Plumb:: "Beautiful Lumps of Coal"

Title: "Beautiful Lumps of Coal"
Category: Alternative
Artist/Group: Plumb
Rating: 3.5 / 5

Free Sink n' Swim Without You Boys Don't Cry Hold Me Walk Away Taken Nice Naive and Beautiful Unnoticed Real Love'em & Kiss'em Go

I've waited a long time for this one.

Plumb's 1999 album, Candy Coated Water Drops, was an amazing collection of guitar-driven rock like "Late Great Planet Earth," and great pop hooks found in "Stranded" and "God-Shaped Hole." And I can't forget the haunting lyrics of "Damaged." In fact, I liked it so much that I went back and purchased their self-titled 1997 debut album, Plumb.

After almost a four-year hiatus, Plumb is back -- now on a different label, more mature, more personal, and unfortunately, not as engaging as in Candy Coated Water Drops.

Plumb is a female-fronted modern pop rock band. Check that. Plumb is not a band. It's Tiffnay Arbuckle Lee. She is Plumb. The guys who play the instruments are just professional musicians hired to accoumpany her. This makes sense, because what you'll notice immediately from listening to this CD is the voice, and the passion it conveys. Plumb is the voice and the song writer. And she's gifted in both.

The hard-driven rock of "Free" picks up where the last album left off. It's a fiery anthem. It has the cool, serene voice we've come to love from Plumb, with toe-tappin' guitar licks. It is in many ways autobiographical, from her salvation and freedom from sin, to her freedom from her old record label. Overall, this is the best track on the album.

"Taken" has the best hooks on the album, as Plumb's voice ascends and dances in harmony with the music as she sings:

'Cause I'll still be loving you
Through the sadness
And the madness here
And I'll always be with you
In the distance
That has taken you
From me

The lyrics express both the sadness of losing someone you love, as well as the comfort for the believer of knowing that there is more to this life than this world, and that the separation is only of distance, and so there is hope of reunion. A note on the album insert says the following: "This song is dedicated to the memory of a courageous woman of virtue....She now walks were the angels trod and holds her Father's hand...."

"Real" is about a girl who wants IT. The problem is, she doesn't know what IT is. I think we can all testify that we've been there too.

Aren't I lovely
And do you want me 'cause
I am hungry for something that
Will make me real
Can you see me and
Do you love me 'cause
I am desperately searching for
Something real

I have mixed feelings about this CD. Perhaps in the attempt to reach a wider audience, most of the lyrics are not overtly Christian -- just passionate, thoughtful, and even spiritual. The songs on this CD will appeal to everyone. I like that. On the other hand, songs like "Sink n' Swim," and "Boys Don't Cry" remind me of their last album -- perhaps too much so, in fact, to the extent that they begin to sound too much like leftover tracks. I think my mixed feelings with this CD is because my expectations after Candy Coated Water Drops were too high. I was hoping for more of the same, but better. I give this CD a disappointed 3.5 out of 5.

One final note. What exactly is inside a candy-coated water drop? Answer: nothing. As Plumb states in an interview: The sad truth of the matter is, many experience "religion" and "church" but never a relationship with Jesus...many walk away thinking that they've "tried" Christianity when they in fact have not.

Discography