'Audio Lessonover' by Delirious?

This is a tricky one. From 'Cutting Edge' onwards, I was a big Delirious fan, but this was the last album of theirs I ever bought. Not a good sign. Actually, it was very interesting listening back to this - it's not as bad as I remembered it being, but it has some pretty major flaws.

Up until this album, Delirious had been on an interesting journey. Every album had seen them edge slightly closer to the mainstream until their album 'Glo', the one before this, which was a firm step back towards their worship roots. It's almost as though they thought they needed to balance this out, as 'Audio Lessonover' is as mainstream friendly as they ever went.

For the first time, the album contained songs that were not explicitly Christian in their outlook. Some people found this difficult to take, though I don't think it bothered me at the time. I've never quite understood the view that Christians should only write 'Christian music'. Having said that, it does give the album a slightly muddled outlook, especially because a lot of the songs use language that sounds quasi-worshippy - lots of references to 'all you need is love', and 'your love' and 'angels' - it's as though they didn't quite have the courage of their convictions. It's therefore hard to see who they're trying to appeal to, and how. Even the album title is confused - much was made of it being an ironic anagram of 'Radio One Love Us', but even if that's true, it doesn't mean a lot.

The main problem with this album, however, is musical. In fairness, this is quite a brave album - there are lots of musical ideas and production tricks that the band hadn't tried before. Some of them work, lots of them come close to working, and some of them just don't. 'Waiting For The Summer' and 'Take Me Away' are both decent enough slabs of pop, then 'Love Is The Compass' comes really close to being the best yet before its clunker of a middle eight lets it down. 'Angel In Disguise' is good, but 'Rollercoaster' doesn't really work, despite its modular approach to construction - the bits just don't really fit together. 'Bicycle Gasoline' has a nice tune, but it doesn't seem to mean anything, 'A Little Love' and 'Heaven' are fine, but nothing that hasn't been done before, and better. 'Angel' is a mawkish mess of nothingness. 'Stealing Time' is good - the best example of finishing with a big brooding track since 'Obsession'. But it doesn't add up to enough good bits.

The band, I believer, returned to form after this, though I didn't follow them particularly. The trouble is, they went back to being a successful worship band, and it seemed to regressive to me, however well it was done. It's a shame the world didn't give them a bit more of a chance to work these ideas through - maybe a real follow up to 'Audio Lessonover' would have been great? Sadly, the album just sticks out as a missed opportunity.