Review: Stetler Trio "Precious Friend"

Shout to the Lord - This song is much the same as the version on Forgiven’s summer release.  Most of it is nearly identical, although there are some notable changes, especially at the beginning  of the song, and with the piano.  And of course since Milton Smith produced the orchestrations for both CDs, and Julia Stetler was in both groups, the two songs will sound alike.

What a Precious Friend - I saw the Stetler Trio perform this song live when I went to a Christian event.  It’s a nice song.  Not really fast, but not too slow either.  It’s fairly light with a nice use of the organ and strings.  Part of “What a Friend We Have In Jesus” is sung as well as the title song.  This song was originally sung by the Kingdom Bound Quartet.

Happiness Is - This is the first song I ever heard from the album, which I found on YouTube.  It’s OK, but I wish more instrumentation would have been utilized.  I hear a piano, drums, and bass guitar.  It’s fast and jazzy.

Total Praise Medley - Slowing down the pace, we hear “Total Praise Medley” which was written by Richard Smallwood.  The orchestration is pretty heavy through different parts, but not the whole way through.  It’s a pretty song.  I like it, but just don’t have much to say about it.

Made Me Glad - I don’t have much to say about this song either, other than that it’s really good.  This is one of the few songs that Elisa (Stetler) Calderon gets a verse (or part of one anyway) to herself.  Her voice sounds older and more mature's than Julia's does.  That's not to say that Julia isn't a good singer!

More Than Wonderful - Written by Lanny Lavon Wolf, this song was formerly sung by Sandi Patty and the Gaither Vocal Band.  This version is really good and has some great power singing.  The chorus says:

For He’s more wonderful than my mind can conceive
He’s more wonderful than my heart can believe
He goes beyond my highest hopes and fondest dreams
He’s everything that my soul every longed for, 
Everything that he promised and so much more
He’s more than amazing, more than marvelous, more than miraculous could ever be
He’s more than wonderful, that’s what Jesus is to me

It’s an awesome song.  The music isn't as good as GVB's, but the singing is much better than Sandi Patty's.

He Washed My Eyes With Tears - This is a bit faster, and a bit less serious than some other songs, but not as much so as say “Happiness Is.”  It’s not a very strong IMO, but it’s OK.

Trust His Heart Medley - Very good lyrics.  The orchestration is nice and pretty light, although it gets a bit heavier in places.  We hear the organ playing in the second song which gives a nice sound.  

Isn’t It Amazing - If I were to write a full review of each slow song, the descriptions would probably be about the same.  “Isn’t It Amazing” is good just like “Trust His Heart Medley,” “Made Me Glad” and the others.  Sure they’re different songs, words, tunes, instrumentations, but I fear that I will repeat myself, so I’ll just say that this song was really good, like the others.

We Press On - I don’t like this one as well as some of the others.  The words and tune don’t really “grab me.”  The music can be compared to that of the other ballads.  Elisa handles the verses.  I’m not sure if I like her voice as well as Julia’s, but she’s not bad.

Will You Love Jesus More - I could entertain you with clever lines and tender words.  But if all I did was entertain you, I have failed in my mission.  When you leave this place, will you love Jesus more?  This needs to be the  theme song for all Christian musical artists to an extent.  They need to remember that the most important thing they could do is to tell sinners about Jesus’ saving grace.  They’re not just there to entertain, though that can be part of their purpose.  I believe the Booth Brothers sang this before.

Jesus Is Coming Medley - This is the same song that Greater Vision did on Hymns of the Ages.  The Stetlers sang it faster, while GV held back more.  It’s a pretty song, but probably could be improved by slowing down at the beginning.  The song seems too rushed.

Comments:
Precious Friend really is a good CD, but it could have been improved.  For one thing, there should have been at least two more (maybe three or four more!) fast songs.  There were only two truly fast songs when you count “Shout to the Lord.”  There are others such as “He Washed My Eyes With Tears” and “What a Precious Friend” that were maybe more fun, but not really that up-tempo.  You could compare this to saying that “Holy Hands” by the Triumphant Quartet or “Nothing’s Worrying Me” by the Collingsworth Family is fast.  Most of the ballads are really good, but some more up-tempo numbers would be awesome.

• You can buy the CD here.

Rating: 4.5 stars
Song Selection: 4-4.5 stars
Favorite Songs: “More Than Wonderful,” “What a Precious Friend,” “Will You Love Jesus More?” “Total Praise Medley,” “Isn’t It Amazing,” and others

CREDITS:
Vocals: Elisa Stetler Calderon, Julia Stetler, Paul Stetler
Producers: Paul Stetler, Chas Payson
Piano: Paul Stetler
Bass: Darrell Lacy
Drums: Todd Walker
Orchestrations: Milton Smith 
Arrangements: The Stetler Trio
Studio: Echo Beach Studios (Jupiter, FL)
Engineer: Chas Payson
Photography: Churchill Photography (Hobe Sound FL)
Graphic Design: Brandon Hilligoss (Cincinnati OH)
Clerical Assistance: Lynn Hughes

Review copy not provided

How to Get Free Music Legally

Are you looking for a free way to listen to Southern Gospel?  Look no further, here's a list of sites where you can find some great music!

Spotify - I haven't used this option very much, but it looks sort of promising.  They have some harder-to-find new albums. But unfortunately you have to download a program, you can't simply access the music from your browser.  Also, some albums are missing.  You get 20 hours/month of free music (I think), unless you upgrade to a paying account.

Napster - Napster has a lot of music.  They also have a lot of groups that aren't as well-known in the Southern Gospel world.  But recently they haven't been adding new projects (e.g. Tribute Quartet, Collingsworth Family, ect.) and some projects just have 30-second clips (e.g. Greater Vision)  If you're interested in listening to new CD's, don't choose Napster.

Grooveshark* - The music on Grooveshark is mainly from more popular artists (Gaither Vocal Band, EH&SS, Greater Vision, ect.)  And while they do have lesser-known artists (Kingdom Heirs, Inspirations, Collingsworth Family) they don't have the new CDs, and may just have a couple of songs from the particular performer you're looking for.  I don't use Grooveshark very much unless I want to upload music.

Pandora - Much the same as a lot of the other options.  Not a lot of new music, and not a great selection of artists either.  Also, you can't pick each song you want to listen to.  Pandora creates a playlist based on similar artists to the one you picked.

Last.FM - This is like Pandora, with perhaps, a little more music and (sometimes) more obnoxious ads.

YouTube** - Probably the world's biggest video uploading site, YouTube is a goldmine for music.  There's a lot of music that people have recorded off DVDs, so you can find some really good stuff.  Then you can get programs to convert the videos to MP3s.

Artist Websites - Sometimes a group will put some of their music on their websites.  Check out the websites for the following artists (Google their name): Collingsworth Family, Skyline Boys, Cross4Crowns, Liberty Quartet, Stowtown Records, Greg Howlett, Crimson Gold, Dove Brothers Quartet, Gold City, Heaven Bound Quartet, Whisnants, Mike Lefevre Quartet, Old Paths, Palmetto State Quartet, Providence Quartet, Resurrection Quartet, Paul's Journey, Sons of Liberty, Soul'd Out Quartet

Do you have anything to add to this list?  Please leave a comment and let us know!

*Grooveshark has dubious legality.  Anyone with an account can upload music.  The site does pay the record labels for the music, however the labels have to sign up with Grooveshark to get paid.
**While YouTube is legal, some videos that are posted are not supposed to be there.  The creators of the content (artists, producers, ect.) can have their content removed by contacting YouTube.

Short Review: "Knowing You" (Faith Trio)

Pros:

• The music is pretty good, although a lot of the songs aren't on the scale I'd like them to be.
• Although I'm not completely pleased with the song selection on Knowing You, it does have some really great songs.  ("Were It Not For Grace," "Knowing You," "Heritage of Holiness," ect.)
• The percussion has improved since the last CD.  (The Anchor Holds)  GBS seems to have used that guitar (that  was so annoying when played on every song) much less sparingly.  Thank goodness!

Cons:

• As this CD was produced by the same studio/people that made The Anchor Holds,  it does have one of the same problems.  And that's the piano.  A real piano, or a realistic-sounding keyboard would help the songs sound better.
• Although I am pleased with some of the songs on the CD, I do not like some of the others.  For example, "Broken and Spilled Out" is nearly eight minutes long (7:54), and it's pretty boring.  "All Of Me," and "Abide in Me," though not as long, are still not very fun to listen to.  They're slow, tend to drag on, and aren't heavily orchestrated.

At least a couple of the songs should have more accompaniment/orchestration.  If I could pick two to arrange the music for, (if I could arrange that is!) they would be "Were It Not For Grace," and "Knowing You."
There aren't enough fast, fun songs.  There's four if you count "Heritage of Holiness."
IMO, "Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow" was kind of wasted space, as they sang it accapella.

Comments:
Knowing You is a good CD, but it's not on the scale of most Southern Gospel projects.  You probably won't want to spend $15 + shipping to purchase it, when there's so many other recordings that surpass it in production quality.  Still, I recommend listening via Grooveshark, because there are some very good songs.  3.5 stars

Favorite Songs: "Out of His Great Love," "Knowing You," "Were It Not For Grace"

(Note: You can listen to this CD on Grooveshark.)

Short Review: "The Anchor Holds" (Reflection Trio)

Pros:

• The music was very professionally produced, with Roger Talley working on the project.  There's a lot of ballads with big orchestrations, as well as fun faster-paced tracks like "That Same Blood."

Cons:

• The "piano" sounds pretty bad.  The studio needs to invest in a real piano, or at least get a realistic-sounding keyboard.
• There's some kind of instrument in the background of nearly every track, that blends with the percussion and makes all the songs have a certain familiarity about them.  I think it's some kind of guitar, but it needs to be used less frequently.
• I wish there was at least one more fast-paced song.  There's only four of them compared with six ballads.
• The album might have benefited from a couple of lighter ballads.  They're all pretty heavily orchestrated (with "I'm Amazed" being the lightest)  The beginning of "Under His Wings" is even lighter, with little or no orchestration, but it doesn't follow through till the end of the song

Comments: The Anchor Holds is a CD worth listening to.  The songs on it haven't been sung to death and the music is very good.  I really like the project.

I would like to clarify about the song list.  "Under His Wings" is a different song than the old hymn you may sing in church, although the chorus is sung twice at the end.  "I Go to the Rock" is not the version that the Kingdom Heirs and Legacy Five did.  "I Will Praise You" is different than "I Will Praise Him," and "I'm Amazed" is not the praise-type chorus done by Mercy's Mark, but is actually the song that was IMO ruined by [Jason Crabb?]  "I Am Not Ashamed" is a completely different song than the Inspirations sang.  Just wanted to let you know, in case you look at the song list and think: "They've all been sung to death.  I'm not listening to the CD."  A couple of the songs, that I know of, have been sung by other groups, but they haven't been done too much.

Southern Gospel fans will enjoy listening to jazzy "I Go to the Rock," worshipful "Under His Wings," and the slightly progressive "Jesus Never Fails."  4.5/5 stars

Favorite Songs: That Same Blood, The Anchor Holds

Song List: I Will Praise You, I'm Amazed, I Go to the Rock, The Anchor Holds, Jesus Never Fails, Calvary Came Through, That Same Blood, I Know My Redeemer Lives, I Am Not Ashamed, Under His Wings

Short Review: Forgiven Self-Titled CD

EDIT: Listen to two songs from this CD right now!

Forgiven is a mixed trio sponsored by Hobe Sound Bible College in Hobe Sound, Florida.  These kind of groups tend usually to get one album, and then "disappear."  While this project is not on the scale of a lot of Southern Gospel projects, it's still worth a listen.


Pros:

• Music.  I've heard some projects where a group was accompanied by just a piano.  Thankfully this wasn't the case on Forgiven.
• Talent.  While there are places where the group is perhaps not as strong as they should be, they are good singers and aren't afraid to use their voices!  (Listen to the second verse of "Because He Lives.")
• Song selection.  I would have chosen different songs to substitute in several places, but Forgiven didn't sing songs that have recently been done by major Southern Gospel groups.

Cons:

• There's something about the music that I can't quite put my finger on.  But I think it might be this.  The music (particularly the drums and the brass instruments) needs to be louder.  I think some better mixing would have made a huge difference.

Comments: This is a nice album to listen to, especially when you're in the mood for something lighter.  You can order it online at: www.hsbc.edu.  4 stars

Favorite Songs: Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone), Everlasting Peace, Shout to the Lord, Oh Come Along, Because He Lives

Credits:
Song List: Because He Lives, Born Again, Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone), Everything, O God Our Help In Ages Past (accapella), Everlasting Peace, Shout to the Lord, Great Is Thy Faithfulness (piano solo), Heaven Medley, O Come Along, I've Come Too Far Medley
Group Members: Jac Crawford, Amy Going, Tim Henson (Pianist), Julia Stetler
Music Credits: Produced by Paul Stetler, Engineered by Chas Payson, Recorded and Mixed at Echo Beach Studios (Jupiter FL), Orchestration and Bass by Milton Smith, Piano by Timothy Henson, Drums by Todd Walker
Photography and Graphic Design: Mark Going