1998's Step Up To the Microphone was supposed to signal a new era for the Newsboys, one of Christian music's flagship bands, and for the most part, it did, showing that the band could survive without departed lead singer John James and longtime producer Steve Taylor. The album showcased a new, more serious, more textured pop-rock sound and image for the band. And it was a success.
1999, however, brought a sharp 180-degree turn with Love Liberty Disco, a restrained, glossy, pure pop album. With more ballads than ever before, and lacking the aggressive guitar sound of before, Love Liberty Disco alienated many fans and caused people to wonder where the Newsboys were going.
All questions are answered with the release of the next step in the band's evolution: Thrive. This new collection of 10 songs exudes happiness and even buoyancy. To coin a phrase, Thrive is most aptly termed 'jaunty rock.' Peter Furler and company turn in their most well-balanced and certainly optimistic collection to date.
The lyrics are unabashedly positive. The introspective Peter Furler who sang "Now it's more than I can take / and I feel like I could break" on Love Liberty Disco has been replaced by a joyous Furler, singing lyrics like "a million raindrops falling from a blue sky / kissin' your cares goodbye." The only hints of melancholy come in Thrive's title cut, which finds Furler speaking of walking through a "valley of shadow." But by the time he hits the chorus, the questioning has been replaced by God "lift[ing] me up with tender care."
Other standout songs include "Cornelius," a fun, bouncy song that features the band members' families on backing vocals, "It Is You," a sweet praise song and hit radio single, and "John Woo," which references the popular film director.
If there's a problem with Thrive, it's that the album is aimed too directly at bringing back past Newsboys fans, and does nothing to reach out to new ones. But that's a minor fault.
Much more upbeat than Love Liberty Disco and not as brooding as Step Up To the Microphone, Thrive allows the band to stretch their musical talents and have fun in the process. Newsboys fans should come flocking back upon hearing Thrive.
4 tocks
Other coverage for this album
The Rebel Base 2002Reviewed by David MartinI'm sure you're familiar with the old adage "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Well, there's a corollary to that rule: "If it weren't broke, and ya done fixed it, then fix it back to the way it was before it was broke, ya IDJIT!" This is more or less the approach that the Newsboys took on their latest album, Thrive. Virtually all of the output we've heard from these former kings of Christian…The Phantom Tollbooth 2002Reviewed by Brian A. SmithMany fans felt that Newsboys peaked with Take Me to Your Leader. That faction looked at the albums Step Up to the Microphone and Love Liberty Disco as a steady decline from the heights to which Newsboys' fans had grown accustomed. The commonly held view was that with the departure of their lead singer and of producer Steve Taylor, the group had taken a different direction, one of finding their…Similar sounding releases
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