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Album Of The Day: Wakened By The Wind by Susan Ashton

Album Art of Susan Ashton's Wakened By The Wind album - On the left four-fifths of the cover, a photo of a white woman with long brown hair and bangs is looking reflectively below the camera and everything but her face is out of focus. On the right fifth, a picture of a few lone trees in some tall, brown grass, with most of the low branches cut off and the top branches still with green leaves. Across the bottom fifth, both photos have a transparent white layer on top of them, and on that is printed the artist name in large print and the album title a bit smaller, italics below it.

Released on this day (or at least this month) 34 years ago, this is the first album by Christian pop/contemporary artist Susan Ashton. With this album and throughout the '90s, Susan Ashton was popular on Christian radio. And it's easy to see why. She has a beautiful voice, top-notch Nashville players, and on this album, songs written by primarily Wayne Kirkpatrick and other experienced songwriters. Today is the first time I listened to this album, as I wasn't really listening to music much when this came out and I never really heard many Susan Ashton songs. To some extent, it sounds much like most of the other Christian pop that was put out in the early '90s; it's still a bit stuck in the '80s and somewhat formulaic. But there's also some talent shown on this album and I can see why Susan Ashton was popular for a time. Around 2000, she tried to move to country music and and it was not too successful, plus around that time Christian hits changed drastically, and it seems like her music career has waned since then.

Release Year: 1991
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Album Of The Day: Extreme Days Soundtrack by Various Artists

Album Art of Various Artists's Extreme Days Soundtrack album - At the top, a series of five photos across the top, the first two snowboarders, then a motocross biker, then a skateboarder, then a BMX biker, all with a rough fade effect between them. Below that a black background with 'Extremedays' all run together in bright yellow-gold. Below that, a list of all the artists on the album in small print. The bottom half is the 5 stars of the film, 3 white men and an Asian man, with a white woman in the middle, all young with street wear pictured from the waist up.

Director Eric Hannah was known for making sports reels of skateboarding, snowboarding, and similar sports set to punk/metal music over them in the '90s. In the early 2000s, Extreme Days was his first feature film. It's a teen road trip comedy made by Christians that has none of the R-rated sex and drugs, but still is very cheesy and silly, plus it definitely has some solid sports sequences that clearly are stunt doubles, if I remember it correctly. ForeFront Records worked with their EMI label family at the time to put together a fun mix of pop/rock/metal/rap that is a time capsule of Christian music from that period. A few standout moments form Klaus Badelt's score are also included on this soundtrack album which was released on this day 24 years ago. Like most compilation releases from this era, this album does not exist on streaming and you'd need to find a CD copy to enjoy it.

Release Year: 2001

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Album Of The Day: Who Are You Now by Madison Cunningham

Album Art of Madison Cunningham's Who Are You Now album - On a beige-ish gold background, the middle has a blue sketch of a woman in what looks like thin blue pen, which almost looks like a double image of a person, the second drawn a bit to the right of the first, but they're not exactly a copy of each other, as there are two lips and two noses, but only a left and right eye. In the bottom right, in the same blue color, is the artist name in a serif font, and in the bottom right is the album title in the same font and color.

The first few times I heard Madison Cunningham play, it was just her with an acoustic guitar and I was only somewhat impressed. But I was surprised when I finally put on her albums, as it's more of an electric-guitar-based rock/pop with a small band, and I love the edge to her sound. Or maybe it's more of a folk-rock/Americana sound, as her third full-length album won a Grammy for "Best Folk Album" in 2023. This is Madison Cunningham's second full-length album, and on it she talks about her insecurities and struggles in a very melodic and poetic way. It's a honest and personal album that surprises and challenges me, and is one of my favorite more recent findings once I did give Madison a listen.

Release Year: 2019
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Album Of The Day: The Moon Is Down by Further Seems Forever

Album Art of Further Seems Forever's The Moon Is Down album - On the top and bottom, each has a photo of an airplane centered on one of the wings, both black and white photos and the whole photo is colored pink instead of white. The top quarter is a photo of the left wing of a small plane with only one engine on that wing and wheels coming from the wing as well, plus the cement tiles of the ground below. The bottom half has a photo of the right wing and right side of the plane picture from the nose. Two engines can be seen on the plane and another plane and the airport terminal can be seen behind it. Between the photos is a large white strip that has the band name in hot pink and the album title in black, slightly smaller letters below.

It was the early 2000s, and emo was becoming mainstream. Tooth & Nail Records signed this band, Further Seems Forever, that brought emo with heavy, guitar-based rock. On this album, The Moon Is Down, the vocalist was Chris Carrabba, who quickly left the band because of the success of his side band, Dashboard Confessional. Dashboard Confessional went on to become way bigger than Further Seems Forever, but I still like this album more than his Dashboard work. Carrabba's vocals sometimes hides in the midst of the driving guitars, drums and bass, but then sometimes soars above and even gets to screaming. Further Seems Forever continued with other vocalists for a few more albums, but I never liked their style as much without Chris Carrabba's vocals. I guess that the band reunited with the original lineup a while back and I should check out to see if their newer music was any good.

Release Year: 2001
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Album Of The Day: Shipwrecks & Islands by Gold Records

Album Art of Gold Records's Shipwrecks and Islands album - At the top, it seems like a map with numbers and arrows on it, with a green-ish hue and some parts of it are reflected or are semi-transparent with layers under it. The middle is black, and has the album title in white print with a light blue, thick border around it. Below that, it transitions form black to white, with a bit of red and blue in the transition. At the top, in small print, it says 'Touching the heart of a broken world' and at the bottom says 'Poems by Adrian Plass. Words and music by Phil Baggaley, Dave Clifton and Ian Blythe'.

This album is a bit different than most modern worship albums. Although there is pop/rock-styled songs that could be used as a part of a modern church service or prayer, the album has poetic reflections on life and spirituality by Adrian Plass between each song. This British music team lead by Phil Baggaley, David Clifton and Ian Blythe performs the music. It's high-quality music and the music and the poetry works really well as an album to listen to straight through. This album is definitely not something an American record label would produce. The poetry between the songs provides a very different feel than most Christian albums, and I find it refreshing that this album exists and provides a way to reflect on our life as well as call us on to be better people.

Release Year: 1999
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Album Of The Day: Kind Of Blue by Miles Davis

Album Art of Miles Davis's Kind Of Blue album - A photo of a black man in a navy blue suit and a tie playing a trumpet, only his upper body and the mouth of the trumpet are seen along with his hand playing the trumpet. At the top, in large print in white it says the artist name, with the title of the album in smaller blue text. Also above the album title is the Columbia Records logo and name, and below the title a list of the other players on the album.

I wasn't so convinced when Ryan Gosling's character in La La Land endlessly praised jazz, but this Miles Davis recording has made me a believer. Davis plays his heart out on the trumpet and the band follows him wherever he goes. All the instruments are played masterfully, and it's a roller coaster ride of sounds, from beautiful and calm one moment to loud and blaring the next but no less beautiful. It's so much fun to listen to masters of their craft improvise together and make music that is loved nearly 70 years later. This is often listed in the top albums, and it's clear to me why that is because it's such a fun and engaging listen.

Release Year: 1959
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Album Of The Day: Curioso by Wilder Woods

Album Art of Wilder Woods's Curioso album - A photo of a man sitting on a nice chair in front of a bookshelf, though there's no books here. The top shelf is dozens of liquor bottles and dozens of shot glasses. The middle shelf has an NBA basketball, a baseball in a bowl, and cigarette ad that says 'Wilder Woods!', plus a bust that looks like a dark-skinned woman with a head covering. On the last shelf, there's about 30 records, maybe. The man is leaning back in a chair, wearing a T-shirt, and has a cowboy hat over his face. The man has a number of large rings on, a golden armband, and a number of tattoos on his arms. In the middle, the word 'Curioso' is printed in bright yellow.

Bear Rinehart is a prolific songwriter and the lead singer of a band called Needtobreathe. But he also releases music under the artist name Wilder Woods, and his third album as Wilder Woods releases today. Curioso feels like Bear is trying lots of things that he can't do in his main band. These songs feel more personal and he's able to stretch himself more artistically, maybe. It's a bit more romantic and less spiritual than Needtobreathe songs overall, and it's a bit more straight indie rock than the southern rock/country vibe of the other band. I like Wilder Wood's music, but none of his albums have really become regular spins so far. Though maybe I should see these songs played live next month....

Release Year: 2025
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Album Of The Day: Word Of Mouth by John Reuben

Album Art of John Reuben's Word Of Mouth album - A black and white photo of a man with a large kick drum slung over his shoulder on to his back is in a field and looking to the left. A microphone is hanging from the top of the frame to the left of him. A dog is sitting behind him and looking to the right, away from the man. To the left of the man on the top left is the artist's name in large orange type, and the album title in much smaller text in gray type.

John Reuben, the self-named "Cool The Underdog", delivered what I consider his best album on this day 18 years ago. "The thrill of proving the world wrong is finally gone / You should move on." It's a good 36 minutes of rap from this self-critical white man. John mixes his honest thoughts with some sarcastic remarks and talks about his insecurities as well his faults along with the normal rapper bravado. It's not a long album, but it is some of his best work in both music and rhymes. I love it and although his latest stuff hasn't been as good as this in my opinion, I enjoy his more recent independent releases too.

Release Year: 2007
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Album Of The Day: Intimate Portrait by Caedmon's Call

Album Art of Caedmon's Call's Intimate Portrait EP - On a light blue background, a photo of the right half of a woman's face is shown with a red heart cutout next to it. Over the photo, a dotted arrow points to the text '(ip)' to the right. At the top, the band's name is printed in uppercase in a dark red, serif font. Below that in blue-green is the album title in lowercase.. At the bottom, it says '5 song enhanced CD'.

This is one in my collection that is not available on streaming, and you'll need to find a used CD copy to give this one a listen. This EP had a few B-sides and alternate recordings of songs from their 1997 self-titled album, plus the Enhanced CD provided low-quality digital videos of the band as well. (Everything from that era that could be played on a computer is terribly low-quality today.) It's a rare early item from the Christian folk-rock band, and it shows their great musicianship and songwriting even only a few years into their career. The band would go on to record many other releases, and even recently re-recorded their self-titled album and played a few reunion shows after a long hiatus.

Release Year: 1997

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Album Of The Day: 2 Edged Sword by Faith Massive

Album Art of Faith Massive's 2 Edged Sword album - Most of the area is a dark green photo of a sword hilt that seems to be suspended in a green liquid, with bubbles around it. In the top right, a circular logo with a backwards 'F' and an 'M' is next to the text FM and the title '2edgedsword' without the spaces.

I'm trying to remember how I got into this artist. It was maybe mp3 dot com free downloads back in the day or a recommendation from a dance music fan on an e-mail list or something, but I can't remember. Faith Massive is an electronic, drum and bass artist. It's mostly all instrumental sounds mixed electronically with the occasional lyric, as much sampled as sung. It's an interesting vibe, sometimes pounding and sometimes more chill. It's not the pop dance hits you might hear at a club, I imagine, but more distilled beats for those that are really in the dance genre. It's definitely not what I listen to too often, but I enjoy mixing it up and listening to something different from time to time, as you've probably noticed.

Release Year: 2002
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