Cons: Joel needs to try a little harder to break out of Newsboys cheerleading mode.
The Bottom Line: I enjoy this album, but artistically speaking, only a few songs really stand out. Shouldn't be a problem for fans of the Newsboys' more recent material.
divad23's Full Review: Watching Over You by Phil Joel
It seems to be the perfect time for members of high-profile Christian bands to go solo, especially with some of those bands taking a break. Not long after the CCM world was informed that dc Talk would be taking a break and all three members would be recording solo projects, they were then informed that two members of the Newsboys were doing the same, and one - their bass player Phil Joel - already had his album in the works. This intrigued me, since the Newsboys have remained a fairly solid band despite several member changes, and yet I always secretly wished they weren't so poppy. Newsboys fans had already glimpsed some of Phil Joel's writing skills on songs such as "WooHoo", "Entertaining Angels", and "Beautiful Sound", possibly some of their deepest songs to date. So my expectations were high for this album to be deep, and a little off the beaten Newsboys path. Much to my surprise, it came out sounding much like another Newsboys album.
Don't get me wrong - this is a much more personal album. Joel tends to write from more of a personal perspective than from an evangelistic/youth ministry perspective. The results are still some solid, uplifting tunes, but they don't venture too far out of the pop/rock framework that the boys are knows for. Having the group's lead singer Peter Furler as his producer and being signed to Inpop Records (the group's label for international talent) probably contributed a great deal to this sound, and yet I don't think Joel was forced to sound like the band he came from. These are just the kind of songs that he had swimming around in his head for a while.
God Is Watching Over You gets things going immediately, with an acoustic guitar, Joel's voice, and a punchy beat. This song definitely has a great tune to it and gets stuck in your head, and every word of it is a reminder that God is there even when it feels like He's not, which I think a lot of longer-term Christians need to be reminded of from time to time. But I have a few complaints. It seems like the song was placed first on the album because it was his first single; it doesn't start the pacing off quite right. While true, the lyrics are a bit trite (and that will occur throughout most of the album, so be warned). And the chorus... well, you can practically sing "Entertaining Angels" right over it. It's got that same feel to it, except this song doesn't have quite the same epic drama to it. My girlfriend and I still get a kick out of the song, though - especially from how this New Zealander pronounces the words, "Swing low, sweet chariot".
Strangely Normal introduces a little more of an alternative feel, but keep in mind that this is alt-pop and not alt-rock. The beats are a little more syncopated, the verses are quirkier, and the chorus is backed by some fuzzier guitar sounds. Lyrically, this one's a lot of fun, detailing the story of a girl who wants to change but doesn't know exactly how, or who she wants to be. The song asserts that she may feel weird, but she's filling a role that no one else can fill for her. Unfortunately, the lyrical flow derails during the bridge, where Joel sums up the moral of the story for us a bit too soon: "By following Jesus, we'll become who we're supposed to be." See, I think it should be up to the listener to realize where Joel is going with the song. Again, everything he's said is true, but the joy of figuring out the song has been stolen from me. It's still my favorite of the faster songs on this album, though.
El Salvador (subtitled "The Savior" for those of you who hadn't figured that out) is a moving, heartfelt song that starts out as a ballad, then picks up later with a solid beat and some soaring vocals. Here the album begins to show a little more promise of lyrical substance and emotional honesty, as Joel recounts his reaction to a trip to El Salvador that he took to visit a child he was sponsoring through WorldVision. Rather than guilt trip the listener about all of the starving children that they're not helping to feed (something that these charities sometimes resort to), Joel keeps it personal and explains to us how much it can change and individual to see the suffering and poverty firsthand, coexisting with a joy that most Americans who don't have to suffer may not really understand. The only thing that bogs this song down for me is the lack of a more filled out and memorable chorus. It's still a great ballad, though.
Author of Life only barely picks up the pace, relying on a catchy piano line, a more direct mid-tempo drum beat, and some slightly gospel-sounding background vocals toward the end. It's a song about repentance and turning your life over to God, asking Him to be in control and to remove our desire to take that control away from Him. Once again, I wish for a more filled out chorus. "To the author of life/Be the author of my life/To the author, do you hear me say" just doesn't do it for me.
Tonight (Not Fading Away) returns us to the slightly fuzzier sound of "Strangely Normal" with a similar beat, but this song isn't as quirky. It's basically Phil's interpretation of God giving him a wake up call, saying, "Get serious about your faith; don't just settle for being lukewarm and coasting through life." It's a message most Christians need to hear, because a lot of us can get pretty complacent and jaded as we get older and this whole Jesus thing doesn't feel new and shiny any more. I like how the energy of the song backs off for the gentle plea from God during the bridge, and then builds again as Joel urgently responds: "I'm not fading away!" As always, I could do with a little more lyrical specificity, but I guess generality can make a song like this applicable to more of our lives.
My Generation shows promise in its subtlety - the beat is more restrained, simply loping back and forth throughout the song, and the most notable element of the music is some funky, 70's sounding guitar work that takes us back to the right point in time for Joel to talk about his "surfing buddies" and how he wonders if they have held onto their faith throughout the years. This song will definitely relate more to an older audience, who has had time to watch all of their friends grow up and spread out into the world, staking their claim on what they feel is important in life.
Be Number One is about as cheesy as it sounds from the title, though its placing after "My Generation" is clever, because it has more of an 80's surf-pop feel to it, and the lyrics were written when Joel was a teenager. That almost makes up for the awkward mixture of paraphrased scripture ("What good is it if a man gains the world and yet he loses his soul?") and the trite chorus ("I want you to be a part of everything I do/I want you to be number one")... almost. Sometimes, this one's hard to listen to. But I wouldn't be surprised if it became a huge feel-good radio hit. Such is Christian radio.
Fragile turns back around into lyrically deeper territory, and thankfully gives us a break from the usual 4/4 beat (anyone who reads my reviews knows that this is important to me!) Here, Joel describes the frailty of humanity, how we break far too easily on both physical and emotional levels. I believe the song was inspired by a friend who was mentally ill, and who Joel would sit with and try to reassure through long hard nights in the hospital. This song does a great job of stepping back and forth between a sole acoustic guitar and a prominent programmed 3/4 beat. Its abrupt ending and beginning also make it a winner, compared to most of the songs on this album, which do the traditional fade or slow to a stop.
It's You is a short little ditty that seems to be placed for the purpose of pacing. I'm not saying Joel wrote it to be filler; it just gets easily overlooked because of its brevity and its musical similarity to both "Author of Life" and "Be Number One", both of which stand out a lot more. It can basically be summed up in one line - All this time, I was searching everywhere and I didn't know it was You I was looking for. If it runs deeper than that, I haven't noticed.
Together thankfully closes out the album in fine form. This song starts with a moving drum beat and some compelling guitar chords, giving it a romantic, reminiscent feel without being overly mushy. Other than the fact that the verses are pretty short, it's a near-perfect song of love and longing. It was written for his wife Heather Joel, who is American. That, combined with Joel's constant touring, means that one of them is almost constantly homesick, and this song provides the reassurance that they will always feel a sense of belonging because they have each other and they have God. Heather actually sings background on this one, which is a nice touch even if I can't really hear much of her (that's why it's called background and not a duet). The song turns into a longing for our spiritual home as it fades out: "Heaven is not so far away/We will be home someday." It's all been said before, but Joel sure says it well here. This song meant a lot to me last summer while my girlfriend was away over the summer in New Mexico, and we both longed for our trip to Michigan later in the summer, where we would get to relax and play on the beach with her family. Themes of beaches and water do occur quite a bit throughout this album, so it's fitting to close with that theme.
I still like this album and I would recommend giving it a listen if you're not completely put off by a heavy dose of poppiness and the often overused cliches that come with it. If you're a Newsboys fan who loved Step Up to the Microhpone but was a bit put off by Love Liberty Disco being much less aggressive, then consider this somewhere in between. If you prefer deeply personal artists to shiny pop bands, you may find enough here to get you by, but it might take a little sifting through the tracks to find it.
I will say this much - Phil Joel is an entertaining guy with a big heart, a goofy sense of humor (not so much in his music, but definitely in person) and a top-notch live band. Perhaps if this record had more of a live-band feel, I'd give it another star. It's part of my personal hope that Christian music will start to move away from that overly bright and polished Nashville sound that the outside world is so put off by. But I understand that it is a solo record and Joel probably didn't need a band drowning him out. In any case, give it a listen and see what you think.
TRACK REVIEW SUMMARY Excellent: Together, Fragile, Strangely Normal
Good: El Salvador, Tonight (Not Fading Away), My Generation
Decent: God Is Watching Over You, Author of Life
Weak: It's You
Skippable: Be Number One
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