Album Sweep: February 15, 2014 - Part One....

Hey gang, it's time to kick off the first part of this week's "album sweep", sampling the records making their first appearance on the Top 200 Albums sales chart in Billboard magazine. (I've included highlighted links to buy the albums and other works by the artists when possible)...

The soundtrack to the Disney animated movie Frozen holds on at #1 for a fourth non-consecutive week, selling just under a hundred thousand copies.

The top debut of the week at #4 is from the California metalcore band Of Mice & Men,  with their third album and first to reach the top-ten, Restoring Force...

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Christian rock act Casting Crowns come in at #6 with Thrive, their sixth studio album. Five of those have made the top 10 on the main albums chart, going to #2 twice with The Altar And The Door in 2007 and Come To The Well (their most recent) in 2011...

Another Christian performer, hip-hop artist Andy Mineo (formerly C-Lite), enters up at #13 with his seven-song EP Never Land. Last year he came in at #11 with his full-length album debut Heroes For Sale...

The Grateful Dead archive release Dave's Picks Volume 9: Harry Adams Field House, University Of Montana, MT 5/14/74, a limited edition box set, drops in at #30. Out of the nine so far volume 7 from Horton House in Chicago has reached the highest at #26 last year...

Jamie Grace, who had won the 2012 Dove Award for best new artist in the Christian music field, ascends to #32 with her second full-length album Ready To Fly. It's her first to make the top-40 here...

Folk-rock music icon David Crosby returns at #36 with Croz, his fourth solo album. Apart from his work with the Byrds and Crosby, Stills, and Nash, his highest set was If I Could Remember My Name in 1971, which peaked at #12...

Chattanooga, Tennessee-based rapper Isaiah Rashad debuts at #40 with his first EP, Cilvia Demo...

(Brent) Smith & (Zach) Myers, one-half of the hard rock band Shinedown, come in at #46 with their Acoustic Sessions EP of covers songs of artists like Metallica and Soul Asylum...

Progressive metal group Periphery take their second EP, Clear, to #62. Their last full-length, Periphery II: This Time It's Personal, peaked at #44 in 2012...

That's all for the first half of the bunch; out of these nine the three I would recommend are the David Crosby, Grateful Dead, and the Smith & Myers sets...

I'll be back tomorrow with part two....