DC Talk

Item: Jesus Freak The Single
Author: Roger Appelinski

Jesus Freak The Single

(1995)

Reviewed by Roger Appelinski

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Label ForeFront RecordsThe LighthouseSeptember 1995

alternative rock hip hop pop rock

If anyone has ever said that DC Talk is a band that keeps putting out the same music album after album, I would bet that person had a bridge to sell you (or if not, some ocean-front property in Arizona)... With the release of the Jesus Freak AVCD there should be no debate that the band has taken another huge leap in musical style.

The rumors of a more grunge-influenced DC Talk style are true-"Jesus Freak" has serious grunge-leanings. The "freaked out" remix included on the project turns the track into a more groove-influenced, almost hip-hop style.

While the two versions of "Jesus Freak" are intended to be the highlight of the project and show the musical direction of the band, I was more drawn to the live rendition of "I Wish We'd All Been Ready" that they performed on their Free At Last Tour. If you haven't heard their rendition of this Larry Norman classic, it's a tender, acoustic nearly-folk version in which Kevin Smith and Michael Tait take most of the vocals and do a wonderful job blending in harmony.

Closing the project is a live cut of "Jesus Is Just Alright," that captures the energy of their concerts. It's not far from the album version-just more improvisational and energy-packed.

Okay, enough about the music, what's this about an AVCD? Well, if you're new to the land of high-tech, it's a CD that not only plays in your stereo-it works in your CD-ROM player on your computer.

The manufacturer recommends a 68040 or better Macintosh processor with 5MB RAM for MAC users and a 486/33MHz 5MB RAM with Windows 3.1 and a Sound Blaster card for PC users. For older MAC users, you may be okay-I tried it on a 68030 machine with a 3X CD-ROM and had no trouble getting it to work (although it wasn't exceptionally high performance.)

As an AVCD, the project offers video to accompany the two live tracks, lyrics for the "Jesus Freak" renditions, interviews with the band members about the upcoming project, and a trailer for the upcoming DC Talk movie.

This will probably be a must-have for DC Talk fans, but it may not be that attractive to the non-hard-core fans. What is there is very impressive, but this is a single in every sense of the word. The interview clips are especially short.

Personally, I thought the AVCD was good, but short of exceptional. Other projects, such as Big Tent Revival, are better in image quality and content. I also had some trouble with jumpy movies even running a 4X CD-ROM on a MAC 9500 at 120 MHz-and you can't get much of a faster computer than that.

For DC Talk fans anxiously awaiting their fall release, this will be a hot item. The AVCD is technically adequate, but is not going to be the yardstick to measure other AVCD's by.