Blutree - Kingdom

This is a review of Bluetree's second album, Kingdom.  I reviewed their first album here, nearly 4 years ago. I heaped praise on it and expected great things (pun intended) of this band.  It has been quite a wait for the second album.
Briefly, song by song...
1.  Glorious Victorious.  A strong opener.  Upbeat and rocky, a good tune.  Lyrics range from strong but unoriginal to a bit lazy really.
2.  You Were You Are.  A bit weaker.  Similar in style to track one.  Again, unoriginal in lyrics and with one particularly poor line, but a very strong tune.  Easy to listen to.

3.  It Is Finished.  The 97 second intro takes over a minute to get going.  Reasonable lyrics but again, nothing new or original.  Music is ok but a bit...nothingy.
4.  Exalt Him.  More interesting music, though still in a very similar style to the first two tracks.  Lyrically, still fairly standard stuff.  Not bad, just not that interesting.
5.  Destined to Reign.  More interesting themes, but a bit mixed up.  Lots of Christian-sounding words, but not saying that much for most of the song.  Musically more interesting, but a bit of an annoying riff.
6.  Jesus Healer.  Some of the strongest lyrics on the album.  Not outstanding, but better than most of the rest.  Music is pretty strong too.  Catchy.
7.  Shine.  Features Martin Smith, and you can tell.  Sounds Deliriousy, but takes a long time (over 3 minutes) to really get going.  More unique lyrics than most of the other songs.
8.  You Are My Rock.  Even the title sounds cliched.  Again, takes a while to get going, and isn't particularly interesting for the whole six minutes plus.  Doesn't do anything wrong, just doesn't do much right.
9.  Rest.  Almost a carbon copy of track eight.  Not sure which is better.  Similar themes, similar lengths, similar structures, similar songs.
10.  Lightens Up.  Ooh, hello electronica.  This is new, this is interesting, this is exciting.  This song is fresher and more original, both musically and lyrically.  Possibly my favourite on the album.
11.  Under My Feet.  They tried a dance track.  It didn't really work.  The weakest track on the album.

Overall thoughts?  Musically, the album is decent.  Easy to listen to, catchy, memorable.  Lyrically, cliched is the best word.  Not all the time, but a lot of the time.  Compared to Greater Things, this is where Kingdom really lets itself down.  There is nothing on the level of Life's Noise, Burn Me Up or God Of This City.  Nothing is even close.  This is not a bad album.  It's not even necessarily much worse than Greater Things, which did have its weak points.
Could they still be the new Delirious?  Yet, but they'll need to produce the third album more quickly than the second, and it will need to be fresher, more unique, more interesting.  Kingdom isn't bad, it's just very normal.

Twitter

I recently joined Twitter.  I know I am late.  I didn't join earlier because I didn't see the point.  I thought I'd join to see if it made more sense from the inside.  I still don't really get it.

It seems that Twitter is mainly like Facebook status updates, which, just like on Facebook, can develop into conversations with people.  The problems I have with this are that (a) Facebook does this already, and (b) most things people post are of no interest to me (just like on Facebook).

One extra thing Twitter offers is the ability to follow people I don't personally know, like celebrities.  I've tried this, but have only found one (Opta Sports) that interests me.

Another problem with Twitter is that I get loads of stuff on my feed (mainly from retweeting), and it is difficult to filter out the one or two interesting things from the masses of junk.

In terms of tweeting myself, I don't see the point yet.  I rarely have anything interesting to say that I can say in 140 characters or less.  If I do, I can put it on Facebook.  Facebook has the advantage of having other uses such as photos and events.

The one thing that Twitter seems to have that is not accomplished by either blogging or Facebook is hashtags.  During June Project (our church's annual community festival) it was good to use #jp12 to see what was going on round the city.  But this advantage doesn't outweigh all the faff of trawling through masses of Tweets to find something interesting that I spend most of my Twitter-time doing.

The obvious solution to all this would be to just follow Opta Sports and no-one else.  But that seems a waste of what many people have assured me is an excellent communication method.

So, what am I missing?  Where is my understanding flawed?  What advice do you have for me?

Honour Spotlight: Fay Townsend

A friend of mine, Ellie Jackson, occasionally posts articles on her blog called Honour Spotlights.  I thought I'd give it a go.

This Honour Spotlight is for Fay Townsend.  Fay is an absolute hero.  She is an intern at our church and I have the privilege of leading a student pastorate group with her.  She brings so much to the team.  She strikes the perfect balance between humourous banter and serious planning and prayer, keeping the rest of us on track.  She has a way of noticing things that I don't, and then when she says them, I think 'genius'.  She is wonderfully encouraging, and in a genuine and non-patronising way.  She always takes opportunities to congratulate and thank people.  She has led pastorate meetings with skill, insight and wisdom beyond her years.
Fay also organises all the administration for pastorate - sending emails, putting people into cells, keeping everything ticking over.  If something needs doing, Fay not only can do it, she does do it.  Miss Super-reliable.  This is a huge blessing.




As well as being, well, awesome, Fay is just...fun.  I know that's an awful word but it's a true one to use.  Fay is up for stuff.  She'll make a fool of herself, she'll get involved in whatever's going on, she'll go to girly nights and play football with the lads.  She'll watch films, go to the beach, play Catan (or any other game).  She'll make fun of herself and other people, and she is a great host.

Fay makes people feel valued.  She gives up her time for people, she listens to people, she serves people.  She has a care and concern for people that inspires and challenges me.

Fay is one of the people about whom I can genuinely say I am gutted to have not met her before I did.  I've known her for less than a year but have come to massively respect her in that short time.  A true legend and a blessing in my life.

Dancing part 3

Following two previous posts on dancing, it is time for a third.  Some more thoughts, following a recent wedding and a party with a live band.  Some of these thoughts overlap with the previous two posts.

First thought:
People seem to have very little idea of what they mean when they talk about dancing in a live band concert (e.g. at a party or a wedding).  Sometimes the meaning is clear, such as at a ceilidh or barn dance, because there are specific steps and moves to the dance and everyone does the same thing.  However, when this is not the case, definitions are loose.  If I am not dancing, people often ask why, and encourage me to join in, as if everyone else in the room is dancing.  But looking around the room from the edge, it is very common that the majority of people are not dancing for much of the time.  Instead, they are talking, or just standing.  Sometimes they dance.  Then they stop for a while.  To be honest, my head-nods or foot-taps from the back of the room can be more active than some of the 'dancers' on the 'dance floor'.  It seems that when people refer to dancing, they are more concerned about location in the room (on the dance floor as opposed to at the back/edge.sitting down) than the actual activity taking place.

Second thought.
Many people who dance to live bands really do not look like they enjoy it.  They just look awkward.  Not all, but many.  I am confused as to why they try so often to do something that they do not enjoy.

Third thought:
Some reasons why I don't often dance to live music.
1.  I don't always like the music (as briefly discussed in the original Dancing post).
2.  Even when I do like the music it is often the case that I'd theoretically be up for dancing for about one song in four and often I can't be bothered to go and dance for one song only to stop for three.  I'd rather just watch the band.
3.  As evidenced by three posts (and counting), I have thought about this quite a lot, and I generally don't like to get involved in something until I have thought it through.  Therefore part of the reason I don't often dance is because I haven't completely thought through what I think of this sort of dancing.
4.  People often repeatedly ask me to dance, sometimes even trying to physically force me to do so.  This makes me angrier than people realise.  I question what makes people think they have the right to try to physically drag someone into doing something they don't want to do, or even to repeatedly badger them about it.  So another part of the reason is to make a stand against this behaviour.