Crack the Sky

Since it was a busy summer, I haven’t been too active on this blog. But now that it’s the unofficial end of summer and things are beginning to wind down, I found some time to get back into the swing of things, and what better way than with Mylon Lefevre’s stellar Crack the Sky.

This album was my introduction to Mylon. In fact, because my oft-mentioned older brother’s youth group had to leave early, we just missed seeing his festival-closing set at Creation about a month after this album was released. I believe it was the following weekend when some of us went to the local Christian bookstore that I first heard a sampling of this album, and what I heard was, well, wow!

If memory serves me correctly, my Christian cassette buying…uhm…”problem” began on that day, and while I considered Mylon’s new tape, Rick Cua’s Wear Your Colors was the cassette of choice for me that day. But it didn’t take long before I went back there again to “gratify my newfound indulgence” with Crack the Sky.

The title song, as I’ve said, can only be described as ‘wow.’ The fast-paced electric drum intro, followed by searing guitars gives the listener an adrenaline rush right upfront. Mylon’s nice, smooth voice comes in singing the verse, and then the wow factor hits with the chorus of Broken Heart (or is it the chorus of angels?) singing perfect harmony with a perfect instrumental blend to a perfect rhythm and melody. It is a song that, if there were classic Christian radio stations out there in existence, it would be played as much as say, “Power of Love” or “Footloose” is on secular classic radio stations today. It’s music is timeless and it’s lyrics are a wonderful wish for God to sweep us up and take us home.

Next is the anthemic “Love God, Hate Sin,” also with an electric drum intro. But while this may arguably be the only other rocker on the album, it’s pretty light and mid-tempo. In fact, the rest of the album sort of seems as if the band wanted to rock out, but the record company put a hold on it and said, “nope, this is going to be a pop album.”

So having said that, while many of us would have rather preferred a more rockin’ album in the likes of what it begins with, Crack the Sky continues as a really good pop/rock album nonetheless. “Closer Than a Heartbeat” is similar to what secular pop radio stations were playing at that time, and bassist Kenny Bently does a really nice job on lead vocals for the upbeat R&B “Give It Up.”

Side 1 closes with what might be the band’s most underrated ballad, “I Belong.” The song uses a beautifully haunting acoustic guitar and melody to express how we still belong to God even though we constantly prove how unworthy we are to be his.

Side two’s four-song tracklisting has a trio of nice slightly-more-than-mid-tempo-radio-friendly pop hits (which were played with a little more umph in concert). The catchy “Let Me Be the One” starts, then “Reach for the Sky” and “Heart on Fire” follows. Again, these are nice songs, but boy, it seems as if they were originally intended to be “Crack the Sky” -paced rock songs.

The album closes with another nice ballad, “For My Growing,” a duet with the song’s writer, Carole Ford.

Overall, this album might not be number one on my list of favorite Mylon Lefevre albums (Face the Music is number one, followed closely by Sheep in Wolves Clothing, Crank It Up and then Crack the Sky), but I would say that regardless of where I may put it on my own personal list (someday I’ll have to put a list together), I dare say this stands in many people’s minds as probably closer to the top of Contemporary Christian Music’s most definitive 1980s releases.