from: hm magazine, issue #96, July/Aug. 2002
author: "(The) Kern County Kid"
website: http://www.hmmagazine.com

»» Newsboys
Thrive
By (The) Kern County Kid

Sparrow Records
I couldn't believe it. For a minute, even, I was witnessing the impossible - the Newsboys were actually shedding the skin of their success. They were venturing outside the safety and shiny security of more than a decade. And if anyone understands the confining suffocation of Nashville's formulas, it's Steve Taylor, who returned to the production helm here for these Aussies turned Yanks. The lead-off track, "Giving It Over," while sounding like an outtake from Guardian's Buzz sessions, has an edge, an actual rock and roll attitude that was starting to make me spit up a respectful nod that I thought I'd never be doing. I felt like I was really on to something new. And then the second track played, and then the third, and so on and so on. Dang it! I was duped, folks. The Newsboys have not turned from their ways. Sigh. The 3-minute 47-second fantasy was nice while it lasted.

--"(The) Kern County Kid" ««