Album Of The Day: Audio Lessonover? by Delirious?

Album Art of Delirious?'s Audio Lessonover? album - A black-and-white photo of five white men walking on a beach, probably at low tide because the ground is pretty wet. Waves can be seen crashing off in the distance, and the sky is grey. Four of the five guys are wearing sunglasses, two are bald and the other three have short hair, though a bit of a mohawk spike down the middle is longer on two of them. The men on the left and in the middle have a smile on their face, while the rest look pretty serious. Printed on top of the photo is the band's word mark, the band name in a box with a 'd:' after it, in white with orange lettering. And to the right of that in a fancy serif-script font is the album title.

"What is going on / Living on this rollercoaster?" Released 25 years ago today, this is the fourth studio album from British rock band Delirious?. Starting as a church worship band in the early 1990s, by the late '90s and early 2000s the band was trying to make waves in the world of non-Christian music. Was the album title intentionally an anagram of "Radio One Loves Us" to try to pander for airplay? Maybe, or maybe the band was just being cheeky. Never released in the USA, this album was heavily reworked and released 15 months later under the name Touch, thinking that their US audiences would not want to listen to a more experimental rock album. This is not a Delirious? album I listen to most often, but it's still some of their best work, musically and lyrically. They are in full-on, experimental Brit-rock mode, writing rock/pop songs that they hoped would connect with an un-churched audience. "Waiting For The Summer" kicks it off with a fun, poppy tune. "Take Me Away", "Fire" and "Show Me Heaven" are all-out rock, and more mid-tempo songs like "Angel In Disguise" and "Love Is The Compass" also show the band's versatility and that they're not just a guitar band, as the keyboards, drums and bass are definitely crucial here. "There Is An Angel" and "Bicycle Gasoline" are two unorthodox love songs, and along with the closer "Stealing Time" the band comes up with some pretty unique sounds on the guitars, keys and drums. "America" also encourages us to think beyond our tribes and borders as well. And there's even a fun little hidden track of guitarist Stu Garrard singing about making art. There's definitely religious language, but not in the way that some of their earlier music was written for the Christian church to sing. Thanks to the changing of copyright ownership and streaming rights, you can now easily listen to this album in the USA as well as around the world, so maybe give it a listen if you want to listen to something you probably have not heard before from England's biggest Christian rock band.

Release Year: 2001
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A photo of a middle-aged man with short hair and a short beard in a room with large CD racks and other junk behind him. He's smiling and wearing a Delirious? soccer jersey and holding 3 CDs: the Audio Lessonover? CD with a signed booklet and two 'Waiting For The Summer' singles.

Categories: 
Album Of The Day
Music

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