Review: Gold City "Somebody's Coming"

Peter, James, and John - This is the best song on the album (with “Lord of Life” coming in second probably) and is the perfect selection for radio single.  It has a nice country flavor, and the group really shines.  The only criticism I can see would be the ending,  It seems there should be more to it.  It doesn’t follow the chorus endings for the rest of the song.  It has different words and leaves you wishing for more.

I Get Down - The last song was excellent, this one is just the opposite.  Tim Riley leads the song.  It doesn’t do much for me.

Footprints on the Water - Don’t be surprised if you hear similarities to the last song, “I Get Down,” especially in the intro.  It’s a jazzy number, kind of fun, a little obnoxious with the electric guitars.

It Won’t Be Long - A note to Gold City: tone down!  Also, the music is a bit annoying with the loud percussion and electric guitars.  Some lyrics that stood out to me:

There’s no need standing up for the right, unless you’re gonna stand up against the wrong.


and:

You’d better make haste to meet your maker before you have to meet with the undertaker.


Good theology.  :)

Showers of Blessings - This song doesn’t sound much to me like Gold City.  The vocals sound like they’re sung by a different group (not one that I know, but a different group nonetheless)  The group had the perfect opportunity to at least sneak part of the old hymn into this track, but they missed their opportunity.  Nevertheless, “Showers of Blessings” is kind of a fun song.

Lord of Life - To me, this song would win second place on the album.  The first ballad, it starts out with fairly light music, and then kicks into high gear at the first chorus.  If you want a small sampling of the album, buy this song track, and “Peter, James, and John” on iTunes.

Somebody’s Coming - You’re sitting at an interminably long red light, bored out of your skull.  Suddenly, a sleek, red corvette pulls up next to you, rock music blasting from the radio.  The driver thinks he’s a “cool dude” complete with tattoos, muscle shirt, and tattoos.  You feel like opening your window and playing something from your car.  But, suddenly, you hear that the song he’s listening to is by Gold City!  And it’s called “Somebody’s Coming”!

OK, obviously, this will likely never happen.  But I’m telling you, minus the Christian words, this song would be absolutely perfect on a rock-n-roll or country station.  Well, if you like that kind of music, this song isn’t half bad, although it is very rocky.

Leave That Burden - This is ballad two of three.  It’s slightly slower than some down-tempo songs, but it’s certainly slower than most of the others on Somebody’s Coming.  I don’t think that the chorus is extremely well written.  It seems that there’s too many words stuffed into a small space.  The song is kind of country-flavored.  This seems to be the genre that most of the songs on the album would fit into.

I Have an Anchor - Sometimes it takes a few listens before I start to like a CD or song.  Second time through this one, and it’s improving, at least in my mind.  The group could have sang part of the song “Will Your Anchor Hold” (or perhaps called “We Have an Anchor”) in the old Praise and Worship hymnal that my church uses, but alas they didn’t.  So many old songs like this, that are in my hymnbook, never get sung by Southern Gospel groups.  Sometimes I can’t say that it would be a good idea to record some of those old songs though.  Not all of them are exactly well written.

Never Too Broken to Belong - Imagine piano and strings, because that’s what this song is.  It’s pretty (as in to a fairly large, noticeable, or reasonable extent) pretty. :)

Album Art: The cover is a work of art.  I really like it.  I’d like to say that the actual cover art is a bit different than the JPEG image above, mainly in and around the font.

Comments:
I have to say that most of the songs are not as good as some of the songs on Gold City’s last major release Moment of Truth, such as “What Children Believe,” and “By Your Grace, For Your Glory.”  There are a couple 4.5-5 star songs, and the rest range from 1.5-4 stars.  I can’t recommend paying $15 for the entire album, but I would recommend getting some of the songs on a digital download site, such as iTunes.

This album was very country influenced, with almost all of the songs, having at least a little bit, that country flavor.  I generally love country style Southern Gospel music, but I can’t say that about this album.  A lot of the songs are too loud for me.

Most likely, you’ll have a different view of the album than me.  Daniel J. Mount gave it a very favorable review.  If you liked Moment of Truth, then you’ll most likely like Somebody’s Coming.  If you didn’t like Moment of Truth, then don’t get Somebody’s Coming.

CD Rating: 2.5 stars
Favorite Songs: “Peter, James, and John,” “Lord of Life,” “Somebody’s Coming”

Review copy provided by New Haven Records

Review: Booth Brothers "Let It Be Known"

First John - This song has nothing to do with John…at all.  Is “John” a musical term maybe?  Perhaps one of readers can enlighten my ignorance.  :) It’s a weak song, mainly because it’s accapella.  It’s downright boring, not worth listening to, and definitely not worth putting on a CD in the space where a good song could have fit.  1 star

See What a Morning - With “See What a Morning” we go from no music to a lot of music.  This song is very fast and majestic sounding.  The group pulled out all the stops.  Strings, horns, and the works.  We hear part of the song “He Arose” a couple of times.

She Still Remembers Jesus’ Name - If you think you’ve heard this song before, you’re probably right.  This is the radio single for Let It Be Known.  It describes a woman who has dementia, and can’t  even remember her husband who died just last fall, or her oldest son’s name.  Even though she can’t remember these things,  she remembers Jesus and his amazing grace.  She remembers the song “Rock of Ages Cleft For Me” and John 3:16.  The music is lighter with a lot of piano, strings, and guitars strumming softly in the background.  It’s a really good song, although I’m not quite sure that it’s deserving of radio single.

He’s So Good To Me - This is a fun song.  Fast and more traditional.  I don’t have much of anything else to say about it.

When You Bow At Jesus’ Feet - I think musically, this song can be compared in ways to “Try Jesus.”  The music has a familiarity to it, as well as parts of the tune.  “When You Bow at Jesus’ Feet” has lighter music, with no drums.  It’s a refreshing change from the heavy percussion that dominates the Southern Gospel genre.

Since Jesus Came - Picking up the pace we have “Since Jesus Came.”  Most of the other up-tempo numbers are pitched in a higher key.  This one seems lower, especially near the beginning and up to the second verse.  The words say that life is worth living since Jesus came to live inside.

Masterpiece of Mercy - This has a completely style and sound than “When You Bow at Jesus’ Feet” but it’s still a really good ballad.  It has a pretty acoustic sound, with a bit of an old country feel.

Let It Be Known - This song is in a pretty contemporary style.  Obviously not as much as actual CCM songs, but it’s still progressive.  If you like that kind of music, then you should like this one.  It’s actually very good.  Lots of electric guitars, and heavy percussion

The Master’s Table - This song retains just a teensy (VERY teensy) bit of the progressive flavor that makes up the last one, due to some electric guitars heard every once in a while.  Especially at the beginning, it sounds more progressive that it actually is.  I don’t really care for this track as much as the last two ballads.  It seems to kind of drag on, like the song “Look For Me At Jesus’ Feet.”

Bread Upon the Water - Just to be clear, this is a completely different song than “I Cast My Bread Upon the Water” by Gold City.  This one is much faster, and more jazzy.  It has some fun instrumentation including some trumpets and horn sounds, and an awesome beat.  It would probably be pretty successful in a concert setting.  It features some power singing, which people tend to like.  5 stars

What About Now - Wow, this has a long intro!  It lasts almost a minute and two seconds! (1:02)  It has a very unique sound.  Acoustic and kind of “lonely.”  It’s the kind of music that you might hear in a deserted desert scene in a movie.  The message is basically this: Are you right with God now?  It doesn’t matter that you joined a church a long time, or that you got right with God way back when.  But it matters that you love him right now.  Is there evidence of it?  Can people look at you and see that he’s living in you.  If the length of this track wasn’t 6:10, I’d say it should be the radio single.  It has a very Biblical, timely, message, and the music is awesome.  It’s very light until about 4:03 where it kicks into high (and I mean very high) gear.  The group “hums” “First John” at the end.  This is what makes it so long.  If they had left this part out, they could have kept it at near five minutes and chosen it for radio.

Cover Art - The art for this album is extremely well done.  Every thing from color scheme, to fonts, to arrangement is truly a work of art.

Comments:
The first time I heard this CD, I didn’t see why everybody has made such a fuss about it.  People seemed to really like the project, but I wasn’t that impressed.  So I kind of skimmed the CD, listening to the fast songs, and falling asleep on the ballads.  But after finally hearing the rest of the songs, I’ve changed my opinion.  It has some very solid ballads, and some catchy up-tempo songs.  From an eleven-track album, we get about seven 5-star songs, with three others ranging from 3.5-4 stars.  Only one song, “First John,” is truly not very good.  The Booth Brother's have created a winner.  Consider Let It Be Known when you look to expand your music collection.


CD Rating: 4.5 stars
Song Selection: 4 stars
Favorite Songs: “What About Now,” “He’s So Good to Me,” “When You Bow at Jesus’ Feet,” “Bread Upon the Water,” and others

Review copy provided by Daywind Records.

Review: Browns "More"

Good Enough - I believe that "Good Enough" is the first song by the Browns that I'd ever heard.  I listened to it on the radio, and thought that I'd like to get it.  Imagine my surprise, when a bit later I logged onto SouthernGospelBlog.com, saw their review of "Now," visited the Brown's website and heard the song.  :)
It's a fast song, with a fun country flavor.  The words speak of not wanting to go to Heaven because of the luxury and beauty, but rather because Jesus is there.  This is a fairly common theme (as well as seeing Jesus before anything else), used in songs like "First Thing's First," "If Jesus Is There," and "Look For Me At Jesus' Feet."  5 star song

Nothing Is Impossible ­- I don't care much for how the male soloist sings.  He kind of reminds me of Jason Crabb.  The female soloist needs to tone down too.  The message, though, is good.  It talks about a failing business, bad news from the doctor, a modern day prodigal, a judge taking away freedom, a foreclosure, the grip of addiction, ect., reminding us that with God nothing is impossible.  The end of the chorus provide us with some interesting lyrics:

Unbelieveable, inconceivable, infeasable, unachieveable, unbearable, unattainable, unreachable (x2) unthinkable, with God, nothing is impossible.


Somebody had to be using a thesaurus.  :)  3 stars

Beautiful Day - Jazzy, fun, song, that moves along at a good pace.  The soloist's voice is very resemblant of one of the members in the Tribute Quartet (sorry, I don't know his name)  5 stars

Worth of It All - Wow, this is a good song.  It's not slow, but it's not what you imagine when you think fast.   It reminds me of "He's Alive" by the Gaither Vocal Band, except it doesn't get so "progressive" at the chorus.  It's a great Easter song.  If you were listening to it in a movie, you would probably call it suspenseful.  And majestic?  I'm not sure quite how to describe it, but it's really good.  5 stars

Joyful Medley - This is an instrumental number.  It's supposed to be a medley, but the only song I could positively identify was "Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee."  Commenting on the music, I think the song has a pretty contemporary feel to it with the drums and guitars and some other unknown instrument.  Violins?  It's very enjoyable to listen to.  5 stars

Put Your Hand In the Hand - Some of the lyrics to "Put Your Hand In the Hand" are kind of cheesy and funny at the same time.  For example the first verse says something to the effect of:
Mama taught me how to pray before the age of seven.  It was on my knees that I was closest to Heaven.
It's a very fun fast song, although one of the singers (the "Tribute Quartet" guy I think) ruined the ending with an obnoxious "Ohhh, yeeaaahh."  5 stars

Silent For Me - This isn't really the "Easter" feel type song, at least not in the sense that "Worth of It All" was, but it still has the message.  It tells the story of Pilate questioning Jesus.  It states that when the soldiers mocked him [Jesus], and when Pilate interrogated him, he was silent for me.  Pretty heavy orchestration, my type of song.  :)  4 stars

Everywhere I Go - This is the same song that the Liberty Quartet sang on the album Say It Again.  This version is shorter, faster, and is probably better all the way around.  4.5 stars

My Child Is Coming Home - When I listen to this track, it reminds me of another song, but I can't think of what that other song is.  It has a slight musical resemblance to "Light From Heaven" by the Collingsworth Family, but I think there might be a more obvious comparison.  Anyway, the orchestration is heavy, again, and majestic sounding.  It does not have the same theme as Greater Vision's "Another Child's Coming Home" but is about Christian's going to Heaven, rather than prodigal's coming back to their families.  4 stars

Rained Out - This is the rockiest song on "Now."  A lot of songs about Noah, rain, water, ect., tend to be up-tempo, but "Rained Out" isn't just fast-paced.  It might have been fine if the singers would have seriously toned down, but for some reason, I guess they thought that they had to act like some un-Godly country star.  I've said it before, I'll say it again, we're supposed to be listening to Southern Gospel, not the Rolling Stones.  I'm not adverse to performers utilizing some other musical styles, but the Browns crossed a line.

Grace Became Amazing to Me - This is a lighter ballad.  Kind of "cheerful" sounding.  There are a couple of other songs that change the words "grace" and "amazing" around to make different song titles.  "Oh How Amazing is Amazing Grace," by the Hoppers and "That's What Makes Grace Amazing."  Perhaps it's time for a different theme idea.  ;)   4 stars

Comments:
The Browns managed to make a 14 song album with a lot of solid songs.  From the more serious set "Worth of It All" to the fast barn-burner, "Put Your Hand In the Hand."  Even though it had a lot of good tracks, I don't think I would buy it.  Find it on the internet, borrow it from a friend, but save your money for a release from one of the bigger artists.

Album Rating: 4 stars
Song Selection: 4 stars
Favorite Songs: Put Your Hand in the Hand, Joyful Medley, Worth of It All, Good Enough, Beautiful Day

Collingsworth Family - "The Answer" Review (2009 release)

The Collingsworth Family is one of my favorite Southern Gospel artists, and they certainly don't disappoint with this 2009 release.  The Answer is one of their best projects to date.  The musical quality, voice changes, song selection, and cover art are impressive.  This is certainly not a CD you will want to miss.

Phillip's voice has improved a lot since the family's earlier projects.  Even since the preceding major release, We Still Believe, his voice has matured greatly.  And of course, he sounds older, again, on September's Part of the Family CD.  Some people might think him a bit of a show-off, but I like how he uses his voice.  IMO it's better than how Brooklyn uses hers.

The musical quality seems to improve with each album.  Of course, there are good songs on the older projects, but the music seems to get more "modern" (for lack of a better word) with each new release.

Some people don't like how some of the family's songs have gotten so jazzy (or rocky or whatever you want to call it)  IMO they did go to far with "Just Another Rainy Day" from their latest CD.  But I listen to most of their fast songs, even if they are more progressive.  I know some people might be disappointed that some of the up-tempo numbers have grown so rocky, so perhaps they [the Collingsworth] should tone down a bit for future releases.

I'm pretty pleased with the ratio of fast songs to ballads.  It's 7:7 if you count "Ever Gentle, Ever Sweet," and "I Could Never Praise Him Enough" as up-tempo.

The case for this project is pretty unique.  And the graphic design looks good too.  It's better, IMO than We Still Believe and is probably more professionally designed than Part of the Family.
One thing I don't really care for (and which thankfully never made its way onto the new CD) is the instrumentals.  I don't mind so much when Kim does a piano song, but I would rather that space (at least the trumpet solos) be taken up with a song that is actually sung.

Olivia's voice had not matured greatly in time for this release.  For example, in "Oh the Thought That Jesus Loves Me" you can tell that she is younger than her siblings.  This is a very minor complaint though, and hardly worth mentioning.  I also don't care for Phil's singing.

My favorite ballad is "I Want Jesus More Than Anything."  Courtney does a great job handling the first verse, and leading on the chorus.  This sounds kind of like a song I would hear at campmeeting.  I love it.  As for the music, there's a mixture between heavy and light orchestration.

CD Rating: 5 stars
Song Selection: 5 stars
Favorite Songs: Fear Not Tomorrow, Ever Gentle Ever Sweet, Jesus Is Still the Answer, I Want Jesus More Than Anything, Bottom of the Barrel

Song List: I Shall Not Be Moved, Fear Not Tomorrow, I Could Never Praise Him Enough, When the Roll is Called Up Yonder, I Want a Principal Within, I Know, Ever Gentle Ever Sweet, Jesus Is Still the Answer, Count Your Blessings Within, Within the Reach of a Prayer, Oh the Thought That Jesus Loves Me, Bottom of the Barrel, Great Is Thy Faithfulness
Group Members: Phil, Kim, Phillip, Courtney (Metz), Brooklyn (Blair), and Oliva Collingsworth

Ernie Haase & Signature Sound - "With George Younce" Review (early 2011 review)

Ernie Haase & Signature Sound is one of the biggest names in Southern Gospel music.  They've produced several solid albums such as A Tribute to the Cathedrals and Get Away Jordan." But this project was a bit of a disappointment.  I think a regular album would have made a much better addition their music catalog.
One thing that would have been a major improvement is if there had been a lot more up-tempo numbers.  There were eight ballads, compared with two faster songs.  It gets pretty boring to listen to, especially if you don't really like slow songs.

The orchestration was good, although it could have been improved with some variety.  Most of the songs don't stand out in my mind as spectacular, partly because of the pace, and perhaps partly because some of them sound much the same.  In almost all of the tracks, there's a large use of guitars.  I think several songs with big orchestrations would be nice.  Maybe a jazzy track, with a lot of brass instrumentation.  Of course the producers were limited, since George couldn't be there to record the songs live.  So we do have to consider that it was probably pretty difficult to record the music around his voice, instead of recording his voice around the music.

A unique feature that was pretty neat, was the voicemail message from George to Ernie Haase, that was at the beginning and end of "I Know Who Holds Tomorrow."  That was a good move on the part of the producers.  It provided a bit of a break from the monotony of the music.

One other complaint, that could not have been helped, was that there were too many old songs as well as several hymns.  But of course, those are the songs that George sang, so those are the ones that had to be used.

I would like to clarify something I said in my review of the Collingsworth Part of the Family CD.  I said that the Collingsworth version of "At Calvary" was much better than the version on With George Younce.   I was mistaken, however.  EH&SS did not sing "At Calvary," but rather, "At the Cross."  Totally different song.

Don't waste your money buying this CD.  The music is too unvaried, the song selection is horrible, and it's just not a strong project.  If you want to hear it very badly, you can listen to it for free on Spotify.  If you already bought the CD like I did, well you can regret spending 15-20 dollars on a bad album, but then again, maybe you liked it.  As for me, live and learn, I guess.

CD Rating: 2 stars
Song Selection: 1 star
Favorite Songs: Love Was In the Room

Song List: Love Was In the Room, At the Cross, Beyond the Sunset, I Know Who Holds Tomorrow, Room At the Cross, Suppertime, You Will Get Your Reward Someday, The Journey's End, Sometimes This Is Heaven To Me, Silent Night
Group Members: Ernie Haase, Devin McGlamery, Ian Owens, Doug Anderson with special guest star, the late George Younce

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