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As an introductory album for all Rock ‘N Roll Worship Circus “newbies,” Welcome to the Rock ‘N Roll Worship Circus is absolutely brilliant. Go to your local record store and buy it...Now! It’s a must have for any fan of alternative Christian music. RRWC is blessed with the hard rock stylings of Led Zepplin, the mystical grandeur of U2, and the pop sensibility of Sheryl Crow. Settle into the bleachers of “The only true three ring show on earth,” and keep your ears focused high above the sawdust circles as these sonic trapeze artists effortlessly hand off hints of Petty, the Stones, and the Beatles.

That said, anyone who already owns RRWC’s first full-length masterpiece, Big Star Logistics, may quickly discover that Welcome... has a distinctively “Greatest Hits” feel. With half the album cut and pasted directly from Big Star... (at least they didn’t try to rerecord them--why mess with perfection?), this new major label offering may feel a little disjointed to those who have lived with and love Big Star Logistics.

Still, the new songs are incredible. The band leads off the disc with “Loving You,” a worthy rocker that immediately opens the doors to a new world of worship. With a subtle, parallel lead guitar line following the lead vocals, The Glitter Twins (the Circus’ own Gabriel and Solo) show their other worldly gift for creating sounds, moods and melodies that
exhilarate. 

A double-dose of Big Star power hits follows--the stadium-rock, crunch-guitar “Party Song” and ultra-catchy, hook-smakin’ “Blood of Jesus” (featuring a squeaky-clean 12-string electric guitar and perhaps the most pleasing, head-sticking “ba da ba ba” chorus known to mankind).
 
Get out your lighters for “Glorify the Son,” a swaying, grandiose ballad complete with string arrangements and lush harmonies. 

“Your Crown” again showcases The Glitter Twins’ analog brilliance as producers. (They’ve also lent their producing talents to albums by The Deadlines, Tremolo Cowboys, and Sherri Youngward.) An almost spooky tandem guitar/vocal melody is tossed about inside a thumping beat pounded out on two cardboard boxes--one filled with microphone clips to add a shaker feel. (God is still smiling at that little trick.)

An airy organ creates a cloud-like fluffiness on which “Come to the Father” floats. A strong, acoustic-power chord chorus and the reappearance of the 12-string electric sets this song in the company of rock legend Tom Petty.

A four-song block--“Come on Get Down,” “Ride” (the band’s musical mission statement: “So be the most / The most that you can be / Walk with your hand / In my Father’s hand”), “Open the Gates,” and “The Undiscovered”--dips back into Big Star’s bottomless bag of anointed rock.

A trio of new songs ends the album (“Everybody Awake,” “Telephone” and “We Sing Glory”) with hope that the band’s songwriting days have only just begun. “Everybody Awake,” featuring a cruise-control acoustic groove and falsetto “Oo-ooing” chorus, has definite hit potential as a single. “Telephone” is playful, Beatlesque (ala “Help” or “All Together Now”); “We Sing Glory,” cinematic, aerial. The final song’s deliberately simple lyrics leave the listener with no question about the true identity of the Circus’ ringleader: “Who’s the name above all other names--Jesus.”

The Rock ‘N Roll Worship Circus is destined for greatness. Pull back the striped tent flap and take a peek inside.

Greg Adams 10/7/02