Almost There is the first studio album by the American Christian rock
band MercyMe (singer and drummer pictured), released on August 14,
2001, by INO Records. Characterizing it as contemporary worship and pop
rock, music critics praised the album's songwriting, especially on "I
Can Only Imagine", but gave its sound mixed reviews, ranging from
"fresh" and "innovative" to derivative. CCM Magazine cited it in the
25th anniversary edition of their 100 Albums You Need to Own list.
"Bless Me Indeed (Jabez's Song)" was released as the album's lead
single, but it underperformed on the charts. The second single, "I Can
Only Imagine", boosted sales for the album, and crossed over to
mainstream radio in 2003. The album peaked at number 39 on the
Billboard 200 and number one on the Billboard Christian Albums chart.
Billboard ranked it as the fourth best-selling Christian album of
2000–2009 in the United States. Both the album and the single "I Can
Only Imagine" have sold more than 3 million copies.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almost_There_%28album%29>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1888:
One of the first music recordings ever made, of Arthur
Sullivan's "The Lost Chord" (audio featured), was played at a press
conference introducing Thomas Edison's phonograph in London.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lost_Chord>
1941:
After a secret meeting in Newfoundland, British prime minister
Winston Churchill and U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt issued the
Atlantic Charter, establishing a vision for a post–World War II
world.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_Charter>
2010:
The inaugural edition of the Youth Olympic Games opened in
Singapore for athletes between 14 and 18 years old.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Youth_Olympic_Games>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
en masse:
In a single body or group; as one, together.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/en_masse>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Of all kinds of human energy, Art is surely the most free, the
least parochial; and demands of us an essential tolerance of all its
forms. Shall we waste breath and ink in condemnation of artists, because
their temperaments are not our own?
--John Galsworthy
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Galsworthy>