The first things that always comes to mind with Adam Again is the fundamentally essential groove that rips through even its rockin'est songs. I find I can't think of Adam Again without thinking about dancing. The other, equally potent aspect of this alternative, funk/rock/pop band from Pomona, CA, led by Gene Eugene is the journalistic honesty that fuels his lyrical explorations of what Christianity can mean in this broken universe of ours. It was what drove "Eyes Wide Open," and here on Dig it is the core of "It Is What It Is (What It Is)." This hunger to tell the truth, even the painful and uncomfortable truths, and the music which seems to crank the truth up to an unavoidable volume, makes Adam Again one of the best selling alternative artists on a Christian label. I haven't seen Adam Again play once when I did not feel the urge to cry.

Dig is Adam Again at its most raw, intense and relentless. "This Band is Our Home," he affirmed last time out (on Homeboys), to suggest that no place else on the planet offered the kind of acceptance and care that he felt in the intimacy of his homeboys playing his music. Watching Homeboys fail as a commercial entity appears to have made Eugene feel more vulnerable, as he sings in "Hopeless, Etc." Apart from Christ, his audience, his band and his family, he feels without value and worth.

Dig moves completely into aggressive rock territory, yet manages to maintain that ineffable quality that makes it Adam Again music. The deep, funk groove remains, and Eugene's deadpan commentary on life in this society, which finds harmonic expression in the tortured, soulful guitar heroics of Greg Lawless continue to provide the sweetening that helps the strong medicine go down.

It's honest because Eugene tells us "It Is What It Is," and ultimately hopeful because we can indeed find meaning in faith and our worth in relationship to Christ, even though that may mean we lack much of what society suggests are the markings of success. Here Adam Again continues to dig "Deep," to find love and grace for forgiveness that's "Worldwide" and for everybody who needs a little help when they try to "Walk Between the Raindrops."

Again, Gene Eugene, Riki Michele, Greg Lawless, Paul Valadez and John Knox, have gone to the "River of Fire," and come back with a work that reaches the high marks in musical creativity and lyrical grace. I'll be dancing 'til the crying stops.

Brian Q. Newcomb ( CCM, July 1992 )
www.ccmmagazine.com

This is the group's magnum opus. The energy and drive here are unparalleled on any of the band's other releases. With lyrics that are introspective and well crafted, Adam Again has never sounded so good on record -- and this release comes closest to duplicating the band's live performances. The opening track, "Deep," explodes with energy, featuring a tight, catchy chorus reminiscent of the wordplay that makes Elvis Costello famous, and the bandmembers carry this energy through the whole record. Two criticisms: The "la las" on "Worldwide" are a bit annoying, and no one would be fooled into thinking that the long-sustained note on "Hopeless, Etc." could be held for that long. Drummer Jon Knox makes this record cook from beginning to end, along with the classic Valadez and Lawless team (together for the last time). "It Is What It Is (What It Is)" follows strong opener "Deep" with a killer groove that doesn't quit, and "Hidden, Hidden" complements "Deep" lyrically and rhythmically.

Mark W.B. Allender ( AMG )
www.allmusic.com

Adam Again - discografi / covere / tribute nettside