Drowning With Land in Sight
This darkly brilliant collection of songs takes a number of left turns designed to keep the "establishment" at a distance--just when the band was entering the Christian-music mainstream. Some worked. The label back-masked the phrase "kicked my ass" on "Dave's Blues," completely missing the tribute to guitarist David Leonhardt, who gave his all onDrowningdespite undergoing treatment for Hodgkin's disease at the time. Band leader Mike Roe'sAlice Cooperimpersonation on "Snake" is creepy and beguiling, and the band's note-for-note cover ofLed Zeppelin's "Nobody's Fault but Mine" makes no pretense about "stealing it back" forBlind Willie Johnson.--Brad Caviness