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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.

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Album Of The Day
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Album Of The Day: Town To Town by Phil Keaggy

Album Art of Phil Keaggy's Town To Town album - In a downpour on a side street, a man stands in the doorway of a brick building witha. guitar sitting on the steps in front of him as a number of people scramble with luggage and umbrellas working to get inside a yellow taxi cab. The inside of the building is golden and looks inviting, and the man is looking up at the sky and wearing a leather jacket and a sweater, plus is not minding the other people out the door. The scene looks maybe a bit old-timey for the era of this album's release. In the top left, there's a circular design that looks maybe a bit mid-century modern, an illustration of a cityscape of tall buildings at night with a red and white checkered pattern around it, and on the top it says the artist's name, and below it wrapping around the edge is the album name.

Released 45 years ago sometime this month, this is the fourth vocal album from guitar virtuoso Phil Keaggy (not including his albums with Glass Harp or The Phil Keaggy Band). Tracks like "Full Circle" and the 7-minute "Town To Town" bring some fun rock and the album definitely has a '70s/'80s vibe. The closing track "Let Everything Else Go" is one he has played live a lot and re-recorded a number of times since this release. The lyrics of these rock songs, both fast and slow, are definitely very ministry-focused, often pointing to God as the reason of life for Phil and leading the listener to have a closer relationship to God. Still, though, it is clear that these are very personal songs to Phil Keaggy, and unlike some of his instrumental guitar albums, he's not just doing this to show off his skills (though that still does happen a bit here). His guitar styles vary widely, mostly electric but some acoustic layered in songs as well. My favorite era of Phil Keaggy's vocal music is the mid-'90s to 2000s, I think, but this early album is not bad either. These early albums were hard to find not too many years ago as they have been long out of print so I only started listening to this in the last few years after Phil Keaggy and his team got the rights to put the remastered albums on streaming and Bandcamp. I'm glad we can now access more of this artist's work today.

Release Year: 1981
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Album Of The Day: Mr. Buechner's Dream by Daniel Amos

Album Art of Daniel Amos's Mr. Buechner's Dream album - On a black background, there's a small painting of trees and a starlit sky above them, looking from the ground. The trees are mostly white or light brown, thin trunks with brown or orange leaves. There's white, puffy clouds above some, and a speckled blue sky in other spots. Above the image in a red, white and blue gradient font is the band's name, and below the image in smaller white text is the album name.

Released 25 years ago last month, this is the thirteenth studio album from alternative rock band Daniel Amos. That's right, Daniel Amos is a band, not a person. Terry Scott Taylor, Tim Chandler, Greg Flesch and Ed McTaggart make up Daniel Amos and had been releasing music since the mid-'70s. This was their first album in 6 years and it's self-produced, and they may have gone a bit overboard because this is a two-CD album stretching 2 hours (if you include the hidden track on the 2nd CD). This is the first Daniel Amos album I purchased, and I purchased it mostly on the band's reputation many years ago, and honestly have not listened to it much. But it's clear these musicians are talented and there's lots of fun songs here. "Ribbons And Bows" is catchy, and the title track is a short one imagining literary figures such as C.S. Lewis, Flannery O'Connor, Lewis Carroll, Walker Percy, T.S. Eliot and G.K. Chesterton in a dream of Frederick Buechner's. Some of it is reflecting on the loss of some friends in the previous years, I think. I should check out more of their previous music sometime; I'm not that familiar with this band overall but they sound pretty good.

Release Year: 2011
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Album Of The Day: Young Love by Mat Kearney

Album Art of Mat Kearney's Young Love album - On a solid, neon green background, a black-and-white photo of a young man in a black-and-white striped shirt, black pants and old-time cap with a short beard. He's looking down towards something in front of him and holding some sort of old boombox or something in his right arm. In the top left, in black is printed the artist's name in large black letters. The album title is printed below it in the same size but in white. There's a thick black border around the edge.

Released 15 years ago today, this is the fourth album from pop/rock singer-songwriter Mat Kearney. I think it's probably his best album, and that's at least partially because he seems to have written many songs, but he picked only 10 songs that are the best, they're upbeat and show his versatility, to some extent. His previous album was great though a bit on the slow side, and this album is definitely not that. Almost all of these songs have a very heavy beat, maybe inspired by some of his hip-hop influences. It's an excellent 40 minutes of well-crafted pop songs. Lyrically, Mat Kearney is mostly writing love songs to his wife—he just got married the year before—as well as struggles to love those in his life. The first three songs, "Hey Mama", "Ships In The Night" and "Count On Me" are the best, but don't miss the rest either. "Rochester" is the closing song and it definitely slows things down, telling the story of his grandfather in a very simple, acoustic folk style and it's such a fitting ending to the album. If you want to hear me talk more about it, there's a recent episode of The Album Anniversary Podcast where Caleb and i talk about this album for over an hour.

Release Year: 2011
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Album Of The Day: Age Of Reptiles by Showbread

Album Art of Showbread's Age Of Reptiles album - A drawing of a green lizard looking at and reaching out to a small, pink baby of some sort in a clear glass orb. The orb seems to be held by a large human and we only see its hands. The drawing has decorative black corners, and around that is a brown marble color. At the top, in large black letters it says the band's name, with the album art in a light brown smaller type inside a bright pink box.

Released 20 years ago today, this is the second album on a major label from post-hardcore/screamo band Showbread. Lyrically, this band mixes horror tropes with religious language and scripture, and as the album's title suggests, a lot of talk of various types of reptiles and other animals as a metaphor for our primal nature. Musically, it's a mix of very loud guitars, a good amount of synthesizers, and a lot of screaming amid some singing, though there are also some quiet moments as well. The epic, 10-minute closing track even ends with a soft singing of a modern praise chorus. This is one of my favorite records from the band, as the band has a lot to say about society and religion and such a unique style that they do it in. It's probably not going to be appreciated by everyone, but I really like this album when I'm looking for something harder.

Release Year: 2006
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Album Of The Day: Another Realm by Iona

Album Art of Iona's Another Realm album - A photo of a long-haired person silhouetted by the sunlight, riding a horse towards the camera and holding a sword upwards in their right hand. The ground looks pretty arid with hills in the distance on the horizon. Layered on the edges is what may be some ancient stonework or artwork, hard to tell. In the top left it has the Iona word mark, all-capital letters written in a flowing script, with a white glow around the letters.

Released 15 years ago this Sunday, this is the seventh and (likely) final studio album from Celtic progressive rock band Iona. Released 21 years after their first album, this epic, 95-minute album continues to find the band doing what they always do: mixing traditional Irish music sounds, rock music, and much more into a exciting musical journey. Sometimes it's a quiet, traditional sounding song sung by Joanne Hogg and sometimes it's Dave Fitzgerald and Dave Bainbridge and other multi-instrumentalists doing an instrumental melody that turns into a jam session. When there are lyrics, they are often full of religious imagery and references to nature. I love the long, cinematic tracks and the very unique mix of styles throughout. This isn't my favorite album from Iona, but I love all their albums and listen to them often.

Release Year: 2011
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Album Of The Day: Holy God by Brian Doerksen

Album Art of Brian Doerksen's Holy God album - On a white background with sepia-toned edges, a man stands on a shiny floor that matches the background. He's wearing a white shirt and black pants and is somewhat bald and is looking up to the words printed above him. He's rather small on the frame of the cover, smaller than the album title words 'Holy God' are above him. Some of the letters are a bit out of focus. Next to the 'Y' is the letters 'HWH' in very faint white, to spell 'Yhwh', another Hebrew name of God. In small red letters next to the word 'God' is the artist's name.

Last week, songwriter, musician and worship leader Brian Doerksen passed away after a battle with cancer. This Canadian artist was an early pioneer of the "modern worship" music, recording live worship services and doing them in a modern rock/pop style. He was a featured worship leader on most Vineyard Music releases throughout from the mid-'80s through the 2000s and songs like "Refiner's Fire" and "Faithful One" are well-known in some church circles. Released 20 years ago this coming November, this is his fourth album after leaving Vineyard Music, who often didn't clearly label the artists performing on each album. This is an interesting studio album, a mix of new and old songs from this experienced musician and songwriter. Some songs like "Light The Fire Again" are older but reworked a bit with a bit more speed and a key change/reprise to it. "Change Me On The Inside" features guest vocals from Joseph Williams, lead singer of rock band Toto in the mid-to-late '80s, and that definitely sounds a bit throwback because of that. I also like a choral intro to the title track and there's even a reprise of it halfway through the album. For some reason, the "Anniversary Edition" on streaming is missing a few tracks from the 2006 CD version I have, but the best tracks are still there to remember this pioneer of modern church music.

Release Year: 2006
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Album Of The Day: Once: Music From The Motion Picture by Various Artists

Music From The Motion Picture album - A photo of two people on a cobbled side street in a European city, walking and talking. The man has a guitar in a case on his back and the woman is gesticulating like she is making her point. The bottom of the background street is replaced with a photo of an acoustic guitar looking down the neck of the guitar towards the main part of the guitar. Printed in the middle in red is the movie title in lower case, with 'Music From The Motion Picture' in much smaller text below it.

My introduction to Glen Hansard, an Irish artist who tragically passed away today in Dublin, was this film Once. In the film, Hansard plays the male lead, a struggling, shy folk musician, though in real life he had already had a fairly successful music career. The female lead, Markéta Irglová, is a Czech-born musician, and in the movie they strike up a relationship of both musical collaboration and friendship. I love director John Carney's movies because they do a good job of portraying the experience of creating music inside a dramatic narrative. Hansard starts the movie with just him and a guitar on an empty street in Dublin and it was so passionate and beautiful, I was immediately hooked. You get to see songs in progress of being written, songs recorded in the studio, and even the occasional concert performance, if I remember correctly. Much of this music was written by the performers on this album, and you feel how invested they are in these songs as they perform them. It's been too long since I've watched this movie, but it's beautiful to listen to the music today in memory of this very talented songwriter and musician. Hansard and Irglová also performed as a duo The Swell Season after this, and Hansard was also the lead of long-time rock band The Frames. Rest in peace, Mr. Hansard, and prayers for your band mates and family.

Release Year: 2007
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Album Of The Day: Remember by Future Of Forestry

Album Art of Future Of Forestry's Remember album - On a background that looks like a wooden board colored green and black, the wood grain is apparent on the left side and some faint gold marker has words written on it in spots. In the middle, it has a a circle with a backwards F and a forwards F coming out of the top of it, and below it it says the band name. It looks like these are painted in silver on top of the board, as the wood grain can be seen through the paint in spots.

"You are free to be you." Released 5 years ago in May, this is the sixth studio album from alternative rock and more chill artist Future Of Forestry. Mostly the work of one man, Eric Owyoung, the music is beautifully crafted instrumentation and smooth vocals; songs of love, mostly, although some include references to God. It's very inspiring music to me. Some of this is calm, soothing ballads, but then sometimes the music swells into a sweet crescendo of guitars, strings, piano, drums and more. Some of their early music was more traditional, guitar-focused rock, but most of Future Of Forestry's albums are a bit more chill, in my opinion. This is only 8 tracks totaling 34 minutes, so it's a bit of a mini-album by some standards, but it's still great to get recent music from this long-time independent artist.

Release Year: 2021
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Album Of The Day: Love Shine Through by Tim Hughes

Album Art of Tim Hughes's Love Shine Through album - In a dark room on a carpeted floor, 15 displays of various sizes, from a phone to a tablet to a monitor, are spread across the floor in the approximate shape of a heart. The only light seems to be the displays, which all look to be bright white. Between the devices you can see a bit of carpet, and power cables that are run from power strips to each device. At the top, in large, lowercase white letters, it has the artist's name on the left, with the album cover in much smaller, thin, uppercase letters to the right.

Released 15 years ago in March, this is the fourth studio album from artist and church music leader Tim Hughes. Some of my favorite artists doing worship music in the last 30 years are from England, and Tim Hughes is up near the top of that list. He's most known for earlier songs like "Here I Am To Worship" and "Beautiful One". This album is full of newer songs that haven't really been adopted by churches widely, but are still good worship music and also interesting pop/rock music to listen to. Produced by Martin Smith, whose band delirious? disbanded a few years before, most of these songs are also co-written by Hughes and Smith. Though it's a studio album, these songs are given room for the types of spontaneous, extended bits of praise and worship to God, with each track averaging over five minutes. This is a good album of reflection and worship to God with 12 new, original songs that you probably have not heard.

Release Year: 2011
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