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August 25, 2004
Misconception and Music
Sometimes my musical prejudice gets the best of me and I overlook an artist or band that is really good but somehow gets lumped into the category’s “cheesy”, “bland” or “just plain terrible”. Most of the time I am right but every now and then I have to go back and admit that they do produce quality music.
This is true of Christian Folk/Rock group Caedmon’s Call.
I know some of you are probably saying “what? I thought they were cheesy, bland, and or just plain terrible” And this is the very sentiment that I have conveyed for the last 7 years. But I have come to confess my faults. I am overly critical. Let me tell the story.
Caedmon’s self-titled album was released in 1997 was a huge hit with the college crowd. I heard it and liked several of the songs on the album for their emotion and good writing. But I was a punk kid and hated everything, especially everything that was mainstream or corporate and that was how I saw Caedmon’s. After that they dropped into my “doesn’t matter” category and stayed there.
Next 40 Acres came out in 1999 and guess what I got for Christmas, yep Caedmon’s exciting new album that sounded a little country sometimes. I instantly distanced myself from it and dropped it into the back of my collection. I had a reputation to uphold and wouldn’t be caught listening to anything remotely country. Every now and then the album would peek out and I would give it a listen. It grew on me. But it was still labeled “doesn’t matter”.
In late 2003 I started courting this girl and yadda yadda yadda you know the story. Well she had the latest album by you guessed it Caedmon’s Call titled Back Home. I shuddered and protested. But eventually it wound up in the CD player every now and then because… well she’s a girl and persuasive and… oh never mind. I was still dismissing the band. But now that we are married and the CD is in my house I have listened to it several more times and it really is a decent album. It can get overdramatic in places and maybe a little overly poetic but really it’s a solid musical and lyric piece of work plus it's catchy. I would recommend it.
I guess the turning point was when I ripped the CD and put in on my hard drive so that I could listen to it more often. Man, I still feel a little shameful about that but well I guess I need to stand up for what I believe in and I believe in Caedmon’s Call.
P.S. Sorry that I have to authenticate all comments. (Even my own) But I get so much blog-spam that it really is the most time effective way to keep my site clean of filth. Please be patient and comment anyway. Thanks, Paul
Posted by paul at August 25, 2004 05:17 PM
Comments
Derek Webb writes some quality music. I have to admit that Long Line of Leavers still makes it into my rotation from time to time.
Posted by: Matt at August 25, 2004 11:47 AM