Streetlight (Streetlight Album Version)

Approfondimenti

DeGarmo & Key were one of the more polished pop/rock acts on the Christian Contemporary Music scene in the '80s. Unlike many CCM bands at that time, the quality of their production was not far below that of their secular counterparts -- artists like Genesis and Hall & Oates. Like everybody else, they spent the decade making extensive use of keyboards and synthesizers. But while Street Light is quite clearly an '80s album (as demonstrated by the record jacket, which pictures Eddie DeGarmo in one of those knee-length hot pink overcoats that, in centuries of sartorial history, have been worn exclusively by '80s-era rock stars), it is not quite as enthusiastic in its immolation upon the altar of the electronic as were most of its contemporaries. Key's fine electric guitar work plays a significant role on the record, particularly in the opening "Every Moment," which is a competent ripoff of Born in the U.S.A.-era Bruce Springsteen. The fact that the lyrics are explicitly religious does not mean that they are any more substantive or probing than anything on Top 40 radio in that period. Indeed, they are often egregiously underwritten, as on the puerile "Video Action": "Hey that's my pastor in the corner/he's wearing shades like James Dean/rent or buy/they've got Chariots of Fire/and every flick I've ever seen." But palatable lyrics were not a prerequisite for a recording contract with any label in 1986, and Street Light is able to hold its own when ranked among its contemporaries.

© Evan Cater /TiVo