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Tri-City Singers/Finale/EMI Gospel
Release Date: April 4, 2006
All eyes are on Donald Lawrence as he approaches the announced final project of the renowned Tri-City Singers; a colossal 2-CD project entitled Finale. And with the money from EMI backing a pretty packaging and a live recording recorded at The Tabernacle, a popular club/music venue in the city of Atlanta, emotions will be seriously high as each song fades and the closing of a remarkable chapter of music history ends. The farewell project features stellar appearances from a Who's Who in Gospel as they pay their respectable tributes to the Tri-City crew, including Daryl Coley, Walter Hawkins, Karen Clark-Sheard, Lejune Thompson, LaShun Pace, Darwin Hobbs and Vanessa Bell Armstrong. With pop artists like Nelly tapping into a neat marketing campaign of releasing two albums
simultaneously, Lawrence chooses a new creative spark for Finale, which consists of Finale Act One and Finale Act Two. Plus a bonus commemorative Limited Collectors Edition, featuring both acts, Lawrence's autograph and two DVDs of the live recording. No word on the price of that bad-boy. But it is careful to say that the projects will feature remakes of some of their classics such as "When Sunday Comes", "I Am God", "And Yet I'm Stll Saved" and "Stranger". New cuts like the radio-friendly "The Blessing of Abraham", "These Nails" and "It's Your Time" will satisfy those in need of fresh material. We are just hopeful that the remakes are as pleasing as the originals, and the material showcase Tri-City as being one of the signature choirs in modern contemporary gospel music.
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mar.30.06
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New Birth Total Praise Choir/A New Beginning /EMI Gospel
After a very successful debut launched this mega-church choir to national attention, the senior pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church of Atlanta, Bishop Eddie L. Long, decided to recreate that success on the newly-released sophomore attempt, "A New Beginning". Since the former went well, the latter is a continuation of the winning combinations used from before. The musical maestro Kevin Bond is back on board in the production seat with charming musicanship from Darnell Freeman, Jeremy Hayes, Derrieux Edgecombe and the virtuoso guitar spice of Jonathan Dubose. Add Bond's zesty synths to the mix and you are pretty much expecting a nice sequel. Bond pretty much handles everything here, even songwriting duties. But what this project definitely lacks in comparison to "Spirit & Truth" is the absence of guest artists. But with songs like "God Is", "It Shall Come To Pass" and "Sacrifice of My Praise", we may not feel too bad. Oh, yeah this is a studio effort.
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feb.27.06
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Karen Clark-Sheard/It's Not Over/Word
The favorite vocalist of the legendary Clark Sisters' family steps out once again for a full-length live recording project - this time led by the over-popular team efforts of Israel Houghton and Aaron Lindsley. Without Donald Lawrence in sight, Karen spins a good deal of her time investing more into the universal praise-and-worship style and gives us a glimpse of her worship leading skills. Songs like "Authority", "Favor" and "I Never Will" are urban-developed, but drifts us away from the safe contemporary gospel we have experienced from her in her solo recording career. She does throw out the occasional throwback to the Clark Sisters' hits ("You Brought The Sunshine"), but the effort here is a gradual induction towards a new dimension of what we should expect from her years to come.
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feb.9.06
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Various Artists/WOW Gospel 2006/Word-EMI-Verity
Another WOW collection but this one seems to be more unbalanced than the previous additions. Maybe because there wasn't many hits from 2005 to highlight, but the songs seem a little too dry for the big-name of WOW attached to it. Out of the thirty songs featured, strong heavy-hitters include "We Must Praise" (J. Moss), "No Way" (Tye Tribbett), "Lift Him Up" (Hezekiah Walker/LFC) and "Way Cry" (Micah Stampley). Would have been nice to see "We Pray" from CeCe Winans or "Hope" from Faith Evans or "Heaven" from Mary Mary. This seems to be an unbalanced musical collection - proving that these projects fail to live up to its name.
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feb.9.06
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Lisa McClendon/Live at the House of Blues/Integrity Gospel
After being blessed unmeasuringly by her soulful musical entry on "Soul Music", she then gave us a taste of what was to come on the Gotta Have Gospel Vol. 2 project with "Move On Over"; a jazzy set of Southern Big Band swing done Mardi Gras style. The song seemed a bit overwhelming for her audience who was known for her smooth, relaxed vibe. But recovery is a beautiful thing, since she brings out mostly slow ballads on her latest offering. With thirteen live selections at the House of Blues in New Orleans, she breathes her brand of neo-soul and urban R&B into songs like "Made", "But For Eternity" and "You Can". The project is mostly mellow and few of upbeat jams - which is a bit unbalanced from her debut. But she gives a good dose of energy on remakes such as Ron Winans' "Uphold Me" and the "Soul Medley" - which features "Hey Now", "Stuck" and the song she's now best known for, "You Are Holy".
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feb.9.06
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George Huff/Miracles/Word
Everyone is sounding so alike these days. And that's probably because most artists are influenced by their peers, rather than on the classic legends. We were treated with Martha Munizzi, now her twin sister is on the charts - sounding exactly like her. American Idol's Ruben Studdard has made his share of rounds on the charts, now comes George Huff, another Idol-bred gem. And boy, does he sound just like the Velvet Teddy Bear. This project falls into the category of being an inspirational R&B-flavored joint, with glimpses of soul and urban hip-hop. "See What God Can Do" falls into the Brian McKnight category, while "A Brighter Day" sounds too much like Kierra KiKi Sheard's "You Don't Know". Images of Luther Vandross will spark when hearing "Feels Like Heaven", but Huff has lots of growth to work on musically. While he has the voice to make an album, stronger lyrics and avoiding safe boundaries always sparks definite attention - something that is lacking here. Overall, it's a good offering, but not impressive enough.
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feb.9.06
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Darwin Hobbs/Worshipper/EMI Gospel
The man everyone calls Gospel's answer to Luther is back with a worship-oriented project - with help from major producers such as Israel Houghton, Aaron Lindsley and his music partner for years, Tommy Sims. While the album cover needs mighty attention regarding bad photography, positioning and even some help with the choice of fonts, the music here is pretty much generic worship. But Hobbs' voice stands out with all of the dynamics and the prepetual elegance he is best known to create. Tracks such as Richard Smallwood's "I Give You Praise" and "The Worshipper's Medley" are arranged with prototypical symphonic strings, but done with powerful zeal. Hobbs also jumps on "Glorify Him", an upbeat Israel tune and a few CCM-friendly tunes bound to help give him that crossover appeal. But can we really overlook that cheesy album cover? Really?
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feb.9.06
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