Newsboys : Adoration: Worship Album CD Ships N 24h

What do you do once you've had twenty-one No. 1 hits, sold millions of albums and won a few Dove awards for your mantel? If you're the Newsboys, you release a praise and worship album. The Tennessee-based band recorded eight of ten tracks for the new album at their studio in Franklin, with the help of producer Steve Taylor (Sixpence None The Richer).

Adoration: The Worship Album treads a fine line between gospel and mainstream rock. This is what U2 would sound like if they were a hardcore Christian act. Lead singer/guitarist Peter Furler has a serious Bono thing happening throughout most of the album. On "He Reigns," a fluttering acoustic number that starts out slow but builds into an arm waving anthem, lead guitarist Jody Davis borrows a few tricks from U2 axe-slinger, the Edge. A choir joins the band on the potent choruses.

For the inspired and passionate "You Are My King (Amazing Love)," the Boys focus on a topic that never gets old for believers everywhere; the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. "I'm alive and well / Your spirit is within me / Because you died and rose again," Furler sings, humbly acknowledging the sacrifice Christ made on the cross for all who believe in him.

"Adoration" is written from the perspective of a person (presumably one of the wise men) visiting the Lord shortly after his birth. Furler pushes his voice to the breaking point, shouting out "how great" over and over again, on the electrically charged "Great Is Your Faithfulness."

The band includes two live recordings on the disc: the meaty rocker "Lord (I Don't Know)" and the six minute-plus "Is It You," both from the group's last studio release, Thrive. The live renditions prove that the Newsboys (rounded out by Jeff Frankenstein on keyboards, Duncan Phillips on drums and bassist Phil Joel) are as tight a unit as any band out on the road today. If not for the clapping hands and cheers from the audience, it would be hard to tell these songs were recorded on stage and not in a studio.

The spiritually intoxicating "Hallelujah" ends the collection the same way it began, with Furler and company being joined by a choir.

Christian rock music has come a long way in the last decade and a half, in both popularity and quality. With Adoration: The Worship Album, the Newsboys show why they're considered one of the best in the genre. Fans of Third Day and Jars of Clay will want to add this disc to their collection.

By Todd Sterling