24-01-2014, 20:55
enters the Billboard chart this week at #6
allmusic gives it a 2.4 of 3.0
Spotify online listen
formerly an alt christian band
soundtrack to their own surfing documentary here
some boy band sounding vocals to me
but good lyrics and music
Bio - from allmusic
![[Image: MI0003661453.jpg?partner=allrovi.com]](http://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_400/MI0003/661/MI0003661453.jpg?partner=allrovi.com)
After gaining a foothold in the contemporary Christian music scene, Switchfoot went mainstream with 2003's The Beautiful Letdown, a double-
platinum album that straddled the line between sacred and secular rock music. Years before Switchfoot's commercial breakthrough, though, the
group struggled to make a dent in the San Diego area, where singer/guitarist Jonathan Foreman, bassist Tim Foreman, and drummer Chad Butler
began playing together in 1996. The lineup logged several shows under its original name, Chin Up, before adopting the Switchfoot moniker and
attracting the attention of singer/songwriter Charlie Peacock. Although Peacock signed the band to his own label, Re:Think, Switchfoot was moved
over to the roster of Sparrow Records following Sparrow's acquisition of the smaller label.
Now signed to one of the largest Christian labels in the country, Switchfoot temporarily tabled their plans to reach out to a broader audience.
Their first two albums, The Legend of Chin and New Way to Be Human, were marketed almost exclusively toward Christian listeners, who took an
immediate shine to the band's music. Keyboardist Jerome Fontamillas joined the band for 2000's Learning to Breathe, which found Switchfoot
taking more steps toward a mainstream alt-rock sound. Breathe became a transitional record for the group, earning a Grammy nomination for Best
Rock Gospel Album and selling over 500,000 copies, thus achieving gold status. Its success, coupled with the band's presence on the hit
soundtrack to the 2002 film A Walk to Remember, set Switchfoot up for a healthy major-label run.
The Beautiful Letdown, Switchfoot's debut album for Columbia Records, was issued during the spring of 2003. It represented the quartet's full
evolution from a Christian group to a mainstream rock act, eventually earning double platinum sales and producing two Top 20 hits: "Dare You to
Move" and "Meant to Live." Switchfoot returned in September 2005 with their fifth album, Nothing Is Sound, which debuted at number three on the
Billboard 200. Nothing Is Sound went gold, sparked another radio hit in "Stars," and was the first Switchfoot recording to include the work of
additional guitarist Andrew Shirley (formerly a member of the contemporary Christian group All Together Separate), who'd been a touring member
of Switchfoot since 2003. Wasting little time, the band returned to the studio with veteran U.K. producer Tim Palmer to begin work on its sixth
album, one that found the guys broadening their musical scope. The resulting Oh! Gravity. appeared at the tail-end of 2006.
Oh! Gravity. turned out to be Switchfoot's last album for a major label. Less than a year after its release, Jon Foreman announced the band's
decision to leave Columbia Records and form its own label, lowercase people records. Columbia pulled together some of the band's greatest hits
for a last-minute compilation, The Best Yet, while the band set to work on another record. At the same time, Foreman began releasing a string of
solo EPs, each of them named after a specific season. He also formed Fiction Family, a folk-pop side project, with Nickel Creek guitarist Sean
Watkins. Fiction Family's self-titled debut was released in January 2009, followed one month later by another Switchfoot album, Hello Hurricane,
which won the 2011 Grammy Award for Best Rock Gospel Album. Several months after the band's Grammy win, Switchfoot returned with Vice Verses, an
album that highlighted the band's rhythm section. During 2013, while touring in support of Vice Verses, Switchfoot made a film documenting the
band's lifelong love of surfing. Their next album, released in January 2014, was a soundtrack to the film, entitled Fading West. It saw the band
freed from the typical constraints of the three-minute pop song, experimenting with unusual instruments and musical textures.
Album Review - from allmusic
![[Image: MI0003680828.jpg?partner=allrovi.com]](http://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_400/MI0003/680/MI0003680828.jpg?partner=allrovi.com)
San Diego's Switchfoot made a splash in the early and mid-2000s with such hit singles as "Dare You to Move" and "Stars." Those songs showcased
Switchfoot's anthemic, passionate guitar-based rock sound and helped secure their position as one of the most successful Christian rock bands on
the secular pop scene. Since then, Switchfoot have released several albums that found them experimenting with various pop sounds that moved them
away from the straightforward punk-influenced rock of their earlier work. Switchfoot's ninth studio album, 2014's Fading West, continues in this
varied creative direction with a batch of songs inspired by the band's love of surfing. Recorded in tandem with a worldwide tour of well-known
surf spots, captured on the 2013 Fading West documentary, the album is an upbeat, uplifting affair. The band, once again centered around lead
singer/songwriter Jon Foreman, returns to both its musical roots and its beach and surf culture roots. The result is an album that at once
pushes Switchfoot's sound forward, while displaying the band's long-running knack for melodic, catchy pop songs. Essentially, Fading West finds
the group splitting the difference between the anthemic guitar-based uplift of 2003's The Beautiful Letdown and the more post-punk/dance-rock-
inclined approach of 2006's Oh! Gravity. Tracks like "Say It Like You Mean It" and "Who We Are" bring to mind Achtung Baby-era U2, while other
cuts like "Slipping Away" and "Let It Out" fit nicely alongside work by more contemporary bands like OneRepublic. Ultimately, much like riding a
surfboard from wave to wave, Fading West moves from earnest ballads to dancey, groove-oriented cuts to breezy, sunshine-soaked rockers with an
easy, athletic flow.
[video=youtube;vl9focF2tvg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vl9focF2tvg[/video]
Track Listing
1. Love Alone Is Worth the Fight
2. Who We Are
3. When We Come Alive
4. Say It Like You Mean It
5. The World You Want
6. Slipping Away
7. Ba55
8. Let It Out
9. All or Nothing at All
10. Saltwater Heart
11. Back to the Beginning Again
allmusic gives it a 2.4 of 3.0
Spotify online listen
formerly an alt christian band
soundtrack to their own surfing documentary here
some boy band sounding vocals to me
but good lyrics and music
Bio - from allmusic
After gaining a foothold in the contemporary Christian music scene, Switchfoot went mainstream with 2003's The Beautiful Letdown, a double-
platinum album that straddled the line between sacred and secular rock music. Years before Switchfoot's commercial breakthrough, though, the
group struggled to make a dent in the San Diego area, where singer/guitarist Jonathan Foreman, bassist Tim Foreman, and drummer Chad Butler
began playing together in 1996. The lineup logged several shows under its original name, Chin Up, before adopting the Switchfoot moniker and
attracting the attention of singer/songwriter Charlie Peacock. Although Peacock signed the band to his own label, Re:Think, Switchfoot was moved
over to the roster of Sparrow Records following Sparrow's acquisition of the smaller label.
Now signed to one of the largest Christian labels in the country, Switchfoot temporarily tabled their plans to reach out to a broader audience.
Their first two albums, The Legend of Chin and New Way to Be Human, were marketed almost exclusively toward Christian listeners, who took an
immediate shine to the band's music. Keyboardist Jerome Fontamillas joined the band for 2000's Learning to Breathe, which found Switchfoot
taking more steps toward a mainstream alt-rock sound. Breathe became a transitional record for the group, earning a Grammy nomination for Best
Rock Gospel Album and selling over 500,000 copies, thus achieving gold status. Its success, coupled with the band's presence on the hit
soundtrack to the 2002 film A Walk to Remember, set Switchfoot up for a healthy major-label run.
The Beautiful Letdown, Switchfoot's debut album for Columbia Records, was issued during the spring of 2003. It represented the quartet's full
evolution from a Christian group to a mainstream rock act, eventually earning double platinum sales and producing two Top 20 hits: "Dare You to
Move" and "Meant to Live." Switchfoot returned in September 2005 with their fifth album, Nothing Is Sound, which debuted at number three on the
Billboard 200. Nothing Is Sound went gold, sparked another radio hit in "Stars," and was the first Switchfoot recording to include the work of
additional guitarist Andrew Shirley (formerly a member of the contemporary Christian group All Together Separate), who'd been a touring member
of Switchfoot since 2003. Wasting little time, the band returned to the studio with veteran U.K. producer Tim Palmer to begin work on its sixth
album, one that found the guys broadening their musical scope. The resulting Oh! Gravity. appeared at the tail-end of 2006.
Oh! Gravity. turned out to be Switchfoot's last album for a major label. Less than a year after its release, Jon Foreman announced the band's
decision to leave Columbia Records and form its own label, lowercase people records. Columbia pulled together some of the band's greatest hits
for a last-minute compilation, The Best Yet, while the band set to work on another record. At the same time, Foreman began releasing a string of
solo EPs, each of them named after a specific season. He also formed Fiction Family, a folk-pop side project, with Nickel Creek guitarist Sean
Watkins. Fiction Family's self-titled debut was released in January 2009, followed one month later by another Switchfoot album, Hello Hurricane,
which won the 2011 Grammy Award for Best Rock Gospel Album. Several months after the band's Grammy win, Switchfoot returned with Vice Verses, an
album that highlighted the band's rhythm section. During 2013, while touring in support of Vice Verses, Switchfoot made a film documenting the
band's lifelong love of surfing. Their next album, released in January 2014, was a soundtrack to the film, entitled Fading West. It saw the band
freed from the typical constraints of the three-minute pop song, experimenting with unusual instruments and musical textures.
Album Review - from allmusic
San Diego's Switchfoot made a splash in the early and mid-2000s with such hit singles as "Dare You to Move" and "Stars." Those songs showcased
Switchfoot's anthemic, passionate guitar-based rock sound and helped secure their position as one of the most successful Christian rock bands on
the secular pop scene. Since then, Switchfoot have released several albums that found them experimenting with various pop sounds that moved them
away from the straightforward punk-influenced rock of their earlier work. Switchfoot's ninth studio album, 2014's Fading West, continues in this
varied creative direction with a batch of songs inspired by the band's love of surfing. Recorded in tandem with a worldwide tour of well-known
surf spots, captured on the 2013 Fading West documentary, the album is an upbeat, uplifting affair. The band, once again centered around lead
singer/songwriter Jon Foreman, returns to both its musical roots and its beach and surf culture roots. The result is an album that at once
pushes Switchfoot's sound forward, while displaying the band's long-running knack for melodic, catchy pop songs. Essentially, Fading West finds
the group splitting the difference between the anthemic guitar-based uplift of 2003's The Beautiful Letdown and the more post-punk/dance-rock-
inclined approach of 2006's Oh! Gravity. Tracks like "Say It Like You Mean It" and "Who We Are" bring to mind Achtung Baby-era U2, while other
cuts like "Slipping Away" and "Let It Out" fit nicely alongside work by more contemporary bands like OneRepublic. Ultimately, much like riding a
surfboard from wave to wave, Fading West moves from earnest ballads to dancey, groove-oriented cuts to breezy, sunshine-soaked rockers with an
easy, athletic flow.
[video=youtube;vl9focF2tvg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vl9focF2tvg[/video]
Track Listing
1. Love Alone Is Worth the Fight
2. Who We Are
3. When We Come Alive
4. Say It Like You Mean It
5. The World You Want
6. Slipping Away
7. Ba55
8. Let It Out
9. All or Nothing at All
10. Saltwater Heart
11. Back to the Beginning Again
