You are here: Home › Whats New › 2010 › 07 › 19 › Music Review Tonight

19th July 2010 by Julia Hosking

If you're anything like me – brought up in the church with Christian parents, forced to listen to the Christian radio stations in your local city – then whether you've realised it or not, you would have listened to at least one of TobyMac's hit radio songs.

Tonight – the latest album to be reviewed for the MORE website – is one that doesn't fall far from his previous works; meaning this one has a stack of radio-worthy songs too. On top of that, familiar guys such as John Cooper (Skillet), Matt Thiessen (Reliant K), and Israel Houghton (New Breed) all join together on individual songs. With gun musos like these involved, whether you're a TobyMac fan or not it's easy to tell that the album won't be far from exciting.

The TobyMac man

Kevin McKeehan, i.e. TobyMac, has been in the Christian music business for years. Formerly from the band DC Talk – winners and holders of four Grammys with more than eight million albums sold – McKeehan has gone on to release five solo albums including this one, Tonight. However with titles such as 'one of the most successful artists in Christian music history[1]' and 'one of the first Christian rappers[2]' floating around behind him, it would be quite easy for McKeehan to get a sense of pride over himself. Thankfully, this is not the case.

On his website he states:

"I fight really hard to remain unjaded – to keep believing that you can actually walk into a studio and write a song that breathes life. That's the hardest fight for a guy who's been doing this for a while; it's easy to fall into the trap of just making it your job. But I still believe that songs matter."

Before any of the musical stuff is discussed, this in itself shows the true character of McKeehan, something which unfortunately isn't found too often in the music industry today. I actually find it an essential quality in any Christian musician or worship leader that when they lead worship, or write songs, that they walk what they talk, and remain incredibly humble – McKeehan obviously does exactly that.

The album itself

Musically, if you haven't heard any of his previous albums, don't worry. Pretty much the sound that he aims for is one that covers pop, hip-hop, reggae, RnB and rock – so if you like any of those, then I could probably guarantee that you would be a fan. As I mentioned before, a lot of his songs are actually good radio songs – songs that if a pre-Christian accidentally tuned into the station and heard it, they wouldn't be turned off by it, but actually may be surprised that it is by a Christian artist.

As found in pretty much any album of any band, this album has some really killer songs, and in my opinion, some that missed the mark. City on Our Knees – probably one of the more well-known ones from the album – is an example of the killer songs. With lyrics such as "Tonight's the night, for the sinners and the saints, two worlds collide in a beautiful display", this song is about when you look at yourself, and then look at the person next to you – Christian or non-Christian – and realise there is really no difference; it is up to both of you to let love reign in our world, and so why not start now in expressing that love.

With an exception of a few songs, this album isn't really something that I could listen to over and over again. For me, the fact that nearly every song was a different genre sound and a different feel just didn't work for me. Now that is my own opinion; for someone who actually loves all kinds of music and is after a variety, this album is for you.

Although this album expresses Jesus in a completely different way to how Hillsong or Planetshakers do, it is still effective, and continues to have an effective place in the secular and Christian music industry.

So go check it out :)

Dan Walters

[1] http://www.tobymac.com   [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TobyMac

Comments

• Leave a comment
• Subscribe to comments

No comments yet - be the first.