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Monthly Archives: January 2008

Music Review Tuesday – The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus

Today I am reviewing another new, up and coming, band. I had not heard of this band until I heard them on the local college radio station. The song I heard impressed me so much that I had to seek for more of their music. Of course a serious search was never initiated until a conversation with my youngest daughter, Crysta, about music revealed that she liked this band too. That conversation coupled with Crysta getting me an iTunes gift card for Christmas prompted me to use it to download The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus album. The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus was formed in 2003 and are based out of the Jacksonville, Florida area. You will have to admit like me that one of first things I wanted to know about the band is how did they come up with the cool band name. According to a couple of web sources the name was derived by placing random words on the wall and a blindfolded band member selecting three words. So we have The “Red” “Jumpsuit” “Apparatus”.

Their debut album “Don’t You Fake It” was released July 18th, 2006 and has sold well over 1 million copies in the U. S. alone. The album begins with a hard rockin’ song which contains the album title in the song’s chorus. The song is called “In Fate’s Hands” and it starts the album with a nice head-banging rhythm with some not-so-subtle screaming vocals stating:

Shake it, break it, get off your feet,
come dance with me and don’t you fake it.

The guitars rock your face off. The next track is “Waiting” and is a simple rock and roll song coupled with the typical young man searching for meaning in life and trying to break from a depressing, monotonous life. The lyrics to the next song “False Pretense” are more sophisticated and speak about being careful what you take seriously, because it just might be built on a false pretense. The next track is the band’s hugely popular song called “Face Down”. The music is a fast paced rhythm with a great guitar sound. It also contains pinch harmonics and pick scrapes. It’s almost old school. The lyrics are very mature. Here is the chorus:

Do you feel like a man
when you push her around?
Do you feel better now as she falls to the ground?
Well I’ll tell you my friend, one day this world’s going to end as your lies crumble down, a new life she has found.

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The new family member

No, it’s not what you think. I just wanted to show off my newest guitar. I purchased it inAgile 3000 November of last year from RondoMusic.com. I have been meaning to do a short posting about it but have not had the time to record a video to go with it. Today, with the help of my daughter Crysta, I put together a video and a picture of the guitar. The guitar is an Agile 3000 Les Paul copy. Here are the specs for the guitar. I have been playing it almost exclusively, and it definitely rocks. It gives me so many different sounds even with out any sophisticated guitar gear. I can’t wait to get the recording software in the next few months. I will be able to lay down some pretty awesome guitar tracks and songs.

Rawk On!

 
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Posted by on January 6, 2008 in Agile 3000, guitar, Les Paul

 

Another Puritan quote

If a wicked man seems to have peace at death, it is not from the knowledge of his happiness, but from the ingnorance of his danger.

Thomas Watson

Isaiah 55:6 states:

Seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near.

When death comes it is too late. The dead, unrepentant, sinner may seem to be at peace but it is only because he is not there. He has gone on to meet his due reward for not trusting in Jesus Christ. The bible calls this the second death, a total separation from God.

Oh sinner, call on the Lord today. Seek Him while He may be found.

 
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Posted by on January 4, 2008 in Isaiah 55:6, Puritan, quotes, Thomas Watson

 

Music Review Tuesday

Happy New Year everyone! I want to thank everyone out there in the blogosphere whoThe Classic Crime - Albatross 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.

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Posted by on January 2, 2008 in Albatross, Music Review, The Classic Crime