Description
In a Different Light is the sophomore album by the American pop group Avalon, released on Sparrow Records in 1999, distributed in the US by Chordant Distribution Group. The album was recorded and mixed by Steve Bishir with Brown Bannister producing.
Some spy the poised, polished, super-slick antics of groups like Avalon, and despair for Christian music being taken seriously. But is that fair? As long as the general market musical world champions Whitney, Mariah, Celine or Shania, adult pop will always be in vogue. And one could do much worse than In a Different Light, an album that boasts some noteworthy highlights.
Perhaps the best track is «Always Have Always Will», which finds Michael Passons singing the startling couplet “I wrestle most days/ To find ways to do as I please.” If this breezy, acoustic guitar-driven cut sounds like an outtake from Jesus Freak, that’s no accident – one of the co-writers is dc talk’s Toby McKeehan.
«Can’t Live a Day» makes savvy use of vinyl-album static to give this piano-driven power ballad an engaging edge – and there’s no denying that Janna Potter knocks the vocal out of the park. Nor is Avalon’s trademark wall of harmony any weaker for the presence of newcomer Cherie Paliotta, who in the spotlight on «I’m Speechless» recalls one of her influences, Crystal Lewis.
Yet despite its moniker, In a Different Light mostly plays it safe, recycling the same themes and sounds in Nashville assembly line fashion (listen to the paint-by-numbers Christian pop of the title cut). True, we can all use the comfort of positive music where the outcome or message is never in doubt. But through an album full of it, this listener hungers for something more. What’s missing here are helpings of mystery, majesty and paradox – or, to quote former Avalon producer (and recent author) Charlie Peacock, a sense of the gospel as “a complex, bloody, beautiful, redemptive, truthful story.” [Lou Carlozo, CCM, April 1999]
It’s amazing what a difference a mega-hit album makes, mused the Greybearded One to me recently. If you can prove you can cut the mustard, then you can command the best of everything: top producers, top musos, top songwriters. And logically, there’s every likelihood that your next album will be another smasheroo. Elementary, my dear Cummings, saith The Captain. And this album, the follow-up to Avalon’s superb ‘A Maze Of Grace‘, proves the soundness of the reasoning. Brown Bannister produced; Jerry McPherson, Jimmie Lee Sloas, Gordon Kennedy, Chris Eaton, George Cocchini, Scott Dente (Out Of The Grey), Phil Madeira, are among those who appear; some of Avalon’s own songs are mixed in with offerings from Mr Eaton, Paul Field and some of the best of Nashville songwriters; and the end product is a classy, catchy, and instantly likeable slab of radio friendly and mega quality pop music. Instant faves are the title track (an Avalon composition), «Always Have, Always Will» (part written by Gotee Brother Toby McKeehan), and «Hide My Soul», a haunting Chris Eaton/Sheila Walsh opus that’s a Cross Rhythms A list song if ever I heard one! I’m usually very stingy with my maximum square ratings, but even I must relent in this. [Trevor Kirk, Cross Rhythms, June 2005]
> iTunes (https://music.apple.com/us/album/in-a-different-light/724174205)
CD tracklist:
01. Take You At Your Word – 4:46
02. In Not Of – 4:04
03. In A Different Light – 3:25
04. Can’t Live A Day – 4:47
05. Always Have, Always Will – 4:18
06. I’m Speechless – 5:06
07. If My People Pray – 5:04
08. Only For The Weak – 4:47
09. Let Your Love – 4:03
10. Hide My Soul – 5:33
11. First Love – 4:33
Note: Simultaneously released on cassette and CD by Myrrh Records.
The March 1999 issue of CCM Magazine featured a cover story on Avalon.
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