Happy New Year everyone! I want to thank everyone out there in the blogosphere who
has read and even commented on my Music Review Tuesday’s. My first review was April 27th of this past year. I don’t think I have missed but two or three Tuesday’s since. Music is one of my loves and I totally enjoy doing these reviews. Today Music Review Tuesday falls on the very first day of the new year so it is only befitting that I review an album and band that I am brand new to. I found them purely by accident. I was looking up feedback for a future MRT in Amazon.com and saw this band in the amazon.com “people who bought this bought these also” section. This is where I found The Classic Crime. This band began in 2004 and are originally from Bellingham, Washington. They are now based out of Seattle; the maternity ward for the grunge music scene in the early nineties that birthed such bands as Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden. There is a distinct difference in the lyrics and music of The Classic Crime than that of their geographic predecessors. Their music is more optimistic and hopeful. I have read some interviews since finding these guys from the Pacific Northwest and the one constant is they are “very energetic on stage” and they “connect with their audience.”
The debut album from The Classic Crime is “Albatross“. The album came as a result of Matt Macdonald, the bands singer, watching a nature channel and getting fascinated by the bird. He stated in an interview “It just metaphorically embodied what we wanted for our music and for our band as a whole.” “I think the bird magnificence reflected the more hopeful songs on the record.” The album was released May 23rd, 2006 through the Christian label Tooth & Nail Records. The album begins with “The Fight” a very catchy and energetic rock song. The chorus lyrics keep repeating:
I’ll take my heart back and set the people free. I’ll leave the dead to die, and take who’s coming with me.
The last part there rings of the words of Jesus as written in Matthew 8:22 of scripture. The next track “Flight of Kings” is a more melodic song with some mature lyrics such as “Do you know this songs for you?” “My heart goes out to the hurt you feel.” A very hopeful song of compassion to the hurting people in this world. The next song touches me musically the way the light guitar strums along in the verses and then crashes in on the chorus. The song is so salvation oriented in such a subtle way with “I’m drowning but I don’t care, when you’ve got what I’ve got, who needs air.” Christ is the one who sustains us. The next track “Blisters and Coffee” reminds me of one of my favorite Christian rock bands Kutless. I wonder if the song is about writing songs. With blisters and coffee.
Upon This Rawk 