Released 15 years ago today, this is the second concert DVD released by rock band The Elms, one of my favorite bands. After four albums and 10 years, The Elms decided to retire as a band and move on to other things, and on July 30, 2010, they played their final concert in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. They played over 30 songs for over 3 hours in this epic finale as a band, I hear. This concert film was created by the band in the year following the concert and released on DVD independently. The film accurately captures the energy and musicianship of their live shows in its 110-minute runtime. (No, they did not release video of the entire concert, but there's about 20 songs here.) The audio sounds great, and the video is frenetic and oscillates between black-and-white and some sort of hyper-colorized version that gives the film an almost psychedelic look. The video is sometimes also very blurry and grainy and has fast cuts, which are interesting choices and I'm not sure I like it visually as much as their first concert DVD. But it's great to have this recording of the band's last show and it's certainly the way the band wanted to present it. The DVD film can still be purchased from the band's website along with their vinyl box set. In the 16 years since, the band has reunited a few times for a live show and hanging out with fans.

Release Year: 2011
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Released 5 years ago today, this is the second solo album from pop/rock artist Stephen Christian, most well-known as the original lead singer of Anberlin. While Anberlin was a rock band that made mostly love songs, Stephen Christian's solo music has been more Christian pop/rock. Stephen here records 10 songs of worship-oriented music, most of which he wrote or co-wrote along with some of the biggest songwriters in Christian pop/worship music. While I think these songs are not as great some of his other works, it's clear that Stephen Christian has a lot of talent in songwriting and performance. These songs use a lot of religious and biblical language that most non-Christians will not understand, but musically they are interesting, guitar-led rock sounds that I find really enjoyable. I've been playing the track "Call/Run" often since I first heard it, and the rest of the songs are really well-made as well. It seems to me like Stephen Christian is one of those artists who will always be writing and recording music and I'm happy to see it in whatever type he wants to do, no matter if it's this Christian music or his more mainstream pop/rock works under the name Anchor & Braille or even something else.

Release Year: 2021
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"I have an evil plan to save the world for every man / And I think it's better than the way it's being run." Released 28 years ago today, this is the first EP from ska/punk band Five Iron Frenzy and their third release overall. Although it is an EP, there's actually a good 7 songs including an Electric Light Orchestra cover that are most of the runtime. And these songs are memorable, from the opener "My Evil Plan To Save The World" to "Dandelions" and "One Girl Army". But about half of the EP's 17 tracks are a series of joke songs entitled "These Are Not My Pants (The Rock Opera)". In this series, the band records the lyrics "These are not my pants. Whose pants are these?" in various musical styles, each version being a minute or less. This has made me laugh a bunch of times in the last 28 years, but I'm not sure if it has as much replay value as the rest of the Five Iron Frenzy catalog. It's a fun EP that shows the band's musical prowess as well as their humor, and you should check it out.

Release Year: 1998
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Released 15 years ago today, this is the fourth album (second easily available) by rock artist John Mark McMillan. On this release, he mixes poetic lyrics with an excellent rock ethos. His band is firing on all cylinders throughout, with layers of screaming guitars and pounding drums and bass. Released on Integrity Music which is a label known for modern church music, this album and artist doesn't exactly fit there. I think this is more a rock performance than songs for praise and worship, though some of his lyrics do have some elements of that. It's not my favorite John Mark McMillan album, but it may be his most rock 'n' roll and I think that's why some fans really like it. It's a solid album and well worth a listen. And if you want, you can listen to me and a few others talk about it in depth on The Album Anniversary Podcast recently.

Release Year: 2011
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