New Way to Be Human

Learning to Breathe	The Legend of Chin	The Beautiful Letdown	Oh! Gravity. With Oh! Gravity, the San Diego-based modern rock act delivers their best album in years, one that fully reconciles their (Christian) faith with their (considerable) talent. It's diverse but not overly so, and while the production work of veteran Tim Palmer (U2, Tears for Fears) ...	Nothing Is Sound Switchfoot is the classic eight-year "overnight success" story. With a pocketful of radio hits, award nominations, and multi-platinum status, the band's Beautiful Letdown in 2003 introduced Switchfoot to a whole new world. But let's keep in mind that prior to the massive success,...
Nothing Is Sound Switchfoot is the classic eight-year "overnight success" story. With a pocketful of radio hits, award nominations, and multi-platinum status, the band's Beautiful Letdown in 2003 introduced Switchfoot to a whole new world. But let's keep in mind that prior to the massive success,...	Five Score and Seven Years Ago Relient K's fifth CD is a diverse modern rock album that's so varied at times it sounds like a mix tape. "Take the Fifth" pulses with lush, Beach Boys-y harmonies, "Forgiven" is a piano-driven tune that sounds like early U2, and the dueling guitar feedback that opens "I Need You"...	The Beautiful Letdown Contemporary Christian music has come a long way toward secular acceptance in recent years thanks to the likes of Switchfoot, who avoid obvious sacred references in their lyrics. It's also refreshing to hear CCM songwriters like Switchfoot's Jonathan Foreman explore love and belo...	MMHMM	Who We Are Who We Are is another set of rousing anthems from this reflective trio. On their fourth full-length, the Los Angeles three-piece sets the template for a harder-rocking effort with dynamic opener "Disarray," in which singer/guitarist Jason Wade admits he doesn't know where he's go...

Most Wonderful Production By Switchfoot
I've been around this album since it's original release date back in 1999. I still love Switchfoot's New Way To Be Human even today; I'm listening to it right now as I'm writing this review. Switchfoot is said to be a Christian group, but don't let that scare you away. Switchfoot's music is not preachy in any way, and you don't hear them praising Jesus or anything over and over again. This music is meant for people of all religions; even Switchfoot's lead singer Jon Foreman said, "Christian is a belief, not a genre." So that tells you they're not all over the Christian genre. As a matter of fact some of their songs sound more like love songs anyway, which is something that pretty much almost every band does anyway, so nothing unusual there. It's quite an experimental album; each song sounds different and wonderful in it's own way. There is a variety of acoustic and electric guitar sounds, synthesizers and many other elements of tone for each song. Some songs like Company Car, Incomplete or New Way To Be Human sound optimistic and happy, some of them are songs about emptiness like Sooner Or Later or Let That Be Enough. Switchfoot manages to slip their variety of music tastes into each song while altogether being consistent in their production. Everything fits nicely and transitions to each song beautifully. I cannot possibly point out any highlights, as each song is equally powerful in quality and meaning. But I will review each song individually. 1. New Way To Be Human - Wonderful opening about how much the world has changed it's outlook and opened up a new meaning to life in priority and performance. 2. Incomplete - I love the optimistic sound of this song. This one talks about always running away from your problems and trying to leave it all behind. But the song cuts to the chase and says, "Cause you're a missing person now, step outside your doubt and let yourself be found!" 3. Sooner Or Later (Soren's Song) - Sooner Or Later is supposed to be based upon the Danish Philosopher Soren Kierkegaard. Jon Foreman displays Soren's thoughts upon the emptiness of the world lyrically in Sooner Or Later. Soren's Song is about having to face the world's problems and interfaces Sooner Or Later. Sooner or later you'll find out there is much wrong with the world we live in today. 4. Company Car - This one always puts me in a happy mood whether I'm angry or sad. A good song for almost any mood whatsoever. 5. Let That Be Enough - Another song about emptiness; don't you just love those songs? This one is about being young and under prepared to face what lies ahead (AKA real world). It's a sad but wonderful acoustic song well written. 6. Something More (Augustine's Confession) - Another song based upon a philosopher; this time it's about Augustine's book series called "Confessions." This one talks about living with the same things in life and having to cope with them. Asking the world if there is "Something More" in store for him in life (at least that's the best I could interpret the song). 7. Only Hope - This song was beautifully written; Jon begins the song telling the listener he's been trying to write the same song over and over again to get things right. The song is about hope for acceptance from the one you love, basically. It's hard to say for sure though. 8. Amy's Song - like a sequel to Concrete Girl from The Legend Of Chin (Which by the way, is also a masterpiece). Amy is a fictional character that according to Jon Foreman is based upon all the heroes in his life. She is a modern day rebel who "Burns to live and inspires these flames in everyone she meets." As Jon said. 9. I Turn Everything Over - This one just makes me want to ride my bike, don't ask why. This is a fun song about having to deal with more of the same problems and eventually turning everything over. Sounds like another song about problems but it sure sounds fun. 10. Under The Floor - The meaning behind this song is quite a mystery; but that's just what I love about it. The way it's written is kind of creepy; he talks about a strange presence in the room that can hear him, even when he sings. Not sure what it is he's talking about, but it's there, under the floor. Overall, everything ranging from the sound to the overall production of this album is all great. I don't think I've ever heard any other music album as much as New Way To Be Human (other than Snowflakes Are Dancing). And this is coming from someone who has well over 7 days worth of music on itunes (over a dozen albums). New Way To Be Human is one of my top 5 favorite albums ever. So anyone with the slightest interest in anything Switchfoot, if any one CD of theirs to buy, get this one. Better yet check out the 3-disc package "The Early years 1997-2000" which comes with the first three Switchfoot CDs (including this one) all for the price of one.

Only fleeting glimpses of greatness
I'd heard of the band way back with their debut LEGEND OF CHIN but I'd kind of forgotten about them until "Meant to Live" exploded at alternative radio. At that point, I decided I would revisit their older stuff and see if I was missing out. At this point, the band lineup was a trio consisting of lead singer/guitarist Jonathan Foreman, drummer Chad Butler and Jon's brother Tim on bass and backing vocals. Jerome Fontamillas (Keys & Guitar) and Drew Shirley (Guitar) weren't yet part of the lineup. To be honest, I can only hear glimmers of the wonder that THE BEAUTIFUL LETDOWN is here. Many of the songs are tuneful but tend to drift into the background. Only on a handful of occasions (all of them rockers) do they really grab my attention. It wasn't until LETDOWN that the band started to write ballads that could move me. HIGHLIGHTS: "New Way to Be Human" practically skips out of speakers on a whistling keyboard riff. Foreman takes aim at a disillusioned generation ("And where is our inspiration?/When all of the heroes are gone/Hey, kids, could WE be the ones?") noting true transformation will only come when we look outside ourselves ("The God of redemption could break our routine...") "Company Car" blasts empty materialism as the song's protagonist gives up wider hopes for "that which is attainable" finally realizing he's lost his moorings entirely ("I've become one with the ones that I never believed in".) "Something More (Augustine's Confession)" renders a first person look at St. Augustine's Confession in contemporary language. ("At 31, his whole world is a question mark/All this time he's never been awake before...in a quiet desperation of the emptiness he said/'There's gotta be something more/than what I'm living for/I'm crying out to You'") LOWS: "Only Hope", "I Turn Everything Over" and "Under the Floor" are all fairly non-descript filler. BOTTOM LINE: Ignore those saying this one's the band's best. They would go on to do MUCH better art than this one. If you're already a big Switchfoot fan you may like this but it's not one you can't do without. Hear it first and download the best bits off ITunes.

Their best albulm?
I to have disagree with reviewers who say this albulm is not as good as The Beautiful Letdown. I haven't listned to Switchfoot's two most recent albulms (Oh! Gravity and Nothing Is Sound) but I think this is the best of the four I have listened to. (And by the way, Learning to Breathe is also better than The Beautiful Letdown in my opinion). This is an excellent albulm both musically and lyrically. I will agree with a previous reviewer: if you're not a Christian don't let that turn you off. Sure, you may not agree with everything Foreman's lyrics say, but you can still appreciate this for being great music and a lot of the lyrcis are about existential experience and things we all deal with. He is a talented lryicist and whatever he says, he says it well. I am an atheist and consequently don't listen to much Christian music, but Switchfoot is the one Christian band I listen to often.

Still the best...
Three great albums later, Switchfoot has yet to eclipse their Sophomore release "New Way to be Human." This is the album that first started raising eyebrows in the music world and rightfully so. The CD kicks off with "New Way to be Human" a very solid, though explicity Christian, rock tune. If the Christian thing is a turnoff to you, fear not--I am an athiest myself and I think Switchfoot's handling of Christian messages is tasteful, thoughful, and not at all preachy. This is a big contrast to overbearing Christian bands like "DC Talk." The album continues without lag from beginning to end in such a way that it is hard to distinguish the highlights. The entire album is the highlight! Don't worry about skipping through the album or downloading the wrong songs on ITunes. Just sit back and let it work. Apart from being the best Switchfoot album, "New..." is probably the most diverse. Track 4 "Company Car," a mockery of material superficiality, comes close to being ska. The next song, "Let that be enough" is one of the rock balad heard on "A Walk to Remember." A few tracks later, they really get experimental in "Amy's Song." If you get one Switchfoot album, make this the one.

Switchfoot's best
This is switchfoot's best CD and "New Way to Be Human" is their best song hands down.