take God Away
4. Soulmate
5. Scum Sweetheart
6. Rest Easy
7. Don't Censor Me
8. Medley
9. Big House
10. Happy and You Know It

Audio A hit the road in late 1994 to promote Don't Censor Me and decided to reward their fans with this live document (supposedly recorded without the band's permission, hence the Bootleg title) of those shows the following year.  It made sense as a marketing move, it had been nearly two years since Censor had hit the streets, but the record is far from essential.  It's a decent document of the band's early live sound as they continued to try to morph into a full-on rock band.  And for the most part, they pull it off.

That their ambition is to impress their audience that the are rockers is reflected in the opening "We're a Band," and continues throughout, as Stuart repeatedly makes mention of how they're playing for "rock people" and hoping that they're rocking enough for the crowd.  As usual, the rock energy is mostly carried on Blair's guitars, although guest drummer Brian Hayes does a decent job pounding the band through fairly hard versions of their songs.  

It's also clear that the band is already leaving the debut album behind.  The only full song from that disc is "What You Need," and they splice "My God" and "DC-10" into a long, drawn-out medley with lots of shouting and singalong parts.  In fact, AA is big into audience participation and silliness, as the closing track is a slow, ragged version of the Sunday school classic "Happy and You Know It."  So they're a rock band that still loves to party, and bring the crowd along for the ride.

Aside from those moments, and a nice little devotional thought from McGinniss, there's really nothing new or revelatory about Bootleg, other than they finally show that  they can rock out, they are indeed a band, and they know where they're gonna go.  An inessential, fun album in case the studio version of "Scum Sweetheart" left you wanting more.

Rich Mullins: Winds of Heaven, Stuff of Earth (1988)

Tracks:

1. The Other Side of the World
2. With the Wonder
3. Awesome God
4. If I Stand
5. Home
6. Such a Thing as Glory
7. ...and I Love You
8. Ready for the Storm
9. One True Love
10. How Can I Keep Myself from Singing?

According to Rich Mullins himself, Winds of Heaven, Stuff of Earth was going to be his last album.  After his first two decent efforts, he felt that if the third time wasn't the trick, he was heading off to the reservation.   And really, who could blame him?  I mean, first he tried to rock, then tried to have soul, and his one big hit "Verge of a Miracle" was one of his tamest songs.  Trying to translate the quiet passion and power of his solo performances into radio-friendly pop had proven to be an insoluble formula.  So this was it, as far as he was concerned.

I guess the third time was the charm.

With his third album, Rich and Reed Arvin have finally figured out how to best present his music in a way that was marketable and listenable and still fanned the glowing fire that crackled in the heart of his folky/traditional/sacred musical soul.  By simplifying arrangements and instrumentation, positioning backup vocalists and mini-choirs to supplement instead of drown out the man, and adding a noticeable "world" vibe to the songs, Winds managed to present Rich Mullins as something of a rustic choir leader, whether its members be Navajo children, professional groups, or friends in the studio.  This was Rich including us in the journey, bringing us to different spots on the globe, preaching, confessing, worshiping.  

Of course, the songs are showing ever-increasing maturity and depth, flourishing in the more open surroundings.  The album has two of his signature songs, which brought him into the spotlight, and may have even eclipsed him: "Awesome God" and "If I Stand."

They're really polar opposites, stylistically and emotionally.  "Awesome" has one of the greatest worship choruses ever written.  Period.  And Arvin and Mullins put that chorus in the only setting that could have supported it: On the lips of a large choir and the driving, brooding sound of a string section.  It's over the top, because it has to be.  And Rich sings his head off, leading the choir and the band in its almost martial procession to the gates of heaven itself.  

And yet, it's not the best song for a church service.  That's because as epically anthemic as that chorus is, Rich has surrounded it with fast-talking, slang-ridden verses that really sound strange coming out of a worship leader's mouth.  "Puttin' on the ritz...the Lord wasn't jokin'...you better be believin'..."  This isn't church music, is it?  (I say that even as I recall the innumerable times I led children's worship with this song, and how even I had trouble keeping up with all those words).  Of course, it is church music, but not the quiet pew kind of church.  Rather, it's the church bringing love to a dying world.  Now that's some ritz!!

As bombastic as "Awesome God" is, "If I Stand" is down the other side of the road.  It's a quiet mid-tempo piano ballad, with a big chorus full of confessional lyrics that almost serve as a missional prayer for the singer's life.  With just a small choir and some strings to back him up, he packs as much fire into this simple tune as the glorious conflagration of "Awesome."  The chorus is just as powerful, too, with that tag line, "If I weep, let it be as a man who is longing for his home."  Ever the ragamuffin, that Rich...

If the album just had this one-two punch of anthems, it would be a winner.  But Mullins fills out the record with some great songs, with an emphasis on missions and world evangelism that integrates ethnic motifs to the music.  The album opens with a children's choir singing in their native language (Navajo, I believe), and "The Other Side of the World" talks about how the gospel has made the world smaller and more accessible to truth.   In "Such a Thing as Glory," the title is insistently chanted by a youthful group of singers with an East Asian feel; the song "...and I Love You" has a big chorus "whoa-oa-oa" that sounds like a Native American chant.  Rich is expanding his sound even as he expands his listeners' horizons.

The other common thread is a new emphasis on worship.  The aforementioned songs all have a sense of awe and wonder, as do "With the Wonder" and the album closer, "How Can I Keep Myself from Singing?"  These tunes begin to speak of the role of nature as a setting and a voice for worship that is rooted in the Franciscan traditions that Mullins had begun to embrace.  This trend would continue through songs like "Calling out Your Name," "The Color Green," and "The Howling."  

So, it was a good thing that Rich gave it one last shot, as Winds is the record that made him a household name.  Not that it changed the way he went about his work; he didn't become a star, in fact, he became even more idiosyncratic and rough-hewn, bringing old time instruments and esthetics into his art from then on.  And "Awesome God" has become part of the tradition and worship lives of so many believers, even though it really isn't a true "congregational" song--as long as the congregation stays inside four walls.

The Seventy Sevens: The 77's (1987)

Tracks:

1. Do it for Love
2. Frames Without Photographs
3. What Was in that Letter
4. Pearls Before Swine
5. The Lust, The Flesh, The Eyes & The Pride of Life
6. I Can't Get Over It
7. Don't Say Goodbye
8. Bottom Line
9. I Could Laugh 

 In 1987, the Seventy Sevens were Island labelmates of U2, and of course, this was the year of The Joshua Tree.  While they weren't marketed as a Christian band, the Dublin rockers frequently spoke of Jesus Christ and the church in their songs, and proved that one can be a believer and top the charts as well.  Still, the Sevens were even more overt about their faith, and The 77's (or The Seventy Sevens, as the cover never really clarifies the correct spelling) represents their lone release by the Label That Signed U2.  Not that the profession of one's religious beliefs should make one more or less marketable on a mainstream label, but it would've been nice if a little of Bono's magic dust had flaked off on Mike Roe & the boys.

It's too bad, because the self-titled album (or first self-titled album, but that's another blog entry) is a brilliant summation of the music that the Sacramento band had been crafting over the previous eight years.  All of their facets and strengths are displayed: pop hooks, strong melodies, straight-on rhythm playing, twangy but bluesy leads, folky edges, and a bit of '80s electronics all swirl together to portray a band not unlike the blurry shapes on the cover: A band in motion, hard to pin down, but strangely familiar all the same.

The band has toned down the New Wave edges from All Fall Down and went back to its roots as a bluesy rock machine.  Roe's vocals range from passionate pop ("Do It For Love," "Frames Without Photographs") to rootsy twang ("The Lust...") to bellowing histrionics ("Pearls Before Swine") to trippy stream-of-conscious mumbling ("I Could Laugh").  
All nine tracks are strong, but the heaviest hitters in this line-up are the breezy leadoff track, the live blues workout "Pearls," and the folky confessional "The Lust, The Flesh, The Eyes, and the Pride of Life." 

"Do It For Love" has a bright melody that sounds like it would fit on any given Tommy James song, and yet it has clean but brisk guitar from Mike, with some great surfy bent notes accentuating the chorus.  It's quite an optimistic song from an artist that hasn't always been known for its sunny disposition.  "Pearls" is a long blues jam in the tradition of "You Don't Scare Me," with cranky guitar lines, long rappy vocals, and lyrics repeated for dramatic effect.  But whereas "Scare" is almost cocksure in its bold faith, the latter track is a lament about lost innocence and its consequences.  

But the gold medal has to go to "The Lust, The Flesh..."  It's a folk rocker right out of the Byrds' playbook, which is fitting because its demo version features none other than Chris Hillman on mandolin.  This confessional song about the follies of physical gratification features an oddly out-of-kilter vocal delivery, as Roe slides words between notes and beats as if he were a drunken patron crying in his beer at the local watering hole.  The whole song is great, with almost stream-of-conscious lyrics, but the last verse is killer, concluding with the great line, "And every single word they say makes me think I could live forever/Never knowing/They probably won't remember what they said tomorrow/Tomorrow I could be dead."  Quite simply, it's the best song the man ever wrote.

For many fans, this was the high point of the band's career, and deservedly so.   The band would still come up with great songs, awesome rock arrangements, unique guitar playing, and more attitude, but not all on one record like this. 

Daniel Amos: Preachers From Outer Space (1978/1994)

Tracks:

1. Shotgun Angel
2. Abidin'
3. Happily Married Man
4. Salvation Wings
5. Hound of Heaven
6. Secret Scripts & 3D Glasses
7. Horrendous Disc
8. Posse in the Sky
9. Mary Baker Eddy
10. I Love You #19
11. You Always Run Away from Love
12. As Long as I Live
13. I Get Around

Imagine this:  You're a Christian rock band that started out playing country music, but you write lots of songs that aren't country, and you're chomping at the bit to play these rock and pop songs and evolve musically.  But you can't just jump in a phone booth, ditch the cowboy hats and Western shirts and emerge as modern rockers.  So...you go through a slightly awkward transition.  And that's pretty much the story for Preachers from Outer Space, a long out-of-print live album from 1994 that documents some of the live shows that Daniel Amos performed during 1978, which puts them right in the middle of the interim between Shotgun Angel and the soon-to-recorded but not-so-soon-to-be-released Horrendous Disc.  The shows give us a glimpse, at least sonically, of the band in mid-phase between Country-Rock and Early New Wave.

The set list displays the evolution, as the band starts off with some of the numbers from the year-old Angel, as well as the boogie-woogie number from their debut, "Abidin'."  The band do a pretty good job of high-stepping through the song without running out of breath, although it takes them about a minute to get the engine revved up enough to take off.  Chamberlain leads the band through "Shotgun Angel" and Taylor sings on a previously-unreleased country song "Salvation Wings," which would have fit nicely on side one of Angel.   

Then things start to shift as the newer songs come out.  "Hound of Heaven" makes its debut here, in its slower Horrendous arrangement, and it does feel somewhat awkward after half an hour of country, as the band gets through it, but it fits about like a new pair of cowboy boots, and needs breaking in.  Ditto for the Chamberlain-sung "Horrendous Disc," which has an even weirder fit, and the heretofore unreleased "Secret Scripts and 3D Glasses," both of which Taylor introduces as part of an "expose of religion."  
These first eight tracks are recorded from a March '78 show in Anaheim, and the crowd sounds enthusiastic--almost too enthusiastic, as in it sounds edited and "enhanced", but what's a live album without a little post-production trickery?

"Mary Baker Eddy" and a second version of "Secret Scripts" date from a May concert in Pennsylvania, and the new songs seem a little more comfortable, but still have that new leather smell.  The former song is another never-released track, a critique of the founder of the church of Jesus Christ, Scientist.  It's a pretty decent pop number with some Abbey Road-ish harmonies, and feels like a more humorous take on "Jesus is Jehovah to Me," featuring the great opening line, "I read a book tells me death doesn't really exist/The author died years ago, I think that is rather a twist."  I guess you can take the cowboy out of the preacher, but...

"I Love You #19" makes its debut here, also, in a demo from later that year that shows the band starting to feel more comfortable in their rock and roll shoes.  Hearing these songs which would not be properly recorded and produced until the following year--and not see the light of day until two years after that--is kind of like viewing an x-ray of a chrysalis.  Although I have to admit the "cowboys/caterpillars" and skinny tie guys/butterflies" analogy seems a bit strained.
 

2nd Chapter of Acts/Phil Keaggy: How The West Was One (1977)

Tracks:

1. Concert Intro
2. Hey Whatcha Say
3. Keep on Shining
4. I Fall in Love/Change
5. Now That I Belong to You
6. Phil's Intro
7. What a Day
8. Your Love Broke Through
9. Take Me Closer
10. My Life
11. Another Try
12. Rejoice
13. Just the Same
14. Hallelujah
15. Time
16. Easter Song
17. Dance with You
18. Which Way the Wind Blows
19. Something Tells Me
20. Yahweh
21. Psalm 61
22. Grinding Stone
23. Receive
24. Morning Comes When You Call/The Son Comes Over the Hill

Only in the '70s--the golden age of the multi-disc live LP--could a record like How the West Was One have existed.  It's hard to think these days with Youtube, cable, satellite, and who nows how many digital outlets, that live LPs used to be a regular--even essential--entry in any major artist's catalog.  Some even had multiple live albums, and there was a time when such things really mattered.  Nowadays, you'll still see a live album, but more than likely it will be paired or even substituted with a live DVD, which itself is rapidly becoming an obsolete medium for live music.

But there was a time when the double LP format was the standard, and it wasn't unheard of for bands to stretch it to three or even four discs--I mean, why buy Chicago's first three albums when you could buy the 4-LP Live at Carnegie Hall album and hear three-fourths of the songs anyway?  So, it seemed natural back in 1977 for two of Christian music's premier acts to team up and drop a three-spot on an unsuspecting public.  

The 2nd Chapter of Acts was becoming one of the top artists in the still-new CCM scene, and probably the hippest and most mainstream vocal group.  Sure, you had your Imperials, your Gaithers, and your Oak Ridge Boys belting out gospel in a relatively modern style, but the sibling team of Annie Herring, Matthew Ward, and Nelly Greisen could front a full-on rock show with their sweeping harmonies, high-energy arrangements, and spiritually-powerful songs.  In 1977, they had established themselves with one of the greatest anthems written, "Easter Song," as well as a series of successful albums.  So they were definitely due for the live LP treatment, and naturally, they were the headliners, not that it really mattered, but at that time and place, their career was flying at full throttle.

Phil Keaggy was still an up-and-comer at this point, and while he had two solid albums to his credit, he really hadn't developed a huge following as a national act yet.  Love Broke Thru definitely reached a wider audience than the humble What A Day, but he still was something of a local phenomenon, at the time fronting his own band out of New York.  So he sat in with A Band Called David, a crack line-up of rock-friendly musicians in Richard Souther, Herb Melton, and Gene Gunnells.  Throw in Phil's old comrade Peter York and you had a real Jesus Music Summit, and these records capture the best of those West Coast shows.

I have to confess, I went into the album as a Keaggy fan, not so much for 2nd Chapter.  For the most part, I have not been a big fan of vocal groups.  It's not that I don't appreciate the style, but I've always been about bands, not singers.  Plus, their music, while popular and almost edgy for the '70s, hasn't really aged well, "Easter Song" notwithstanding.  I can't really say I've actually listened to a 2nd Chapter of Acts album, and really only a handful of their songs.  This record changed my way of thinking.  Yes, the songs, the arrangements, and the atmosphere are very much of their time and place, but I really love those harmonies!  And they really do pack a lot of power in those songs, I was humming and singing "Hey Whatcha Say" and "Keep on Shining" for days after I listened to them.  

I really liked "Which Way the Wind Blows," with its big chorus, and "Grinding Stone" because of its use of one of Jesus' prophetic parables about His Second Coming.  There was nothing wimpy or corny about the music, and probably the sweetest moment was when Annie asked the audience to stand up and join her in "Easter Song."  And they really have a humble attitude throughout, keeping it very Christ-centered and not about "the Big Show."

Still, I was there to hear Phil first, and his playing really shines.  He backs up the kids on their stuff and really has some hard-edged solos, picking some very gruff tones and really putting his all into it.  His solos on "Hey Whatcha Say" were especially hot and tasty.  He seems to slide right in to the guitar slot like he had played with A.B.C.D. for years.  

As far as his solo stuff, he's given three whole sides to showcase his music, and for the most part, he more than earns his keep.  One thing I immediately picked up was how young he sounds, especially on his stage chatter.  He sounds like he's practically in tears, he's so happy to be playing at times.  Another skill that Phil really masters that I rarely see elsewhere is his ability to sing and play lead simultaneously.  I can't think of another player that does that.  He really is the whole package.

I would say about half of his songs really stand out for me.  "What A Day" gets a full band treatment and keeps all of its fun, old-timey charm, with a nice extended coda.  "Just The Same" really benefits from 2nd Chapter's backup vocals, and stays pretty close to the studio version.  The sibs' harmonies really take "Hallelujah" to another level, although it does go on a little long.  Phil pulls the acoustic out for the autobiographical "My Life," a moving picture of his childhood and spiritual rebirth, throwing in a few super-fast runs for good measure.

Where the live setting really benefits most is in "de-glossing" some of the shimmery arrangements of the Love material.  "Take Me Closer" is essentially the same Love Boat-friendly dance tune, but somehow Phil changes up the playing to make it a little more vibrant.  The real show-stopper ends side four:  We finally get to hear the full version of "Time" in all of its nine-minute glory.  There something about the tone that is especially hairy on this version, and he just burns it.  He even throws that greasy "laser" riff in there, but somehow it sounds more natural and robust here.  Of course, we get the quasi-bolero section about six minutes in, and then Phil brings the house down with a boogie finale.

At the other end of the spectrum is "Rejoice."  Whenever I saw this album in the past, I'd see the sixteen-minute running time of this track and think, "Really?  That never seemed like a jam song."  And really, it's not; it might be the most energetic thing on Day but it's not the kind of thing that lends itself to going off into the stratosphere.  Phil hangs out for a while but eventually the band drops out and he does his "riff clinic" of different runs, licks, and mini-solos for five minutes.  I'm of two minds about this: On the one hand, I'm truly impressed by the sounds and resonance of these random pieces of genius, and how he can make his Les Paul sound like a french horn, a harp, etc.  On the other hand, I get bored of them quickly.  On both times I listened to the track I nearly fell asleep during this part.  When I was younger and driving hours and hours on the road, I could really get into those 20-minute plus jams, and there are still times today where it really works for me, but if it doesn't go anywhere or have any connection to a larger piece, it's just a lot of flashy curios.  But they're awesome curios, nonetheless...

I was really pleased with this album, it turned out to be a lot of fun, and I'm definitely interested in exploring more of 2nd Chapter's music.  And it really is an excellent document of one of the pivotal tours of CCM.  As far as Phil's career, it only added to his rapidly-growing status as the guitar virtuoso in Christian music.  With his next release, he would really start to cut loose and show the world what all the hubbub was about.