It’s kind of a Cornerstone tradition for me to come back from the festival with a giant pile of CDs, most of which were usually pretty cheap. And although over the past 11 years I’ve filled in most of the holes in my collection, I can still find some old stuff that I never got around to listening to, and some new stuff that I’ve only just discovered. I’m still working my way through the giant pile of stuff that I bought, but here’s the list.
First, there’s a pretty big pile of stuff that I bought on the way to the festival. I stopped off at a used CD store in Nashville and found the following stuff:
Third Day, Revelation (pre-release) I’m a Third Day fan from WAY back (the very beginning, in fact), so while I’m not as enthusiastic about their music as I once was, it’s always good to hear a new album from them. The Third Day formula is well-established at this point, and this CD doesn’t seem to stray all that far from it, though guest performances by Robert Randolph (pedal steel on “Otherside”) and Flyleaf’s Lacey Moseley (vocals on “Run To You” and “Born Again”) do shake things up a bit. The pre-release skips like crazy, so I’m looking forward to hearing a pristine copy of the disc on July 29th.
Tonio K, Romeo Unchained and Notes from the Lost Civilization An artist I’ve heard a lot about on the fringes of the CCM world over the years, Tonio K wasn’t really what I was expecting. The production is a little dated on these late-80s albums, but the songwriting is strong (bringing to mind Bob Dylan or Mark Heard) and clever (for example, the mildly controversial tracks “I Handle Snakes” and “What Women Want”). The list of players on the albums is eclectic, including names like Tim Chandler, Booker T. Jones, Charlie Sexton, and T Bone Burnett.
The Prayer Chain, Shawl This was a band that I never really “got.” They came to prominence a bit before I really got into the “alternative” side of Christian music, and they were always a little noisy and odd for my tastes. But I saw this disc for cheap and decided to give them another listen, and it wasn’t bad. I need to give it a few more spins, but I think maybe, 15 years (!) too late, I’m starting to see what the fuss was about.
Charlie Peacock, West Coast Diaries Volume 1-3 I’ve never really listened to Peacock, though I’ve been aware of his work for quite a while. I’d never seen him live before this year’s festival, either. So when I saw this set of 3 CDs for $6 (alas, with no cases or liner notes), I decided to give it a shot. I haven’t gotten around to listening to it yet, though.
Kevin Max, The Blood (pre-release) Another one that I decided to take a chance on. I liked him in DC Talk, and some of his solo stuff has been pretty decent (though some of the lyrics still call to mind his book of awful poetry from some years back). This looks like an album of covers of old gospel songs, so it might actually be pretty good. Alas, the CD is scratched to pieces and cracked near the edge, so it may not even be playable. We’ll see.
Over the Rhine, Drunkard’s Prayer (pre-release) I already own the real version of this CD from one of my favorite bands, but these sorts of pre-release things are kind of cool to have. The CD itself is a little bit sedate for my tastes (even by Over the Rhine standards). I liked the fuller sounds of Ohio or Films for Radio a bit better. Some of these songs really come to life in the live setting, though, like “Hush Now (Stella’s Tarantella)” and “Spark.”
The Stone Roses, Second Coming Not CCM in any way, unless you count the messiah complex the band seems to suffer from. Their first CD was pretty good, though, and I like “Love Spreads” well enough, so I decided to pick it up and see how it is.
Tears for Fears, Elemental (single) Another “for collectors only” item, this single features a radio edit and a live version of the title track, a live version of album track “Dog’s A Best Friend’s Dog,” and “New Star,” which previously appeared on the band’s first hits compilation. The first three albums from the band are great; their later albums after Curt Smith’s departure don’t really measure up, but they were still a melodic, welcome relief from the 90s grunge bog.
I acquired a lot of stuff at the festival proper, including some used stuff from the merch tents, stuff I bought directly from bands, and some giveaway stuff:
Liaison, Liaison Mid-tempo keyboard/mullet-rock released in 1989 on Frontline. A friend bought this when I was a teenager, and I always kind of had a soft spot for “Man With A Mission” and “Kick It Down.” They aren’t as good as I remember, but the album’s no worse than any other second-tier CCM rock album of the late 80s.
Seventy Sevens, Holy Ghost Building I loved the 77’s up through their first couple of 90s releases, but they lost me with Tom Tom Blues and their interminable jazz odyssey recordings and shows. They’ve been winning me back of late, though, with a return of some focus (and some oldies) to their live sets. This is an album of gospel covers (at least mostly – the stupid digipak packaging is very light on liner notes), and it’s good. Gospel songs seem to be a bit of a “thing” at the moment, with this album, the Kevin Max album, the Mike Farris album, the NEWWORLDSON album, and others. I don’t mind it a bit; Russ Taff’s earlier entry into that realm, Under Their Influence, remains an all-time favorite of mine.
Run Kid Run, Love at the Core This band really surprised me this year. They were, as I recall, fairly nondescript last year, but their Tooth & Nail Day set this year really impressed me, so I bought their latest CD. “Rescue Me” and “One In A Million” stand out to me after one listen, but the whole album sound pretty consistently good.
Mike Farris, Salvation in Lights Well, there’s just no way that this album of gospel covers (with a couple of originals) could capture the pure awesomeness of his live set, but it’s a strong album start to finish nonetheless. This could be one of those cases where memories of an awesome live performance make me appreciate the album more than I otherwise would, but even if you didn’t see the show (and not many of you did), if you like sweet soul music, this is worth a listen.
Seabird, ‘Til We See the Shore One of the most improved bands of the last year, I think. Last year, their set was good enough to get me to buy their Spread Your Broken Wings and Try EP, but neither the set nor the EP were particularly memorable. Everything was different this year – the live set was tight and impressive, and I’m obsessed with this CD. Singer Aaron Morgan’s voice isn’t for everybody, but if you’re OK with that, this is a strong CD. “Rescue,” “Let Me Go On,” and “Maggie Mahoney” are my favorites, but I keep listening to the album all the way through, and so should you.
Various Artists, Tooth & Nail Records 80s Tribute Volume One $3 at Rad Rockers, as I recall. It’s a collection of previously released 80s covers from various early 00s Tooth & Nail bands, and it’s not really all that good. Stavesacre’s “Fascination Street” is the standout track.
NEWWORLDSON, Salvation Station Another album of old-timey gospel songs, this time a bunch of originals in that style. I was really skeptical of this band going into their set, but they delivered. I haven’t listened to the album yet to see if it does their stuff justice, and I don’t really associate this style with Inpop Records, but we’ll see how it works.
The Hopescope, Bring in the Sun Produced by Jeff Elbel of Ping, who also contributed some lyrics, vocals, guitars, and so forth to the album. I’m not familiar with the band, but Jeff was giving away copies of the CD at the Ping merch table so I figured I could give a good home to a copy. It’s still in the “to be listened to” pile, but it looks interesting.
Adam Again and Friends, Live at Cornerstone 2000 This was the Gene Eugene tribute show, which I attended. The band was rocking (especially Jon Knox – oh my, could that guy beat on a drum kit), and the guest vocalists sounded great filling Gene’s shoes. Unfortunately, this recording doesn’t really do the show justice. The recording sounds harsh, poorly mixed, and a little overdriven, which is disappointing. The liner notes, with various artists reminiscing about Gene, are a nice touch, and the new song by Riki Michele is good. The CD also comes with a Greg Lawless solo CD as a bonus. It’s a nice package; it’s just too bad that the audio quality isn’t better for the live set.
Nitengale, Theatres One of the surprise bands of the fest, Nitengale played two solid sets of piano-driven rock. Their late night show compelled me to buy their CD (which I haven’t listened to yet). This is another band where the live show is probably very difficult to capture on disc, but the tracks I’ve heard on MySpace sound pretty good, so I’m looking forward to hearing the CD. When I talked to the band after their late night set, they said they were in Nashville working with Word Records. I’m not sure exactly what that means, and I really can’t imagine this sort of stuff coming from Word. I hope things work out for them, though.
Resurrection Band, Music To Raise the Dead 1972-1998 Box Set I own everything REZ has released, but I’m still psyched to hear this career retrospective all in one package. The detailed booklet and bonus DVD are also great additions to the package. REZ doesn’t seem to attention that bands like Petra or the 77’s have gotten over the years – they kind of exist under the radar of a lot of fans of Christian music. Trust me when I say that if you’re a fan of classic Christian rock, you’ll get your money’s worth out of this box set.
Which Way Is Home, title unknown This was kind of a cool thing – the band Which Way Is Home had a deal where you could either get an EP with packaging or a barebones CD-ROM with all the EP songs plus some new songs for the same price. I elected for the CD-ROM. But they do commit a faux pas that would violate one of my friend Matt’s rules for bands at Cornerstone – they don’t put their band name or the album title on the CD-ROM. All it’s got is a cryptic “WWIH” and illegible band signatures on the disc. Just something to keep in mind if you’re in a band – people here like 100 bands in 5 days at Cornerstone, so make sure you put your info front and center to remind people who you are. As for the CD, it’s still in the “to be listened to” pile.
The Machine, T.R.M. Demo Some guy handed me this CD on the side of the road. He said it was “sung when it needs to be sung, and screamed when it needs to be screamed,” which experience leads me to believe means it’s 98% screaming, but I haven’t listened to it yet. As a counterpoint to the previous CD, this demo does have the band name, the album title, and the MySpace address readily available.
Anberlin, New Surrender bracelet This is kind of a cool idea, so even though I strongly prefer having physical CDs, I decided to support them for trying something different. For $15 you buy a rubber bracelet with the Anberlin logo on it and a USB drive built in. On the USB drive are 4 songs and a link to enter a code (printed on a piece of paper attached to the bracelet) to download the full album when it comes out on September 30th. I was a little disappointed to find that all the songs are remixes, three of which are from previous albums and one of which is on the forthcoming album. It would have been cool to get a bit more of a preview of the album. But still, this is a clever idea.
Finally, after I got home, I downloaded or bought some additional music that I found out about during the festival:
Capital Lights, This Is An Outrage! The graphic design of the album cover really doesn’t match the music, so don’t judge this album of catchy pop-rock by the cover. One thing that’s got to be frustrating to the band – their album came out exactly one week AFTER their performance (to a large, enthusiastic audience) at Cornerstone. Cornerstone’s kind of a big deal to a lot of these bands, so it seems like Tooth & Nail could have worked things out so they’d have some copies to sell at the fest, if only for some gas money. Anyway, this was one of the new bands I was most looking forward to going into the fest, and the live set and the album both live up to my expectations.
shirock, free downloads I’m not really sure how to capitalize their name – I’ve seen it at least three different ways. This band got a lot of pub at the festival, but it didn’t seem to translate to bodies at their set. They’re offering 4 of the 5 songs from their new EP for free download online, so if you’re a fan of (strongly) U2-influenced pop-rock, look them up.
Sixpence None the Richer, My Dear Machine EP Sixpence is back. This 4-song EP, available apparently exclusively for whatever you want to pay for it at noisetrade.com, moves away from the jangly pop shimmer of their radio hits and hearkens back to their somewhat more subdued sound that makes up the bulk of their catalog. “Sooner Than Later” is the standout track, at least on first listen. I’d really prefer to buy a physical CD instead of digital downloads, but other than that, I’m just happy to have the band back together and making music.
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