Best Selling SG CDs

In flipping through the December issue of the Singing News last night, my eyes were drawn to a new chart just below the singles chart. Apparently New Day submitted a report of their best selling CDs to retailers for the month of September. The chart included the top 20, and the Crabb Family’s Letting Go was #1, followed by Greater Vision’s Everyday People. I think this is a wonderful thing. However, there are a couple of important caveats to consider here.

First, this is only reflective of CDs distributed by New Day. There are other major distributors out there that handle SG products, Word and Chordant immediately come to mind, so this is not an industry wide chart. I would love to see the other distribution companies to submit their SG numbers to the Singing News as well, and the SN compile the numbers into an industry wide chart. I would also like to see some sales figures reported as well, not just a ranking. Is the Crabb Family #1 because of sales of 5,000 units or 50,000 units?

Secondly, these numbers are based on sales to retail. I don’t know if this is the common means of reporting sales numbers, but this skews the figures in a couple of ways. First, this doesn’t count the actual sales BY retail. If a store buys 200 copies of Greater Vision’s CD, which for argument sake ranks it #3 next month and turns around and sells 150 of them to customers, and the store buys 150 copies of the Inspirations CD, which ranks it say, #5, but 100 of them stay on the shelves or in the stockroom, the #5 ranking is probably way too high in terms of actual CD purchases by customers. Granted, this would even itself out the next month, but it still skews the numbers somewhat. There ought to be a way to compile sales numbers BY retail, instead of TO retail. This is especially important when new projects are released, as the anticipated demand, and hence product orders by retail outlets could be way too low, or way too high. Secondly, and I think this is something fairly unique to SG music, this does not appear to take into effect table sales, unless they are counted as retail. If not, I would think this would also skew the results, as SG sees a larger percentage of sales by the artist as opposed to in a retail outlet. If I wanted the new Usher CD (I don’t), I would go to Walmart or Best Buy or Amazon.com or someplace like that and buy it. I don’t wait until I see Usher in concert and buy it from his merch table. On the other hand, if I want the new Perrys CD, I very well might buy it from their website, or the next time I see them in concert, especially if I live in an area that sees groups come through quite frequently.

On the whole, however, this is a good first step, and something that definitely needs to continue, and I’m glad to see it.

Jim Hamill Passes Away

The Singing News is reporting that Jim Hamill passed away around 5:30 AM EST. This is a huge loss for the Southern Gospel world. Jim Hamill was a legend in every sense of the word. I really can’t think of anything more appropriate to say than what I said in this earlier post. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family in this difficult time.

Christmas Hidden Gem: The Martins – “Heaven’s Child”

Here’s another great “new” Christmas song.  I put quotes around new simply because this CD is now 10 years old.  No matter, this song, written by Joel Lindsey (hey, didn’t he write the last one of these?!?!!) really showcases what made the Martins such a hot group in the mid to late ’90s.  Inspiring lyrics, flawless harmonies, and a terrific understated instrumental track make this a classic hidden gem.  The intensity continually builds through the course of the song, until the end of the last chorus and a sweet, soft tag at the end.  A great song, and a true hidden gem.  Pull out your copy and listen to it again.

SG Christmas CDs – Tried and True, or Fresh and New?

Commenter natesings on the EHSS Christmas Gem post makes an interesting statement.

This one and GVB’s “The Greatest Story Ever Told” are 2 of my favorites. They don’t do the typical traditional songs that everyone else is doing. The songs are fresh and new and really could be played year-round.

On the surface, I agree with his assessment.  I do enjoy both the EHSS and GVB Christmas albums, and for much the same reason.  However, when I think about the absolute best SG Christmas albums, two really come to mind that are head and shoulders above all others.  Those two?  A Cathedral Christmas, Acappella by The Cathedrals, and Voices Of Christmas by Gold City.  Both projects are held in extremely high esteem, and I’ve seen the Cathedrals album mentioned as the greatest Christmas album of all time (I, for the record, agree).  The strange thing about this is that both projects contain no new Christmas songs (GC comes closest with a cover of Sandi Patti’s hit “Merry Christmas With Love”).  So even though we tend to say we enjoy new Christmas material and not the “same old, same old”, the projects held in highest regard are full of the tried and true classics.  Why is this?  Do these projects just give us the definitive versions of these classics, and all others pale by comparison?  What are your thoughts?

Congratulations Tigers

I haven’t done a sports post in a while, but after starting the season 2-4 and going 0-2 against the Sun Belt conference (!), my Memphis Tigers really turned the season around.  I’m still not sure Tommy West is the long term man for the job to build a solid football program here, but I have to give him some credit.  The Tigers finished the season 7-5, winning 5 of the last 6, including an improbable win over Southern Miss in Hattiesburg.  The Tigers are now New Orleans Bowl – bound.  Congratulations Tigers, it was a very challenging season, especially losing one of your own, but you rose to the challenge.  Kudos on a good year, and sending my little brother out with a bowl trip for his last year in the U of M Marching Band!

Christmas Hidden Gem: Ernie Haase & Signature Sound – “Come Make A Place In Me”

In honor of the holiday season, and since I love Christmas music, I am going to try to post at least one hidden gem from a Christmas recording a week.  The first one comes from the Christmas with Ernie Haase & Signature Sound CD.  I actually first heard this song in our church’s Christmas cantata this year.  Written by Joel Lindsey and Sue C. Smith, two outstanding writers (and pretty good bloggers to boot!), Christy and I both thought this was the best song in the cantata.  A couple weeks ago, while searching for some new Christmas music, we came across a good deal on the EHSS CD, so we picked it up.  Lo and behold, here is the song from the cantata that we liked so much.  Doug Anderson sings lead on the song, which has a Contemporary flair to it.  The lyrics are very strong, speaking of Mary and Joseph on the first Christmas night, then applying the principle to our lives today, inviting Christ to make His place in our hearts.  Doug’s voice is a perfect fit for this song.  The key change at the last chorus is great, and really ratchets up the intensity of the song.  I’m not exactly a EHSS “fanboy”, but I do enjoy their music, and this is one of the best new Christmas songs that I have heard in quite a while.  To me, this song beats out “That Little Baby” or “Look Who Just Checked In” by a mile.  Great job by the writers, Lari Goss’s arrangement is top-notch (as is to be expected), and a great performance by the quartet make this a true hidden gem.

Happy Thanksgiving and Open Thread

I will not be posting over the holiday weekend, as I will be busy chasing my 2 year old and 9 month old around and consuming massive amounts of turkey, sweet potatoes, and apple pie. So I wish you faithful readers a Happy Thanksgiving, and be sure that you take time to thank the Father for all of the blessings He gives us daily, none more important that the blessing of salvation. You may fire at will. (Though what he did that was so bad, I don’t know!)

Hidden Gems: Perfect Heart – “They That Sow”

The Million-Dollar Quartet.  Still the most hyped quartet ever from day one.  The only group to have their debut single hit #1 on the SN chart.  Perfect Heart, in its original version, was one of my favorite groups of all time.  Danny Funderburk, Dale Shipley, Mark Lanier, and Mike Presnell, with Jeff Stice and Aubrey Stephens made up the group, and there isn’t a weak link among them.  This song was on their debut project, It Comes From The Heart, and also opened their initial live concert album, simply titled Live.  This is an absolutely gorgeous song.  Fairly simple harmony, a few out of the ordinary minor 7ths thrown in, but nothing earth shattering in terms of the arrangement.  A great group vocal on the chorus and a tender tenor vocal on the verse from Danny.  In some ways it hearkens back to “Whosoever Will”, but where that song stayed nice and soft the whole way through, on this one the last line is repeated in a tag that builds quickly to a powerful ending.  Not a radio single, not exactly a fan favorite in concert, but what a sweet song by an incredible assemblage of talent.  I’ll save my thoughts on why they didn’t last and didn’t fully realize their potential for a later post.  For now, kick back and enjoy a true hidden gem from a  great, and sorely missed, group.

SN Fan Awards Redux

So the Fan Awards have officially been changed to NQC Saturday night.  I think this is a good move, for reasons that I addressed previously.  Time will tell if this is the right move, but hey, at least they are trying SOMETHING to stem the outflow of both artists and fans after Thursday and Friday nights.

A Band-less Kingsmen?

More speculation is flying over at the SN forums that the Kingsmen are about to lose their piano player and bassist. There is also the speculation that if it happens, then the drummer will move to other responsibilities and the Kingsmen will disband their band. (Sorry, just couldn’t help myself!) Whether or not this is true or all hogwash is to be determined by an official announcement. However, the validity of the rumor is irrelevant to what I want this post to discuss.

Poster DJS on the thread stated:

If the Kingsmen get rid of the band , and just have tracks, i think that will be the beginning of the end for them.

Thats part of what makes the Kingsmen is their band.

This is an interesting statement. It is very true that a big part of the Kingsmen’s draw is their band. How many consecutive years did they win Favorite Band? More than that, part of the Kingsmen charm, and this was somewhat discussed by Doug Harrison on Averyfineline a couple weeks back, has been the spontaneity of the Kingsmen concert experience. Encore this song, let’s switch up and do this song instead right here, let me do this for you. Such is the composition of much of the Kingsmen magic.

If they were at some point, whether sooner like these rumors state, or later to lose their band, do you think it is enough to effectively crush the Kingsmen’s popularity and hence, viability? One of the other posters stated they couldn’t imagine turning around “Beautiful Home” with the push of a button. Slightly humorous, yes, but still an argument for the necessity of the Kmen to field a band with the quartet. I’m not so sure where I stand on this one yet. Let’s just hope we won’t have to worry about it for a long time, I’m a longtime Kingsmen fan.