Do people remember The Waiting? Their popular major-label debut back in 1997 spawned a pair of radio hits ("Never Dim," "Hands In The Air"), and earned them fans across the country. That album was quickly followed up by 1998's Unfazed, which was markedly more formulaic than its predecessor and suffered from lower sales.
Now, after a three-year wait, The Waiting finally returns with Wonderfully Made, an album that was held back for almost a full year. Lead singer Brad Olsen says that the band is using this album to speak of their joy in Christ, and for the most part, joy is the pervading theme, both lyrically and musically.
Nine out of the album's 10 tracks run through fairly standard Waiting territory, with a pleasant, upbeat mix of guitars, drums, and synths on just about every song. Bryan Lenox (Michael W. Smith) is at the production helm, and once again proves that he has a talent for creating well-done pop music.
Brad Olsen's vocals are the highlight of every Waiting album, and Wonderfully Made is no exception. Smalltown Poets' vocalist Michael Johnston provides background vocals on "A Lot Of Love," which is a nice touch. Lyrically, some notable songs include "Diamonds To Dust," which takes materialism to task, and "What Else Can I Say," which is a vivid yet simple song of praise. In general, the songs tend to follow the vertical, to-God pattern found on their last album, Unfazed, although a song or two breaks the mold.
At first listen, this appears to be a standard Waiting album. All bets are off, though, upon reaching track nine, "Sleepless," which is quite simply the best song they've ever done. Written as a reaction to the 1999 Atlanta day-trading shooting tragedy, the song takes that incident and points to the root problem, sin. Olsen has never sounded better or more passionate. His weariness is palpable as he sings "turn off the news and try to sleep now / 'cause I'm losing track of shooting sprees," and a moment later, when the music is swirling around him at its dramatic high point, we can almost see him, head thrown back, tears running down his face, singing his heart out. "Sleepless" is the perfect companion to Michael W. Smith's "This Is Your Time," which was an emotionally compelling reaction to the Columbine shootings.
The album is a good buy on the strength of "Sleepless" alone. If you're a fan of guitar-based pop or a Waiting fan, you'll enjoy it even more. So do people remember The Waiting? Probably not. But if people hear "Sleepless," they won't forget them.
3.5 tocks
Other coverage for this album
The Phantom Tollbooth 2002Reviewed by Brian A. SmithThe KISS principle is often used in military terminology -- it stands for "Keep It Simple, Stupid". The idea here is that instead of overanalyzing a situation, and overplanning for every possible contingency, you take what you know and go with the most obvious solution, thus saving yourself the doubt and hesitancy that comes from delay. On Wonderfully Made, The Waiting employs the KISS theme in…ReAL Magazine 2001Reviewed by Jose B.Call it the curse of "Our So Called Tour," meaning that if your favorite band or artist was on that tour, you can expect a very long wait between albums. Sarah Masen just recently released her first album since that tour. Sixpence fans have it even worse, waiting years for an album that's already been recorded. But for The Waiting fans, well, the wait is finally over. After the somewhat…The Rebel Base 2001Reviewed by Josh HurstWhenever I listen to music, it usually affects me in some way. Whether it's a lyric or a melody, I usually have something stuck in my head after listening to an album. Strangely enough, however, The Waiting's new album, Wonderfully Made, left me with nothing. I could not remember a single chorus- or even a song title- after listening to it for the first time. Fusing rootsy rock with…The Phantom Tollbooth 2001Reviewed by John WehrleThere is a little bit of something for everyone here. While most of the songs are better produced with the likes of Bryan Lenox, the Waiting doesn't leave their traditional roots until the last songs on the project. Die hard fans are going to hear reminiscent sounds from Unfazed, while newer listeners will hear a different side of the band. Some of the traditional, overtly predictable songs are…The Phantom Tollbooth 2001Reviewed by Dan SingletonBrad Olsen's thick vocal stylings (think Brad Roberts of Crash Test Dummies but an octave higher) continue to set The Waiting apart from other straight-ahead contemporary Christian rock fare. But that's the only reason I find this album interesting. All the songs seem to run together, same beat, same style. I haven't heard anything particularly groundbreaking from The Waiting since "Hands in the…The Phantom Tollbooth 2001Reviewed by Alex KlagesThe Waiting's first nationally available album, Blue Belly Sky, produced by Gene Eugene was a rare gem of clever songwriting and catchy guitar-pop. Under the production talents of Steve Hindalong, their second album, The Waiting, was better again, with a more polished sound, and some great lyrics. However, many fans were somewhat disappointed with Unfazed. While perhaps the most unified,…Similar sounding releases
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