Derek Webb's "The Ringing Bell"

I pre-ordered Derek Webb's new record "The Ringing Bell" today (as my weekly music purchase). When it does arrive it'll be a pretty sweet package... 96 page colour graphic novel with the cd signed by Webb. His server was so slow last night that I actually had to wait til this morning at 8:00am to order... this means that A LOT of people are pre-ordering the record, that's great! Finally Webb is getting the attention he deserves. It'd be nice to see him in the top ten on Billboard's Heatseeker.... Anyway....

Musically this album is rockin' seriously, this is the most rock 'n' roll record he's ever done. And I mean real rock, the glory days of the 50s-60s. His influences are definitely on his sleeve. I hear the Beatles a lot, and on one song, "A Savior on Parliament Hill" I hear tons of Larry Norman influence, always a good thing.

I'll have to chew the lyrics for a while to get them... but from what I can tell from some interweb perusing, it's a concept record about being a peacemaker. It's certainly not as confrontational as his other stuff, but he's not getting weak he's just getting mature. His message is still bold, just not as blunt.

The album is short clocking in at a mere 30 minutes, but not a second is wasted. This is the tightest record he's done, and where his older, longer albums will have a clunker filler song, this album just doesn't. I'd rather have a killer 30 minute record than an okay 50 minute record, so this is fine. (Although in a perfect world I'd have a killer 50 minute record!)

Overall, as with all Derek's stuff, I can't recommend it enough. This album blows away Mockingbird which got stale by the second half of the record, and it also blows away "I see things upside down." I don't know whether it'll blow out "She Must and Shall Go Free" though. I am die-hard for that record, but this one is certainly more fun to listen to.

I'd say get in on the pre-order 'cause that way you get a signed 96 page graphic novel and an immediate download of the record, but if you don't have a credit card at least go buy it early because the graphic novel is limited edition and will get scarce.

(Favourite lyric: "You can always trust the devil or a politician to be the devil or a politician." LOL)