The Waiting - self-titled

I'll never forget the first time I heard "Beautiful Blood" while I was working late one night at my campus radio station in college. Such simple melodies, not a lot of frills in the song... but the lyrics grabbed me by the heart. "Meek is the lion and brave is the lamb, don't understand, don't understand. The death of the one to bring life to the rest, who could have guessed, who could have guessed? But everything's plain next to the mystery of almighty God, nailed to a tree... to carry a debt that I never could, beautiful blood, the beautiful blood." Such a contrast of visual symbols. Such a moving song.

So as I have been known to do, I bought the album for that one song. What I discovered was an artistic pouring out of heart which few artists achieve. The sound ranges from soft acoustic to uplifting rock anthems, sometimes in the same song. (Try out "Hands in the Air.") It's fresh, the lyrics are almost conversational. Brad Olsen is talking to God, he's sometimes pleading and occasionally fighting, and we get to listen. What a work.

The self-titled album was the one that put the Waiting on the map, and for a good reason. The boys were making changes and getting honest with God, finding a new place to stand musically. I'm glad they did. Where they ended up was really something original.

This album has been out a few years, and with all the changes going on in Sparrow records right now, it might get hard to find. But, as with many hard-to-find albums in my review, it's worth finding.