Mike Peters
Rise
Reviewed by Doug Van Pelt
This man has had quite a journey through rock and roll and, thankfully, he is still traveling and making great music from the journey. A few years ago, in fact, he was diagnosed with lymphoma (cancer), to which he fought with everything he had to the point of wearing army fatigues to outwardly express his quite literal inward battle. Praise the Lord, the disease has left his body! This guy certainly knows how to write a great song, and this 14-tune collection is just a glimpse of things to come (as well as a glimpse of his solo offering from the past few years). Rise covers a wide range of sounds, from the Lennon-esque "In Circles" and "Transcendental" to the Alarm-ish anthemic "The Wasting Land," "I Want You" and "My Calling." There's even a down-stroke guitar strum in "First Light" that sounds like the same crashing crescendo we hear in a lot of Starflyer songs. The John Lennon comparisons are no joke, either. In fact, the "In Circles" tune relies on a very familiar Beatles-like guitar tone, and "Transcendental" uses a cool organ sound that would fit well on any Lennon disc. For the uninitiated, Mike Peters is a professed believer in Jesus Christ and was the frontman for 80's punk/pop/anthem belters The Alarm, whose faith quite often finds its expression in his pen. His name is well known among fans of similar believing artists like U2, The Call, Lone Justice, Maria McKee, Bruce Cockburn, and Sam Phillips. I'm pretty bummed out about one of the better songs, though. "Ground Zero" marries a great melody with some swearing. Taking an almost Go-Go's and B-52's approach (a la "Round the World") to each chorus, where Mike laments he has "gone to ground zero, ground zero, with the losers, creeps and the (cusswords)..." The problem is, in my journey as a Christian, I am endeavoring to be pure. Part of this effort (a good portion, in fact) involves the use of my tongue. I can use it to bless or curse. If I choose to make repeated listenings to a song that drills this cussword home like this, it will surely impact my efforts to keep the words of my lips holy in God's sight. Now, I know that believers from other cultures (Europe) have other views on using certain language, but I'm also very aware of the culture that I am part of (which would reflect the vast majority of HM readers). I'm sure that those wearing a WWJD bracelet would make a similar decision and skip over track 5 on this album, and maybe track 2 as well (which uses the s-word in a spot about troubled times). I do not condemn the man for using this kind of language, nor anyone else. I judge myself and my own tongue, and I simply wish to warn others with a similar goal that these two songs probably won't help their efforts. Lyrical problems aside, this album showcases the strengths of this killer singer/songwriter. This man and his catalog would be held in high regard if there was justice in the music world. This disc has been stuck in my stereo for weeks. There's moments where it reaches the greatness of The Eye Of The Hurricane and other spots where the passion of Declaration turns up. If this solo album sounds this good, I can't imagine what his new band with former Cult guitarist Billy Duffy (Coloursound) will sound like.\