Customer Reviews

Contact

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Last year 'The Benjamin Gate' debuted '[Untitled]' to rave reviews. It was sufficient to catch the eyes of Ausy Christian-rockers 'The Newsboys', and America got it's first exposure to the South African group. While press photos make the band look like a wannabe No Doubt, The Benjamin Gate defined themselves as undefinable, by creating familiar but distinct music. While most Christian bands these days are simply trying to copy successful secular artists, The Benjamin Gate is definately the most original Christian band to hit the scene in years. Many bands who release edgy debuts that go big, wus out and go mainstream on their second album, Adrienne and the boys reject the sell-out manuever and stay true to their fans without going the way of Creed and simply rehashing their successful album, assuming that their fans are too stupid to tell the differance. '[Untitled]' was an edgy techno-rock praise and worship CD with lyrics a la The Smashing Pumpkins. 'Contact', with it's uncomprimisingly 'Gate' cover art, delivers a matured sound that is reminiscent of meeting a father after meeting his son. The lyrics, however, are the biggest leap between albums. The praise and worship is left behind for a more human take on Christianity. It's unusual to hear an angsty Christian band, but The Benjamin Gate strikes a cord as they deal with the struggles of Christians in the secular world. This makes the title make a good deal of sense. It's about the Contact betwen Christians and non-Christians. [Untitled] is obviously a reverent referance to the humility in praise and worship. Among the specific subjects are purity in relationships ('The Calling') and anti-conformity ('Do what you say'). 'Contact' while a very differant experience from '[Untitled]' is unarguably Benjamin Gate.

On this album, the production trims the focus away from dense production stacked with walls of guitar atmospherics and technoish keyboards drifting in and out of the mix and instead focuses on "cleaner" guitar lines. The lyrics (a bit of a downfall for the last one) are quite a bit better here, avoiding much of the repetitiveness that undercut many tracks on the last one. Perhaps it's all the influence of wunderkind producer Charlie Peacock, whose name turns up here as co-executive producer with David Bach and who's been responsible for producing much of the most memorable Christian pop and rock of the last 10 or so years.

HIGHLIGHTS:
The debut began with mediocre track "How Long?" On this one, the Gate comes out swinging with radio hit "Lift Me Up", a soaring sonic merry-go-round celebrating the promise of Jesus' eventual return to Earth. The 'whoa-oh-oh-oh' hook to "This is Not" is infectious. "Do What you say" issues a challenge to spend more time living a TRUE Christian life rather than merely "doing what we should". ("We're here to love and not be manipulated/And that should never be understated/Let's see what we've got here/Let's take it on...") A completely revamped cover of 80s Men at Work hit "Overkill" also sparkles. "Your Kisses Blind Me" uses a unique image to try and express the wonder of knowing God ("Beautiful you are to me/Moon above a raging sea..")

LOWS:
There's still a couple songs where the words aren't up to snuff but at least they're at the end. Chorus to "Violently" is "Fight/Got to fight/Got to fight to get thru/Got to reach/Got to reach/Till we find you". Same thing with "Fall Away" ("I fall away/away/away..")

BOTTOM LINE:
In every way a step up from the debut. One can only wonder where they might have gone had the band not broken up. This one has a pretty good consistency to it and I think will probably still be listenable as time goes on.

POSTSCRIPT:
Keep listening after "Fall Away" for a hidden version of "The Calling" that's a little more raw than track 3.

3 1/2 stars

I heard the song "The Calling" on the radio before this CD came out, and I recognised Adrienne's voice straight away, me being a huge fan of The Benjamin Gate. Their music has a quite unique sound, one that is not too poppy, but catchy enough to sing along to.

This CD in particular is not my favourite CD of theirs, but it is definitely deserving of five stars. They did an amazing cover of "Overkill" by Men At Work, along with giving some of their old demos facelifts and including those on here. It's great to hear how Adrienne's voice has matured on this album, and the musicianship is impeccable. The only reason I don't really like this CD as well as "Untitled" is it seems to be a bit too polished, with too much ForeFront and not enough Benjamin Gate going on. Their older sound seems more raw and more untamed, along with their songs seeming more varied on their older CDs.

This CD is very much worth buying, but don't buy it and not any of their older CDs. If you're gonna buy this one, you should also pick up "Untitled" if you can.

The Benjamin Gate totally blew me away with their first album "Untitled" with a unique style of acoustics, loops, and vocals. With numerous recognition for songs like "All Over Me", "Lay It Down", and "How Long", I was very pleased to find out that they had released their sophomore album, "Contact". I suppose I'm a little late-to-the-gun seeing as how I just picked it up a few weeks ago from today but it was well worth the money spent.
The band brings a lot of their old techniques in their music mixing it with newer, fresh ideas that adds flavor to the new release. Their focus, of course, is to reveal to the listening public that living according to a perfect will in God and trying to be yourself in this world are two very interesting and beneficial things. Packed with all kinds of ideas through the music and led on by Adrienne Liesching's empowering and unmistakable vocals, the music reaches to the soul but speaks to the everday human as well.
With "The Calling", the message conveyed is that God is calling and we shouldn't ignore that or turn away from the fact that his love is waiting there for us. "Do What You Say" speaks of how we try to be individual in our own way, living under a holy command but dealing with the pressures of the world. Songs like "Light" and "Overkill" portray friendliness both by us sharing it to others and God showing it compassionately to us. "Need" (my all time favorite, f.y.i.) is a praise to God saying that whatever we feel or need we should give to him and not try to handle things on our own. Other songs like "Tonight" and "The Way You Are" are others dealing with how we should be and not be ashamed. "Fall Away", the last song on the album, speaks of our never ending quest to stay in the will. Even though we 'fall away', God can catch us.
The album truly puts a new perspective on the band and the message they convey in both the lyrics and the music itself. I honestly hope to hear more out of the Benjamin Gate in the future.

A MUST HAVE for Alternative Christian fans. Little did I know that less than a year after hearing this awesome CD that the band would be breaking up. Their unique sound coupled with an extraordinary boldness for Christ has left an eternal imprint on my heart. Look for the Demographics, ComPutYourHeadUpInMyHeart, and Spinning Head EP's on the shared files and auction sites if you are lucky to come across them.

For those that love the inspiring music brought to you by the Benjamin Gate, It is sad to say that the group is breaking up and their last performance will be in November '03. I recommend to the hard -cores to look for their Demo CD "Demographics" since it is currently out of print. If you have the opportunity to see this band like ...take advantage of it!

the benjamin gate did it again with the sophmore release, Contact. in this cd, they have more of a rocky edge over a techno one like on untitled. i think that this album is the best new christian/alternative release!!!!!

When The Benjamin Gate first arrived on the American Christian music scene just over a year ago. I was not sure what to think. I had heard them touted as a Christian Band from South Africa. I wasn't sure what until I actually listened to Untitled. I was completely taken by surprise. This was something fresh, something original in a Christian Music Industry which was actually starting to stagnate just a little. The first album raised the bar, at least in my mind, about what we should expect from Christian music. Now, just over a year later, we have their sophomore release, Contact.
This is more than a worthy follow-up to the first album. While many of the sounds are familiar, The Benjamin Gate took a "if it ain't broke..." approach to the sound of this album. What is quite apparent is the growth of the band over the past year, which was spent largely on the road and in the studio. Adrienne's vocals have matured quite well over the past year and are even more of a pleasure to listen to than in the first album. Musically it doesn't stray far from their first release, having the same electronic/guitar combo feel of Untitled.
Thematically I feel that The Benjamin Gate has also matured. While it's easy to lump them in a catagory of Christians who don't want their music too overtly Christian, the message is there and quite clear in the lyrics without resorting to saying Jesus every other word while still retaining a worshipful attitude, realizing their failings, but not dwelling on them and asking God to "Lift Me Up." This gives the music an accesibility to a more secular audience, while keeping a clearly Christian theme throughout.
As far as individual songs go, "Overkill" is simply wonderful and definately the highlight of the album. I had little idea it was a cover of a Men At Work song, but it seems the Christian industry is taking more and more "secular" songs and making them their own. "Do What You Say" is another standout track worthy of mention. "The Way You Are" is a wonderfully worshipful experience that we should hearing in Praise and Worship services all over the country soon enough.
Are there drawbacks to this album? Aside from a lot of the sounds being quite familiar to listeners of the first album and perhaps lyrics which may not be overtly Christian enough for some. There is certainly still room for growth, but as a follow-up to the first album, Contact is exceptional.

As the title would imply, I bought this on impulse at a recent trip to Best Buy... I'm a sucker for nifty CD covers, and this is no exception. Anywho, that's not really what drew me, what drew me was the Free Sampler to give to a friend... I dunno why... it just drew me to this CD, for some unexplainable reason. (Not to mention that I saw the music video for "All Over Me" from Untitled...). After listening to it, I don't regret it one bit. Album highlights are defintely "Overkill" and "The Calling". I listened to these countless times, and it never gets old... neither does the rest of the CD, for that matter. It's such a fresh sound that it blows you away. I'm kicking myself now for missing them when they came in concert a few weeks ago.

As for Christian music artists turning to ambiguity later in their careers, all I have to say to that statement is that people only want to hear pure worship so much before it gets a little boring, so the artists turn to more poetic lyrics. If you don't like it, there are artists that do nothing but pure worship... just my 2 cents.

Overall, this CD is mind-bogglingly amazing with beautiful lyrics and amazing music to boot. I recommend it to anyone.

There are two versions of this release - a two disc version and a one disc version, both using the same UPC (bar code). Make sure you are sending/requesting the correct version!

The 'correct/more accurate' single CD release UPC used on the CD trading web sites and Amazon is 724354037306 - the two CD UPC is 724353624200.