Released 30 years ago tomorrow, this is the third album by Christian rock/pop band Audio Adrenaline and my favorite album of their discography. Nearly 2 years after this released, I heard the bluesy, mid-tempo track "Man Of God" from this album on Wow 1998 and thought it was worth checking out their full album, and it was a big part of jumping on the trampoline while listening to music as loud as possible in the back yard that summer. At this point, the band who was known for cheesy Christian pop like "Big House" were deep in a rock groove. "Never Gonna Be As Big As Jesus" is probably their most well-known song from this album and a good one. The songs all point to Jesus in subtle or not-so-subtle ways, like "Secret" starting the album out with a good groove and not exclaiming what the secret is, while "I'm Not The King" just exclaims it. The only song not written by the band is a cover of Edgar Winter's "Free Ride", which fits very well with the rest of the album and seems like it could be a song about Jesus and not some '70s song about some other type of spiritual awakening. And I know some hate non-musical interludes, but I've always had a soft spot for "Jazz Odyssey", a funny bit where a jazz radio DJ starts playing a song and it gets a bit too rock—it's hilarious every time. The band wears their Christianity on their sleeve, but they still put together a good classic rock album with hints of grunge. It's really the only album from Audio Adrenaline I listen to every year or two.

Release Year: 1996
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