4th Avenue Jones Stereo (2005): Does It Still Hold Up?

I went back to my old CD case for part two of Rediscovering Music and pulled out 4th Avenue Jones’ Stereo: The Evolution of HipRockSoul, a 2005 album that mixes hip hop, soul, jazz and rock. Then I had one of my students listen to it, and his reaction says a lot about whether it still holds up.

Blog Version

I pulled 4th Avenue Jones’ Stereo: The Evolution of HipRockSoul out of my old CD binder, a 2005 album I picked up at a LifeWay Christian bookstore years ago. It blends hip hop, soul, jazz and rock, and it’s still a lot of fun to listen to. This week I also had one of my students listen to it. This is part two of Rediscovering Music.

This is part two of Rediscovering Music, a series where I go back through my old CD case, which I haven’t touched in more than a decade, and rediscover some great music. This week, it’s Stereo by 4th Avenue Jones.

4th Avenue Jones Stereo: a big amalgam of sounds

It came out on Gotee Records, and it was a lot of fun to listen to again. Musically, the album hits several genres. There’s hip hop, some soul, some jazz, some rock and roll. It’s a big amalgam, and that’s what drew me to it when I first heard a sample.

I grew up in a very musical family. My mom was a music major in college and I grew up on soul, funk, Motown, rock and roll, classical, and everything in between. So when I hear a convergence of sounds, it excites me. That convergence is what pulled me into this project.

It’s beautifully done. The lyrics are amazing, and there’s so much soul coming from the two main singers. There’s a heaviness to it that’s just beautiful to listen to.

The lyrics are interesting for another reason. This came out at the height of what I’d call the Christian music industry boom, and I think it’s one of the early examples of something different. It wasn’t the stereotypical Christian band where every song is about Jesus. This was more like Christians within a band.

I found one of the band members on social media, and they talked about what they were doing: speaking to culture and being a light in a dark world. Instead of songs that were necessarily about lifting up Jesus, the songs spoke to situations in the culture they lived in. They also pointed to a different, better response to what you might see happening.

One of my favorite parts of rediscovering this album is the booklet. I miss physical media, because CDs and even cassette tapes came with lyric sheets that told you what was being sung. I’ve gotten pretty good at picking out lyrics, but this was awesome. It’s one of the ways I learned to read as a kid. My mom would buy me music, and I’d sit down and read the lyrics while they were being sung. Having that again was really cool.

What my student thought of a 2005 album

I’ve been curious how younger generations would respond to older music. This album is from 2005, so this past week I had one of my students, who’s around 14, listen to it all the way through a couple of times.

He liked it a lot. He said the fusion of hip hop and rock always works well together, and that a couple of the rock songs sounded like rap songs to him because the two styles get so close. He loved the mixing, which he described as 2000 style. He also said the last song was easily the best.

I asked if he’d picked up that it’s a live band, with no loops and no samples, playing the whole time. He hadn’t realized that, and it made the song even cooler for him. If you go on YouTube, you can see it’s a live band.

His two standout songs were “It’s Over Now,” his favorite, and “Overloaded.”

What I loved about interviewing him is that he was vibing with music that came out well before his time. I think that speaks to the art 4th Avenue Jones put together. This mashup of sounds created something timeless that speaks to a lot of people. It’s fun to listen to, and it’s challenging in a lot of ways.

The tracks that got me going

A few tracks stood out for me. “Stereo,” the opening track, is one I just love. It speaks to something in me, because I’ve always needed music in my life.

“Overloaded” speaks to me too, especially when it talks about stress. I put out a social media post this past week reflecting on the idea of being overloaded and some of the lyrics in that song.

Another track that has always gotten me going is “Monumental Continental,” featuring GRITS. I don’t think I realized at the time that it was GRITS, but the fact that they partnered with 4th Avenue Jones on the song was a lot of fun.

That’s it for this week. Join us next week for another album from the binder.