Newsboys - Born Again
by Dan MacIntosh
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In a very real sense, Newsboys have been both spiritually and artistically born again with its newest album. This is because Born Again features Michael Tait, who was famously one-third of dc Talk not too long ago -- officially now taking over as the group's in-studio vocalist. He had already been touring with the act, but now he is the front man in every conceivable sense of the term. Spiritually, being born again is a phrase used to describe how it feels when someone converts to Christianity. And while it's probably been many years since these veteran musicians first made their Christian commitment, the title song and album do a good job in putting these powerful church feelings into music.
Tait reveals his added vocal value right away with his soulful singing on "Impossible". Peter Furler, the band's previous lead singer, had a fine and distinctive voice, but Tait gives this Australian/Nashville band some extra R&B oomph it previously lacked. Speaking of oomph, this album's best rocker is titled "Escape" where Tait can be heard encouraging, "Don't believe the hype", to an audience of listeners that likely may be tempted to stray away from remaining true to their beliefs.
One has to wonder, speaking of rock & roll, how longtime fans will react to "Way beyond myself". This is a straight-on dance track, with all the production bells and whistles that may well get it on Top-40 play lists. Where are the chunky electric guitars? (Nowhere to be found). It's about as far away from rock & roll as the band can get.
Lyrically, there are moments that stand out markedly on this work as well. On "When the Boys Light Up", grinning at the pun, "Up and down like a yoyo mama", is simply a natural reaction. The wordplay is used to describe those that stray from their spiritual principles. And generally, the words to these songs are directed at Christians who already know the spiritual lingo. But because of words like the ones on "When the Boys Light Up", many of these verses and choruses are better than your average contemporary Christian music.
There are a few tracks that could have easily been left off Born Again, however. For instance, why include "Mighty to Save", a song already recorded by many other artists? Also, do we really need a reprise of "Jesus Freak", a song so closely associated with dc Talk, Tait's prior gig? More Newsboys material not reruns, please!
But for the most part, Newsboys have survived this extreme personnel makeover quite well. It's a new era for the band, and a promising one, at that.
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