Brehm Center

I have an extensive cd collection.  I particularly enjoy being able to study an artist's or band's entire career.  I like to be able to trace their progressions (or in some cases, regressions) as artists.  I feel that knowing an artist's catalogue adds an extra dimension to the listening experience.  That knowledge makes the good albums better and grants the bad albums a little more grace than perhaps they'd otherwise deserve.

As I've collected so many artist's catalogues, I've noticed an interesting phenomenon - self-titled albums are most often comparatively the least in an artist's catalogue.  (Admitedly, this is not always the case. Sometimes bad music is contained on non-self-titled albums as well, as evidenced at left.)  I've pondered this.  Why are so many self-titled albums bad?

Well, clearly self-titled albums are usually an artist's first album.  They're not experienced, and so the songs aren't as good as their later work.  That's the easy answer.

But the deeper question is, why are these songs worse than their later songs?  What quality is this early work missing that the later work possesses?

I think the answer is identity.

As I've listened to and studied these bad debut albums (Oh, the things I do for art!), I've noticed a common thread - on early albums, artists seem often to be trying to be someone else.  One artist plays the piano and writes story songs, so he tries to be the next Billy Joel.  Another captures snapshots of Americana that erupt in praise of God, and so he apes Rich Mullins.  This other band is from the South and loves guitars, so they try to remind you of Lynyrd Skynyrd.  Don't you just love the irony of a self-titled album where in every song the artist is trying to sound like someone else?

Eventually, over the course of a few albums, if they keep at it, the artist or band almost always finds their identity, but it seems to take time and practice and confidence to drum up the courage to be oneself, and it's wonderful when that finally happens.

This afternoon, I went to Azusa Pacific University to see their production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Evita.  The show is very well done on all fronts.  The singing, the acting, the choreography, the costumes, the lighting - everything on stage is top notch.  Even the music, which is provided by a live orchestra, is wonderful.  The students at APU are really doing a fine job.

And to their credit, there seems to be a large measure of group identity among the cast and crew.  All too often, productions of this size try to be more than they are.  Companies overreach their rigging.  They overstep their stage, and so their productions fail, if not entirely, at least in part.  APU's thespians seem very at home on their stage, and theirs is a comfort that is communicated to the audience and makes for a very enjoyable afternoon.

As artists, we can learn from the failure of so many musicians and from the success of Azusa Pacific University's theater department.  May we learn to be ourselves.  May we be comfortable in who we are.  May we act on the stage God has placed us on.  May we ply our God-given talents to the task at hand so that when He gives us more, we will have developed the skills needed to be equally as responsible with them.

It's the least and the most we can do.