Just as I promised, here is my review of the first of three solo albums by the members of dc Talk. Michael Tait has always been my favorite member of dc Talk, and for those of you who don’t know who dc Talk is, they’re three guys with great vocal and lyrical talent, and widely divergent tastes in music, who have been pretty much top dog in the world of Christian rock ever since their smash rap/rock single “Jesus Freak” in 1995. One thing a lot of people don’t quite understand about dc Talk is which members bring which influences to the table. Their music has been described as “rap, rock and soul” – Toby MacKeehan provides the rap, Michael Tait provides the rock, and Kevin Max provides the soul. (Among other things.) That’s right, the white guy raps and the black guy rocks. Get over it.
With dc Talk on hiatus for a little while, Michael Tait was definitely the member most prepared to step out on his own, having had a side band going just for fun since about 1996 (back in those days, they mostly covered Pearl Jam songs and other stuff). Given the blessing from the rest of the group to fly solo, Michael found himself working with these long-time friends to give us an album that flat out rocks (with a few ballads here and there to even things out), with the rap element of dc Talk completely removed from the equation, and maybe a little R&B influence still lingering. Rap was never Michael’s thing, even though he’s had to deal with that preconception for quite a while. The rest of the Tait collective includes three guys who have been around the block a few times themselves in Christian music – Pete Stewart (former lead singer of Grammatrain and killer solo artist in his own right), Lonnie Chapin (one of many former bass players for Petra), and Chad Chapin (Lonnie’s brother and a former roommate of Michael’s who has collaborated with dc Talk on a few songs here and there). I may have been skeptical at first as to how Tait would be accepted out on his own, but if a concert opening for Delirious? in October was any indication, people were gonna love it. It’s great to finally have my hands on these tracks after hearing them nearly nine months ago and being blown away.
So what does Tait sound like if he doesn’t sound like dc Talk? Well, obviously Pete Stewart was a big influence on the sound, so anyone who enjoyed Pete’s solo album will love this. It’s almost the same style Michael singing lead this time around. The biggest influence I can think of who isn’t in the band might be Lenny Kravitz (on some of the more groove-oriented tunes, at least). Tait is similar to dc Talk in that pretty much all of these songs are radio-ready, and yet none of them are filler. You can probably attribute that to some of the songs coming from the same writers (Toby and Kevin helped out on a few tracks), though when left to himself, Tait is a little more direct as opposed to Toby’s wit or Kevin’s poetic weirdness. What makes these songs strong isn’t a need to say something original, but a need to say something important, and Tait does that compellingly on most of these tracks.
Alibi Parading around like you’re a superstar, is that who you think you are?
Make sure you have your volume adjusted correctly before putting this into your CD player, because there won’t be a soft intro here to warn you of what’s to come. This song starts rocking immediately, and doesn’t let go until about track 4 (which is not to say it’s hard rock, but this song hits with a lot of force). Michael is addressing a person who has hurt him or perhaps betrayed his trust in this song, wasting no time in telling the person, “I’m trying hard to understand you and your overrated state of mind.” The way Michael deals with this is not out of bitterness, but out of calculated carefulness – he’ll keep the friendship alive but perhaps not invest so much in it now that he’s been hurt. The musical style and lyrical focus are similar to “It’s Killing Me” from dc Talk’s Supernatural album, and also “Uphill Battle”, the rocking duet that Michael and Pete did on Pete’s solo album (which is probably what helped get the ball rolling for Tait). In fact, I sometimes feel tempted to sing the chorus for “Uphill Battle”, since both choruses start with “You say…”
Loss for Words What can I do when every road I travel leads me back to you instead of somewhere else…
This is a poppier song with a bouncy beat to drive it along, but it still rocks once it picks up steam. The version found on Empty seems slightly remixed from the version released a few months ago on the soundtrack to Extreme Days (which also gave us a taste of Toby’s solo work), but it’s still pretty much the same song – laid-back verses in which Michael attempts to apologize to someone he’s hurt, followed by a rocking chorus in which he explains that everything he tried to say to the person came out all wrong. It’s interesting to note that Michael uses the word “empty” in both this song and the last one (“Empty words cannot suffice”, “You left me so lonely and empty”), which ties them into the album’s theme much like Third Day’s Time album did with its title. The two songs seem connected – this one’s slightly more laid-back, but they represent two sides of the same coin – first Michael was hurt by somebody, and then he hurt someone else. I don’t know if it was intentional, or if the songs are meant to be related, but their placement back to back on the album certainly makes it look that way, and something similar to this will happen later.
Bonded I wanna lay everything down at Your feet, I wanna see You in my dreams, speak to me…
Another laid-back, mid-tempo beat starts this one off, fooling you into thinking it will be a mellower pop-type song, but slowly building into a scorching jam session for the band. The song is pretty simple lyrically – “bonded with the sun” refers to the solace Michael finds in spending time alone with God. This song just oozes with coolness, and its balance between slick production and raw grooving toward the end of the song definitely invokes Lenny Kravitz. In fact, this could well be the Christian equivalent of “Fly Away”.
All You Got You were the very best of us all, but the sun that rises still falls…
If you want to be a good little rock band, you’ve got to slow down eventually and do the heartfelt ballad thing. Michael had a few of these up his sleeve, and this one is placed nicely, putting a break in between an onslaught of powerful rock songs. The song opens with a really lovely blend of acoustic and electric guitar, but unfortunately doesn’t keep as lovely of a melody for most of the song, opting for a more plaintive delivery. It’s a good song of encouragement to a friend who is going through a spiritual dark period, and it seems to be doing well as the official first single released from the album, but I kind of wish it said more or did more daring things with its melody. The chorus just isn’t all that memorable, and the lyrics border on cliché (“So don’t you let go, everybody has their up and down times, everybody needs to know how much they’re loved, my friend, so hold on, it’s not the end.”) Still, it’s not a bad tune, and if this one’s doing great, some of the other songs are going to tear up the charts!
Spy You taunt me, you doubt my faith, then you shove it in my face…
This was the one I had been anticipating the most, ever since Tait whipped out this little number to close their set at the Greek Theatre last fall. The music fits the title perfectly, using an incredibly cool and dark guitar riff straight from a secret agent flick, and putting a total stranglehold on the listener’s brain with unadulterated rocking power. The song is a clever way of looking at the way the outside world views Christians – they’re so used to people proselytizing and trying to convert them that many people are incredibly suspicious whenever they know there’s a Christian in their midst. The Bible-thumping types that give the world this impression can be incredibly annoying, so I don’t exactly blame the world for having this impression of us, but then, Hollywood doesn’t exactly help. It’s a tough issue, and Michael’s trying in his own exceedingly cool way to tear down the walls between the believers and the non-believers, so that we can understand each other even if we don’t believe the same things. “If only looks could kill”, he croons. I’ve felt that way sometimes. Out of all the tracks on the album, this one probably has the most Pete Stewart influence – Michael is just fierce on the vocals in certain places, and yet I don’t think this’ll scare off any dc Talk fans. If you liked “Don’t Underestimate” from Pete’s album, this has a similar flavor to it.
Talk About Jesus When I was down and out and I needed a hand, did you see a chance or just a desperate man?
Okay, now before the rest of you Christians get too riled up about the world treating you unfairly, take a listen to this song, because once again, Michael is providing us with the flip side. Something about this song is compelling from the first few seconds, as it fades in and a solid drumbeat backed by a guitar and piano build the framework for the song. Here Michael takes on the point of view of a non-Christian who has been offered a lot of meaningless advice by Christians, and yet no one ever actually stops to do anything helpful for him. “We’ll be here, we’ll pray for you.” That’s about the extent of their helpfulness. It’s a chilling reminder that whatever we do unto whoever we regard as the “least of these”, we do unto Christ. I have to commend Michael – I would have expected from the song’s title, that this would be a peppy, Newsboys-style track telling everybody to go out and evangelize. The evangelism Michael is calling for here doesn’t seem to require words, however. Lyrically speaking, this is my favorite track on the album. A few lines at the end of the song sounded like Michael had blatantly ripped off lyrics from some social protest song, and I couldn’t quite remember what it was until I read the lyric sheet, and noticed that he quoted Larry Norman’s “The Great American Novel”: “You say all men are equal, all men are brothers, then why are the rich more equal than others?” This thought leads quite nicely into the next song.
American Tragedy I can’t deny it overwhelms, but changing your world means changing yourself…
Anyone who’s followed dc Talk for a while knows that they have taken a clear stance against racism, not only in songs like “Walls” and “Colored People”, but in outreach efforts such as the Erace foundation and so forth. This is Michael’s attempt at addressing the situation on his own, and it’s a little more personal. The song opens with a clip of an old white guy who seems to be talking about de-segregation – suddenly “they” are coming in and sitting down next to “us”, and he’s just not used to that. He’s never lived with “them” and he’s not gonna start now. As far as Michael’s lyrics go, “Colored People” was probably a more poignant song, but this one ain’t bad. It takes on a similar metaphor: “Art is in motion, look around”. Its weakest point is probably the chorus, where Michael strings together too many rhymes all at once: “Love’s our common ground, yeah my skin is brown, ain’t no sweeter sound, walls are tumblin’ down.” Still, the song remains memorable, because it has a similar road-trip-ready rock-and-roll sound to the last track, and because another unsettling sound clip chimes in during the middle of the song, in which a white man is quoted saying “We do not serve n*****s in this establishment.” It took guts to put that on there, but Michael wanted to make it clear that racism didn’t just go away after the civil rights movement.
Looking for You Like a dream, remembering when I could talk to you, we were safe in a world of harm…
Now this is my kind of ballad – long and lush with a memorable melody. It morphs nicely between a haunting, lonely verse and an anthemic chorus, and it takes its time (over six minutes) instead of wrapping up after three and a half minutes like a good little radio single. The basic theem here seems to be a feeling of separation from God, though it’s not 100% clear who the “you” in the song is supposed to be. It’s likely one of those “take it as you will” type of songs that just poured out of Michael’s thoughts one day. Michael effectively describes this dark night of the soul, explaining how God used it to rip away patterns of sin and selfishness, and anyone who’s been through something like that can often look back on it with a strange fondness, which is nicely conveyed by the music in this song.
Altars (Burn in Me) Through the walls I hear the sound of a beggar’s plea, looking for salvation from the altars in the street…
Strangely, the lyrics to this song aren’t printed in the book. My only guess as to why is that I saw a few different revisions of the track order before the CD was finally released, and this song wasn’t included at first. So maybe they stuck it on there at the last minute. In any case, this is a lighter tune but still an upbeat one, with a guitar intro that sounds quite similar to the Goo Goo Dolls’ “Slide”. The song describes the lives of lonely people outside of the walls of the church, and Michael’s desire for god to burn within him to attract people to him. As in “Talk About Jesus”, it seems to be an endorsement of lifestyle evangelism – to simply walk the walk instead of talking the talk, and to recognize that God brings people to Himself on His time table and not yours.
Tell Me Why A beating heart, a tender kiss, love is so much more than this…
Complete with melancholy strings, this is another Kravitz-inflected song, this time about divorce. The way Michael sings about the day “Daddy walked away” makes me wonder if this happened to him or someone he knew – it sounds very personal. It ends up being a summation of what love should and shouldn’t be, and Michael seems to indicate here that divorce often happens when people base love on feelings and passion instead of dedication and patience. I would have hoped for another rocking song here, since the pace of the past three songs has mellowed things out a bit, but they’re all still strong cuts.
Carried Away You’re such the fallen angel, yeah, you’re the villain in disguise, tellin’ dark and lovely lies…
Here we go! The band kicks back into full gear with this fun little number in which Michael playfully pokes fun at the Devil. Don’t get me wrong – this ain’t a Carman song. The music has a similar whimsical flavor to “Since I Met You” from Supernatural, except that it’s in 6/8. Not surprisingly, Toby and Kevin both had a hand in writing this song. Michael aptly describes the tricky nature of temptation, but also confidently states that he’s “carried away, a full-on freak display”, which is an obvious reference to the colossal dc Talk hit (one they’ll probably keep referencing for the rest of their collective career). I’m not quite sure what’s up with the evil laugh Michael lets out as the song winds down and then cranks back up again for one last rollicking good time before the song abruptly ends.
Empty If I woo the crowd and their screams are loud, is it really me that they love?
Immediately after that abrupt ending, Michael chimes in with a calmer voice to sing this simple anthem: “If I play the game and I win the fame, will I be the man I dreamed of?” The song is a slightly repetitive, but still meaningful take on Ecclesiastes 5:10, the verse that talks about earthly pursuits being in vain, like “chasing the wind”. I suppose I’ve heard more interesting takes on this passage, but it serves as a nice focal point for the record. It’s got a slightly more memorable chorus than “All You Got”, but I guess it’s still one of the weaker links of the album.
Unglued I don’t want to believe, I turned around and you’re gone, all the sweet memories of loving you for so long…
The album closes with another long and lovely ballad, this time completely dominated by a calm piano and some nicely layered vocals. I thought at first that this was a song about longing for Jesus to come back, and feeling “unglued” without His physical presence here in the world, but it’s actually about three of Michael’s family members who passed away within the past five years. I like that Michael can be so personal in his songs and yet resist the urge to name names in songs like these and ruin the universality of the song (one of the biggest offenders in that department would be Michael W. Smith). It’s a tricky balance, but Michael pulls it off, and the song is only slightly marred by a spoken word reading of a Bible verse (“And Jesus said, come unto me, all ye who are weary…”) as the song fades out. Not as corny as some spoken word bits I’ve heard in Christian songs. It’s after the five minute mark, so radio will probably edit it out if this ever makes it to radio in the first place.
Pete’s Jam
If you stay tuned for another minute or so after “Unglued”, the drums kick in and the band gives us one last chance to rock out (well, maybe “groove out” is a better term here) with a Pete Stewart guitar solo. It’s great of Michael to let Pete shine, and I hope to hear more interplay between the two in the future. Perhaps my only notable disappointment with this album is that Pete didn’t get to share in the lead vocals. But if Michael can manage to keep this incredibly awesome side project alive without compromising his work in dc Talk, which he seems interested in doing, then we may see some growth in that department later on.
Overall, Empty will leave you feeling anything but. It’s an awesome record that I’d recommend to anyone who likes the best of the best in Christian rock. Michael has said it’d be nice if this record generated some mainstream success, and I suppose there’s always the possibility, but with enough of a Christian focus in certain songs, I don’t see mainstream audiences totally devouring it. But then again, we have P.O.D. But I won’t go there.
TRACK REVIEW SUMMARY Excellent: Spy, Talk About Jesus, Alibi, Looking for You, Carried Away
Good: Loss for Words, Bonded, All You Got, American Tragedy, Empty, Unglued, Pete's Jam
Decent: Altars, Tell Me Why
Weak: NONE
Skippable: NONE
Band Members:
Michael Tait: Lead vocals
Pete Stewart: Guitars (no longer with the band)
Lonnie Chapin: Bass
Chad Chapin : Percussion
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