Canter Bridge

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Delirious? sprang on the scene as a new-born Great Band. They were a breath of fresh air for Christian listeners, not least because they seemed as surprised by their fame as we did.

Touch is not a great cd. It’s a very, very good album produced by a band whose sound we’ve grown accustomed to. Maybe a little too accustomed.

But not too much. ‘Angel in Disguise’ sings like a very fine love song:

Wake me up, shake me up
Break me up
Then put me back together
Take my crown. Let me drown
Bring me round
Then stay with me forever
I’ve never known love like this
Maybe you’re an angel in disguise

Wake me up, take me up
Feel the heat
It’s closer now than ever
Secrets hide in the sand
Take these bones
And put me back together
Oh, oh, you’re killing me with just one kiss
Maybe I’m an angel in your eyes

If this is a man discovering faithful love to one woman, it’s a love song almost on the level of some of Sting’s best writing. Then again, it may be a song about divine love. Then it’s not so compelling. That’s the trouble with ‘crossover’ albums. You can never tell for sure.

Still, track 8’s ‘Take Me Away’ seems to encourage the man-woman love song interpretation, for it’s unambiguously just that and demonstrates that the band has this genre in its repertoire. In fact, this one is worthy of alignment with the biblical ‘Song of Solomon’:

I’m in love with a girl.
Everybody seems to know.
I’ll sing it loud.
Sing it cos’ I’m feeling proud of
Love. Oh yeah this is love.

She can walk on the waves,
Crashing through my own desire.
Swing and sway.
Dance until my demons fly away.
This is love. This love.

The sheer boy-ish exuberance of this tune fails to hide entirely the redemptive splash of the last verse. Something important is under recovery and Delirioius? wants to sing about it.

So why the ambivalent tone of my review? I think it comes down to this: you have to work at this album to squeeze the juice out of it. You’ve got to pay attention. That’s hardly a fault, just a warning that what sometimes falls flat as casual listening is a diamond in the rough for those who know how to polish.