Shine...The Hits (CD - 2000)

Phil Joel (vocals, bass); Jeff Frankenstein (keyboards, programming); Duncan Phillips (drums, percussion).

Additional personnel: Toby Mac (rap vocals); Dan Muckala (keyboards); DJ Maj (turntables); Robert Caprio (loops); Pop Steam Choir (background vocals).

Producers: Jeff Frankenstein, Peter Furler, Joe Baldridge.

Australia's Newsboys are a great pop-rock band first, a great Christian band second. This compilation brings together a fine assemblage of the band's work. The title tune is a Robbie Williams-style affair full of clever lyrics and singable melodies. "I'm not Ashamed" finds the boys expressing their pride about spreading the Good News, but with a twist: they spend half the song expressing outrage at those who find such statements distasteful, and they throw around decidedly non-theological terms like "market research" in the lyrics.

"Breakfast" uses the time-tested pop metaphor of food to light-heartedly remind us that "they don't serve breakfast in hell," all the while pounding out a Marcy Playground-like groove that any post-Nirvana rockers would be proud to own. "Praises" could easily pass for an ACHTUNG BABY-era U2 outtake. The faith-centered message of the lyrics is always front and center, but the sonic framework on SHINE is so infectious that any of these tunes could be equally successful on secular terms. minimize