I Wish We All Could Win marks the major label debut of The Afters. The cover art, pictures of a tortoise and a hare, provides the hint as to the meaning of the title. The line is contained in the song "Someday," which laments the fact that not all who begin running the race will complete it.[ Per the band, the song Beautiful Love was written by Josh Havens for his wife. It is not a song about Christ]
"Beautiful Love," a potential crossover hit, opens with a blazing guitar intro. Unfortunately, the song falls into the CCM "is this about Jesus or a girl?" trap, with lines like "What a beautiful smile/Can I stay for a while/On this beautiful night/We'll make everything right/My beautiful love."
"Love Lead Me On" is the best track vocally, illustrating what the first six tracks collectively do -- that the Afters are a pretty good rock band, with a dash of pop punk thrown in for good measure. "Until the World" and "All That I Am" do nothing to take away from this description.
"You" and "Wait," however, remind us that CCM is still trying to be all things to all markets, ensuring that they will get played on adult contemporary radio, the largest market of the genre.
Still, though, The Afters' first widespread release will appeal to a lot of people. Power pop with a slight rock edge, it is perhaps the best debut album in Christian pop circles since the Elms.
4 tocks
Other coverage for this album
The Phantom Tollbooth 2005Reviewed by Burton WrayThere is a great deal of pressure on any group that is signed to INO Records. After all, this is the label of MercyMe, a group that enjoyed tremendous success a few years ago with their hit, "I Can Only Imagine." MercyMe hasn't had another hit on that level but they have still had a good bit of success. Any group signed to INO has to live in that shadow. On I Wish We All Could Win The Afters show…Similar sounding releases
2005KutlessStrong Tower
2004Jimmy Eat WorldFutures
2003DakonaPerfect Change
2003The Juliana TheoryLove
2005CartelChroma
2005CircleslideUncommon Days
