Does anyone else think it's a little bit weird that Peter Furler has passed the Newsboys torch? I think it's interesting that Michael Tait is performing with the band instead.

I don't think it's weird at all. He's just ready to move on- he'll be missed though.
I don't like the idea of Michael Tait being the new lead. I do like 3 of DC Talk's songs but when I hear Newsboys, I don't want ANY similarity to DC Talk- and that will no longer be the case.

I'm not too thrilled with Newsboys' latest CD anyway though.
In the Hands of God is nice, but I needed to get used to it- but it never gained the same status as their two or three previous albums, in my book. I was never too crazy for Newsboys earlier stuff either.

I hope I don't fall "out" of them because I did like quite a bit of their songs and was really looking forward to newer releases.

Their best songs IMO:
Presence (My Heart's Desire)
It Is You
He Reigns
You Are My King (Amazing Love)
Devotion
Something Beautiful
In Wonder
In Christ Alone

I Am Free (Who The Son Sets Free)
Wherever We Go
Take Me To Your Leader

I don't know anything about the new singer for the Newsboys, but I did hear that Peter was leaving the band, and I think it's kinda sad. For me, his voice is what made the Newsboys who they are. But ah well.

The new lead used to be from Dc Talk. and I agree about Peter's voice making Newsboys who they were.

*lives on an island within sight of the ends of the earth* WHAT! Peter is leaving the Newsboys! NOOO!

He already left,
According to Wikipedia, Peter did lead for all songs in the latest CD with Michael doing supporting. One of the radio stations I listen to said he did lead with Glorious.

I love all those songs you listed, narnian1.

Okay, nobody is going to believe this , and even I can't believe it took so long, (I must have been living in a box until today) but I just (as in about 30 minutes ago) heard Meant To Live by Switchfoot for the first time, and I am completely in love with it. I downloaded it from iTunes after listening to about 10 seconds of it on youtube. The guitars are just fantastic.
Wow, I need to look up some more Switchfoot. I don't know what took me so long.

Okay, nobody is going to believe this , and even I can't believe it took so long, (I must have been living in a box until today) but I just (as in about 30 minutes ago) heard Meant To Live by Switchfoot for the first time, and I am completely in love with it. I downloaded it from iTunes after listening to about 10 seconds of it on youtube. The guitars are just fantastic.
Wow, I need to look up some more Switchfoot. I don't know what took me so long.

Me and the Scribbler did the Happy dance!

yeah, they're pretty much awesome, . If you like the guitars in that you'll like Politicians, Oh! Gravity, Lonely Nation, American Dream, and Dirty Second Hands. My fav is Dirty 2nd Hands. Those are the more rocky ones, though. They have just about every kind of music there is!

My favorites are, them ALL!

Music... *looks at Zune*
Ok, stuff I've been listening too (and would highly recommend)...

Switchfoot
Tenth Avenue North (of course, what sort of Northie-Footer would I be )
B. Reith -If you haven't heard him, I suggest you give him a listen. I don't listen to rap constantly, but his chorus melodies are great, and WILL get stuck in your head
Philmont- I've really only heard about three songs from them, but I liked them. My favorite was "Another Name"
Glenn Miller- Who doesn't like swing music???
PureNRG- Great Christian kids with great lyrics, and a nice zippy, sincere sound
Enya- "Memory of the Trees" = Beauty
Seven Places- No longer a band, but had a nice original sound
Sara Groves
Matt Mahar- Alive Again has been my favorite new single of the year, and the rest of the album is pretty nice too
Coldplay- Just discovered them this year. I like the sound, but I'm not Coldplay crazy or anything
Krystal Meyers
Disney Classics
Toby Mac - "City On a Hill" is completely awesome
Kari Jobe - Newer artist. Her worship music is breathtaking.
Jon Foreman- "House of God Forever" *sigh*
Rich Mullins
Jars of Clay- "Two Hands" was another of my favorite singles
Shawn McDonald- If you haven't heard "Captivated" or "Clarity" or "Waltz in 3" do so now
Those are my fav's at the moment, but I always have other "classics" like Steven Curtis Chapman, SuperChick, Nicole Nordeman, Rebbecca St. James etc. on my list as well.

{MissAravis is listening to Switchfoot }

Okay, nobody is going to believe this , and even I can't believe it took so long, (I must have been living in a box until today) but I just (as in about 30 minutes ago) heard Meant To Live by Switchfoot for the first time, and I am completely in love with it. I downloaded it from iTunes after listening to about 10 seconds of it on youtube. The guitars are just fantastic.
Wow, I need to look up some more Switchfoot. I don't know what took me so long.

that IS odd, but I do things like that all the time.
Whatever is new now I am usually on top of it but for some time I was not as free with my music, so people would try and show me songs and I'd refuse to listen- and now I am finally coming around. My brother just looks at in disbelief.
Homesick by Mercy Me, when it was popular I refused to give it a proper chance, now these past few months I have been loving it, amazing lyrics.

*back to Switchfoot*

While I like Meant to Live,
it's not my favorite from them, I prefer:
This is Your Life
Dare You to Move
This is Home
Awakening

(in that order, fave to least)

Meant to Live

then other faves:
Gone
We Are One Tonight
Twenty-Four
Stars

(also in that order, fave to least)

I don't think I have properly listened to any other of their songs,
I have the Beautiful Letdown, Nothing is Sound, and Oh Gravity CD yet I NEVER listened to the CDs in ful, especially with Oh Gravity in which I only heard Awakening.

and they have a new CD coming out: Hello Hurricane, haven't yet heard anything off it.

Music... *looks at Zune*

Toby Mac - "City On a Hill" is completely awesome
Kari Jobe - Newer artist. Her worship music is breathtaking.
Jars of Clay- "Two Hands" was another of my favorite singles
Shawn McDonald- If you haven't heard "Captivated" or "Clarity" or "Waltz in 3" do so now

Toby,
I assume you mean City on Our Knees, I agree it's a great song.
I too recommend it if you don't already listen to it.

Kari Jobe,
Haven't heard but I did grow some interest after seeing her album has been on the charts for 36 weeks so far, it's gotta have something good.

JoC,
This has always been a tricky band for me,
usually for every one song I like of theirs- I dislike 3.
So far I've like 11 songs, and Two Hands isn't one of them, It just hasn't struck with me.
Some of those 11 I just like, some I do LOVE.

SMcD,
I've only ever listened to music from his first CD:
Gravity and occasionally Take My Hand, I love the first and like the second.
I also have one he did with Bethany Dillon which was good, not great, IMO.
Haven't heard those you recommended .

The Pendragon, lol about you and scrib doing the happy dance That's how I feel whenever someone gets excited about a band I like
Thanks for the suggestions! Actually I heard a little bit of Dirty Second Hands a while back and I thought the melody was kind of weird, but maybe I'll give it another try =P

Dare You To Move - I like it. We have that one on this random WOW hits CD. My mom was listening to the CD in the car and she made some comment "I don't see how this song is a Christian song... the lyrics are really vague"... so I don't think she likes it, and yet, sometimes I catch her humming it around the house.

PureNRG - we got their latest CD for free at our Christian book store because my mom had bought so many other CDs I have yet to listen to the whole thing through, but from what I've heard I like it, though some of the songs are a little generic. The kids all have great voices though!

Seven Places isn't a band anymore? :'( I've only heard a couple of their songs, but that's sad! I liked them!

City on a Hill - it plays on our radio station quite a bit so I get to listen to it a lot

narnian1, Yeah I wasn't really "into" music in general (except classical music) until a couple years ago, so I would hear things on the radio but never bother to look them up and certainly never bother to look up other songs by the artist. I guess laziness is just what prevented me from looking into Switchfoot more.
This Is Home was the only song by them I listened to until a couple weeks ago

oh, oops! I did mean "City on Our Knees!"
I like all of Switchfoot, because they have a song for every mood. I don't always feel like listening to a certain song, but sometimes it just fits the mood. It might take awhile, but listen to ALL their songs. Its like a story of their lives in music. Pretty awesome. You only hear a paragraph if you just pick a couple songs, so even though it takes some effort, I was really glad I did it.

Ok, I went and listened to the Philmont album "Attention" last night to see what was really good. My favorites were

I Can't Stand to Fall
Another Name
The Difference
Letter to the Editor
The Terminal

The Terminal is a MUST HEAR. The lyrics and tune really clicked for me. =) The rest of the album had good lyrics, but the tunes were a little too much the same with a lot of noisy rock, not melodic rock. Switchfoot's really good about making rock pleasing to the ear. But since everyones taste varies, I would give them a try. But you have to hear the ones I listed, they were great!

*Kat, I like the song "Do You Feel" The Rocket Summer, especially the lyrics!

The Pendragon, lol about you and scrib doing the happy dance That's how I feel whenever someone gets excited about a band I like
Thanks for the suggestions! Actually I heard a little bit of Dirty Second Hands a while back and I thought the melody was kind of weird, but maybe I'll give it another try =P

oh, yeah! I know what you mean. Dirty 2nd hands is a really different song with a strange melody. but that's cuz the guys recorded it without thinking it would be on any album, so it turned out differently. ANd it ended up that they really liked it! Now it's their favorite on that album! The first time I heard it, I though it was too loud, and not very melodic. But it grew on me

Dare You To Move - I like it. We have that one on this random WOW hits CD. My mom was listening to the CD in the car and she made some comment "I don't see how this song is a Christian song... the lyrics are really vague"... so I don't think she likes it, and yet, sometimes I catch her humming it around the house.

Some people do think that their lyrics are vague, but Dare You To Move is really a song (like most of their songs) that are not supposed to be spelled out for the audience. DYTM is telling you to take action in your life, in any way you need to. Get right with the Lord and asking Him to help you change who you are to who He wants you to be, "the tension is here, between who you are and who you could be. Between how it is and how it should be." that's what that song is about to me. I used to not like this song, cuz i thought it was boring. But now, every time i listen to it it means so much more! this one especially grew on me. Actually, most of their songs grew on me.

You have to really think about it like poetry and try to figure out the meaning. I've always thought that songs should be poetry to music.

Kat, me and the Scrib listened to "Do You Feel", and we really liked it, the lyrics were great! But, when I first saw your avie, I thought it said "Do You Peel?" Now there would be some interesting lyrics!

The Scribbler, That's cool that they have songs in a lot of different moods and styles. Even from what I've heard of the very few songs I've listened to by them, I can tell. With a lot of bands, their songs are almost all in the same style. It can get annoying...
(Also why I like Relient K)

It might take awhile, but listen to ALL their songs. Its like a story of their lives in music. Pretty awesome. You only hear a paragraph if you just pick a couple songs, so even though it takes some effort, I was really glad I did it.

That's a neat analogy. Oh dear, I have a daunting task before me.

The first time I heard it, I though it was too loud, and not very melodic. But it grew on me

That happens to me a lot. Often times, it's because I WANT to like the song, so I almost.. will myself to become obsessed with it. That sounds weird, but I do it kinda frequently.

about DYTM, that's also how I interpret the song. Another thing I think it could be addressing is our complacency with our position in the world and how we're too lazy/scared to reach out and minister to other people.

Scrib & The Pendragon, I'm glad you liked the song! The lyrics are really meaningful, basically just saying how we're too wrapped up with our own problems ("we all have our things") to bother with or even care about the all the problems in the world. I think the music video is just a cool concept too with all the hands going in and out of focus with the faces. The Rocket Summer isn't a "Christian artist," but Bryce Avary is a Christian so many of his songs do reflect that.
LOL. Do you peel would be an interesting song... I wonder what that would mean?

That's what I was wondering!

That happens to me a lot. Often times, it's because I WANT to like the song, so I almost.. will myself to become obsessed with it. That sounds weird, but I do it kinda frequently.

That happens with me too! I really try to get into a song sometimes. The Switchfoot ones are songs that I just kinda loved one day, and the Philmont, Coldplay, and Relient K songs are ones that I wanted to like, so I listened to them over and over, until I finally was obsessed with it! It does sound kinda weird...

Referring back to narnian1's post, we saw the Newsboys in concert after Furler had left and yeah, it just wasn't the same. Michael Tait is great and all but Peter Furler simply was the sound of that group. He is working a lot behind the scenes at home for the band, but after 22 years of traveling and touring, I think I'd want to spend some time at home too. It's good he's still involved in both production and writing songs. I think my favourite Newsboys album is "Step Up to the Microphone", although I have favourite songs on every album, with the possibly exception of "Love Liberty Disco".

EDIT: *looks down at Booky's post* I totally agree on the title track for Kutless' new P&W CD, Booky, as I mentioned here. The footsteps, the hymn in the background, the door opening ... and then! "Goosebumps" is the word, to be sure. I, too, think "Strong Tower" is, er, stronger, but there is definitely a lot of good stuff on "It is Well". It always takes me 5 or 6 times to really get to know a new CD.

I picked up the new Kutless CD this week. It's a nice worship album, but I think Strong Tower was better. I love the way they did "It is Well" though. The start of it gives me goosebumps.

I keep missing the new Flyleaf song on Air1. Anyone heard it yet?

Hi I'm new to this thread, so I'm going to try to get in the conversation. I listen to christen music, & a little country. My brother buys most of the music that I listen too, so I like things like Kutless, Casting Crowns, Jeremy Camp. My brother's birthday just past, so you know what that means, he has a lot of money! So he's buying the new Kutless album, he doesn't have it yet, he's buying tons of the X CD's, any body know what those are? They're the christen rock hits, I've really been enjoying them.

Oh, johobbit I sooo want to go to a concert someday. The Follow You Tour came to the city that my family always shops in, oh I wanted to go, but my dad said NO. He doesn't like Leeland, he thinks they're annoying...

BarlowGirl is the absolute best!!!!!! I also like Jump5, Casting Crowns, Carrie Underwood, Shania Twain, Abba, Beach Boys, Alabama, Britt Nicole, Cadia, Hawk Nelson, Rachael Lampa, Ronnie Milsap, Taylor Swift, U2, and ZOEgirl. And there are a few others.

I recently shared Deathbed with a few of my friends who wanted to hear some RK songs and none of them liked it

Aw, that's so sad!! I thought it was beautiful. Especially the "last" part. What I mean by that is, pretty much starting around "The blood dripped from your fangs, the tears they soaked your fur", etc--when that part starts I really start loving it. More.

In regards to Kutless's new single: ("What Faith Can Do"), I've just heard it once, but really liked it. I think my brother bought it. So-- yay.