Newsboys: Shine--The Hits (2000)

(As published in the Times of Acadiana ... )

Newsboys
Shine: The Hits
(Sparrow)

Ignore the title--even in the group’s native Australia, these songs were only “hits” on the Christian charts. Still, the Newsboys are techno-popsters who know their craft, and this album usefully documents their development. That they took a quantum leap forward under the production of Steve Taylor is undeniable, turning out music far catchier than that of the band with whom Taylor eventually won his Grammy, Sixpence None the Richer. Also undeniable is that they reached a high point with last year’s Love Liberty Disco. So why is it completely unrepresented here? Probably for the same reason that the five customer-baiting new songs are included: to assure that the group gets the biggest buck for its bang. Now I ask you, how Christ-like is that? Rating: Three-and-a-half moneychangers in the temple out of five.

Newsboys to Tension: Six One-Line Reviews (2000)

(As published in the Times of Acadiana ... )

Newsboys, Love Liberty Disco (Sparrow). Like Sixpence and Jars of Clay, Newsboys are contemporary-Christians; unlike Sixpence and Jars, Newsboys are better than Sixpence and Jars.

Jim Roll, Lunette (New West). I dismissed this as a lousy Neil Young rip-off at first, but I was wrong--it’s actually a pretty good Neil Young rip-off.

Santana, Supernatural (Arista). Sometimes he jams like someone who claims that marijuana isn't a drug and that Our Lady of Guadeloupe once took him into her confidence; at other times, though, he can make you think the Grammy voters really know what they’re doing.

Shalamar, Greatest Hits (Solar/The Right Stuff). That only four of these seventeen songs broke top 40 pop shouldn't keep anyone interested in Jody Watley's and Howard Hewitt's roots from discovering why 12 of them went top 40 R&B.

The Johnny Staats Project, Wires and Wood (Giant). Bela Fleck you know, but did you know he had legatees good enough to make you wish you could pronounce their last names?

Tension, War Cry (Cargo/ Headhunter). New hardcore punk by old hardcore punks still capable of teaching Korn a thing or two about speed, profanity, and raging against the machine.