Long after our interest fades in the frequently-played “Call My Name” from Third Day’s “Revelation,” those of us who have bought it and made it a hit will pay more attention to the rest of the album.
Do they still call them albums, by the way? I still do, anyway, out of habit.
And I’m glad to be able to report that the rest of “Revelation,” released a month ago today, is chock-full of great songs.
A few of them, in fact — the moody, guitar-led “Run to You,” and “Let Me Love You” might be two of Third Day’s best individual tunes ever.
You can tell from the funky guitar that starts the first song, “This Is Who I Am,” followed by the song’s highly personal lyrics about being made “better than I am,” that Third Day, a dozen-plus years after it arrived in Christian music, means business now in latter 2008 more than ever.
“This Is Who I Am” also has a playful, lovably sloppy drums that ends a la the Who’s “Magic Bus,” adding to the serious but not TOO serious feel of “Revelation.”
Hey, you should be allowed to laugh in church once in a while.
Whether “Run to You” ever becomes the hit that the current “Call My Name” has become will remain to be seen.
But it’s a great, great song, with powerful bass and dreamy, bright guitar and some of the most-excellent-singing ever by Third Day frontguy Mac Powell.
There’s also excellent backup vocals by Lacey Mosley of the up-and-coming band Flyleaf.
Among the best of the rest from “Revelation” are “Call My Name” and “I will Always Love You.”
They pay music reviewers big bucks to write things like “with an intricately woven new effort, Third Day declares in a stronger-than-ever voice that it is still a major player, perhaps THE major player, in Christian music today.”
But all you’ll get here is … “Revelation,” with a nice mix of guitar-led rock and softer ballads, is a great new release for one of Christian music’s top bands. And that’s well beyond its biggest hit.