Hostage (Rez Band album)

Recording history

Hostage was a radical departure into keyboard-driven new wave stylings which dominate the record, and this is due in large part to the fact that bassist and keyboardist Jim Denton took over much of the songwriting. Although the lead-off track, "S.O.S.", was popular on Christian radio, long-time Rez Band fans were extremely divided over the band's new musical direction, especially with strange sonic experiments like "Armageddon Appetite".

At the same time, "Attention" and "Crimes" are typical Rez Band hard rock efforts, which indicated to surprised listeners at the time that the band hadn't completely abandoned the sound for which they had become known. Besides, the lyrical themes of war, inner-city violence (of which the band was intimately familiar) and the spiritual and moral confusion of youth are once again front and center.

"Crimes" was the band's first music video and was filmed in the same run-down urban neighborhood in which the Jesus People USA community is located. It received limited airplay on MTV.

Track listing

All songs written by Jim Denton unless otherwise noted

1. "S.O.S." – 4:03
2. "Attention" (Glenn Kaiser, Jon Trott, Roy Montroy, Stu Heiss) – 3:45
3. "Souls for Hire" (Kaiser) – 3:30
4. "Defective Youth" (Denton, John Herrin, Trott, Heiss) – 2:57
5. "Who's Real Anymore" – 4:06
6. "Armageddon Appetite" – 1:26
7. "Beyond the Gun" (Kaiser, Denton) – 4:20
8. "Crimes" (Kaiser, Denton, Herrin, Montroy, Heiss) – 3:38
9. "It's You" (Trott) – 2:02
10. "Tears in the Rain" (Denton, Herrin, Trott, Heiss) – 6:00
11. "Walk Away" (Kaiser, Denton) – 4:50

Personnel

Production