Since the band was mentioned briefly a couple of weeks ago when we looked at Geoff Moore’s A Place to Stand, and we had looked at Whiteheart’s 1986 effort, Don’t Wait for the Movie and their 1989 masterpiece, Freedom, it might be time to take a closer look at the album sandwiched in between the two: 1987’s Emergency Broadcast.
The album begins with Gordon’ Kennedy’s catchy guitar riff followed by the Chris McHugh’s drum kick and Tommy Simms’ thumping bass opening the rocking, “Urban Renewal,” which seemed to want to rock a little louder than it actually did. The next song is the pop hit, “Key to Our Survival,” which, when the album was released in November of that year, worked as the perfect radio companion to the advent season, and is among the band’s most underappreciated songs (we’ll mention another one off this album in a minute). Ironically, the next track, “No Taboo,” was used as the only track from Emergency Broadcast on the band’s Nothing But the Best–Rock Classics greatest-hits album, and is strangely one of the weaker tracks of the album. The next song–the only track from Emergency Broadcast on the Nothing But the Best–Radio Classics album–is the beautiful “Montana Sky,” and definitely one of Whiteheart’s most powerful ballads of its career.
The middle songs “Fashion Fades” and “Sold Out” are rollicking songs that, somewhat date the album lyrically. Regardless, both songs have remained album highlights and fan favorites.
From there, Emergency Broadcast moves onto another strong ballad, “Somewhere in Between,” and then the energetic, and another underappreciated song––perhaps the most underappreciated song of the band’s career (and likely the song that influenced the album’s title), “Speed of Sound.”
From there the album ends with bassist Tommy Simms helping out on vocals with “Lone Ranger” and then another strong ballad, “Edge of the Dream” to close.
In all, this is one of Whiteheart’s strongest albums, and fits nicely in the middle of what was, in this reviewer’s opinion, the band’s best period (1986-1990).
Flashback Friday Christian Music Review 