Usually if you are a true fan of a band, you will hate there greatest hit albums. There not intended to play the best songs on the album but the ones that were hits and got the big airplay, notice the word "Hits" in the title of most of the cd's that you buy. Also, they contain a horrible mix of each of the bands albums so with bands such as Nirvana [who didn't really make consistently good albums] and other bands it makes for a horrible experience.
But Dc Talk's greatest hits album is different it contains what the band and there diehard fans thought was there best songs and not what the radio did. Also it is basically just a mix of there 2 great albums "Jesus Freak and Supernatural", while containing a few songs from the bands earlier albums. So, overall it is put together well besides a few glitches.
One of the things I didn't understand about this album is how it went to deep into Dc Talk's collection of songs: "Chance, Sugar COAT, Mrs. Morgan [acts 1 & 2] are completely useless. The Mrs. Morgan acts are probably funny to fourth graders and is basically just an old lady screaming about how loud and bad the band is, first of all the band isn't that loud and second of all they are not bad. "Sugar COAT", sounds like a bad mix of "Red Letters and Supernatural", as it really doesn't know it's identity at all. The song tries to be hard and tries to be soft at the same time while containing the least influenced song on the album. "Chance", was kind of a disappointment as the lyrics don't really make sense and the band tries to make it something more than it really is. So this album is bad when it goes to deep into Dc Talk's collection of songs and pulls out the corny, uninspired songs.
But there were some pleasant surprises from the unknowns: "Socially Acceptable , My Will, and I Wish We All Been Ready", were all great songs that probably could have been featured as dc Talk's singles on any of there CD's. "
Socially Acceptable", is from DC talk's Christian rap days, and regardless to popular opinion dc Talk's rap is not dull, it doesn't have popcorn lyrics or overused beat. This song is about as serious as you are going to see the band outside "Colored People", as they talk/rap about serious issues. The groovy beat contains some nice drums and some good mixing to make it an enjoyable, and the singers complement each others vocals perfectly. The song is one of my favorite dc Talk songs and deserves to be on here.
"My Will", is considered a "What If I Stumble?" wannabe but in it's own way it is a great individual song. With it's slow and soothing acoustic beat and a nice chorus the song is a lot more than a wannabe. "I Wish We All Been Ready", and even though the band tries to create a hard image with "Supernatural and Jesus Freak" as singles most the songs on the greatest hits album are acoustic and soft. This song is brilliantly done and sounds like a live performance as the singer yells "I Wish We'd All Been Ready", talking about how we should turn to Christ before he comes back, the song sounds like "My Will" but a little bit more emotional and meaningful.
And even though most of them appear on the latter half of the album Dc Talk's classic songs are on here. "Jesus Freak", is as hard as ever as the lyrics are catchy with a dramatic beat change as the singers scream: "My Best Friend Was Born In A Manager", lyrics such as those is what made Dc Talk a Alternative/Christian powerhouse and respected worldwide for the creativity and changing styles. It still features the same questioning chorus, and I like what Dc Talk did here and since most bands remix there songs on greatest hits and make the song a little less likable, Dc Talk didn't do this and it made for the songs to remain classics.
"What If I Stumble?", is a brilliant Dc Talk song. The lyrics are talking about forgiveness and it is Dc Talk's best acoustic song they have written and performed. The band sketches this one out perfectly on the greatest hits as the sings the chorus with emotion. Dc Talk's 3 singer system isn't really that evident on here and the best song for that on this greatest hits album is "I Wish We All Be Ready". But this is still a Dc Talk classic anyway.
"Supernatural", features a brilliant catchy opening guitar riff with blistering drums in a pre-chorus and shows us the new-rock style Dc Talk is moving to. All three singer play a significant part [one surrounding lines, one pre-chorus, one chorus], and that particular formula works perfectly throughout this song. The song features a weird since of emotion which has lead it to so much popularity over the 90's and 2000's.
"Colored People", is the later version of "Socially Acceptable" since it basically has the same theme just with an acoustic beat and a more hopeful tone. The song has a beautiful chorus about diversity and how God made the earth. It is one of my favorite Dc Talk songs.
This was the end of one of the most influential Christian groups of all-time. The group made it ok to rock hard in Christian music in there later days in the industry and in the earlier days were one of the most experimentive groups with there rapping making them popular on there album "Free At Last". This has lead to extremely hard Christian groups [underOATH] and there are even some underground Christian rap groups even though they rarely as creative and as good of songwriters as this band.
Each one of the band's members has moved on to a solo career after the release of this album, first in 2001 they released an album with all of there voices together called "Dc Talk: Solo". They should have kept it that simple but the band members can't really feed of each others ideas this way and it's not as fun of an experience as Dc Talk is. Each of the members differ in there styles.
DC TALK INTERMISSION:
Pros:
Better than greatest hits album usually are
Features some surprises
All the hits
Cons:
Mrs. Morgan Acts, Sugar COAT, and Chance are not dc Talk's best songs and easily could have been replaced.
Download These:
Jesus Freak
What If I Stumble?
Colored People
4.5/5
