Broad Tastes
I like everything from Bauhaus to Dave Brubeck to the Dixie Chicks to Jay-Z to Portishead to Duncan Sheik to John Williams. So, it shouldn't come as too much of a surprise when I'll admit that there's a Contemporary Christian artist that I really dig. But, I also have to admit that when I first discovered the band I was unaware that they were Christian rock. For that matter, I'm not sure they were aware of it either.

In any case, the band of which I speak is Plumb. More correctly, the person of whom I speak is Plumb, otherwise know as Tiffany Arbuckle. Over the course of six years, Plumb has released three albums (not including the Greatist Hits record) on three different labels and unfortunately, the most recent entry is the weakest of the batch.

Back to the Future
Back in 1997, Plumb released a self-titled album on Silvertone Records which got some decent buzz on the college radio circuit. Drawing comparissons to electralternarocksque bands fronted by women (like Garbage, Poe, and the Sneaker Pimps), they attracted folks like me who couldn't get enough of that genre to satisfy themselves. The self-titled album was powerful in a raw kind of way and, to me, was the PERFECT soundtrack to reading Stephen King's Desperation. The combination turned a beautiful (if a little dark) album, into something doubly powerful and even terrifying; a winning combination that I would suggest to anyone.

Essential/BMG released the follow-up album, candycoatedwaterdrops in 1999. Though nearly unrecognizable as the same band, except for Arbuckle's distinctively edgy-sweet vocals, the album was a masterpiece of memorable hook-laden songs that were closer to pop rock than anyheard on the self-titled release. (Also of interest, I believe Arbuckle was listed as having co-writing and backing vocal credits for Mandy Moore's 2000 hit, "I Wanna Be with You." But don't Quote me on that.) While there are a few Jesus-y songs that I could have done without, the album is still definitely worth owning and listening to regularly.

Lumps
Now, welcome to 2003 and Beautiful Lumps of Coal, released by Curb Records. Whereas the self-titled release had magnetic tracks like "Sobering (Don't Turn Around)," "Willow Tree," "Pennyless," and "Who Am I?"; and where candycoatedwaterdrops had instant favorites like, "Late Great Planet Earth," "Stranded," "Here with Me," "Phobic, and "Damaged"; Beautiful Lumps of Coal is remarkably barren of such memorable songs.

The songs are decent and reasonably well-crafted; however, they all seem to be lacking the magic that Plumb infused into previous work. Most of the tracks feel as if they could've been written and performed by anyone (the one winner being "Real"). It really pains me to say this as I REALLY like Plumb and I REALLY want her to succeed. It pains me even more as I tried calling every Newbury Comics in Boston (I buy almost all my music there) for the CD and eventually had to trek out to Target and dig through their mess of ill-organized CDs to buy the damn thing.

That said, I still highly recommend the first two albums to music lovers. If you want something a little rougher, go with the self-titled release. If you want something more polished, go with candycoatedwaterdrops. And by all means, if you like those albums, give Beautiful Lumps of Coal a try.