::ALBUM REVIEW::

Gospel living legend John P. Kee has influenced a good number of upcoming artists. His musical mark can be heard even in the rariest of ambiguous comparisons, even though artists attempt to re-identify their craft as being different and fresh. Of all the recent newcomers gaining weight on the independent gospel turf, Anthony Jones, also hailing from the North Carolina area, seems to used Kee's foundational early 90s' influences throughout his debut project, "The Hour Has Come & Now Is". Providing supporting vocals in the background is the Uncompromising Word Fellowship (UWF) Mass Choir; with Anthony Jones directing and occasionally rendering his lead vocal presence on several of the album's tracks. He also dominates the project with his songwriting skills; another major Kee trait he is weary of reproducing.

Several important elements from the John P. Kee songbook to highlight here include the enlisting of keyboardist Matthew Kelly and bassist Tim Mole in the minstrel area. Others to look into include Jones' craft of writing songs that carry zesty string arrangements, church-friendly melodies and the familiar clean production feel. Add Matt Kelly to the production team and you are bound to hear a serious reincarnation of Kee's bag of goodies, even though the Prince of Gospel doesn't make a guest appearance. While The Hour Has Come & Now Is bears strong Kee similarities, the order of the songs itself and Jones' take on several modern musical styles make this a very different project. Does these combinations work? To some extent, but Jones' tosses up a few inventive disappointments that somehow leaves listeners with that great old feeling of "Ohhh, I've heard this before, next."

"Be Glad And Rejoice" is a peachy praise tune bearing strong hints of Kee's previous concepts. Such as on the verse - feeling like "It's Time To Praise The Lord", while the verse bears the exact hook found on John P. Kee's "Turn Around". Towards the end, the song goes into a series of modulations with Kelly's punchy synth add-ons. Immediately following is another Kee-sounding creation, "The Steadfast Love Of The Lord", but it's a worthy triumph for the choir. Penned by Edith McNeil (an early praise and worship composer for Celebration and Hosanna), the song takes on new meaning with a strong, contemporary gospel facelift. A much needed reprise follows; helping to make this track one of the worthy presentations offered.

Slow ballads help bring needed transition to the rhythm such as "We Worship You" and the commanding "God's Favor"; co-written by Tyrone Posey and Samuel Green with Jones. "God's Favor" measures up to a conventional Joe Pace/Israel Houghton number, with its unison chants and youthful melody. Jones' lead is also quite convincing and proves to be an emerging, well-grounded worship leader on this cut. The "Worship Medley", extended to a lengthy ten minutes, probably may be the hardest to digest. It's a stretched out moment of worship that's hard to get through. Things make sense when one learns the medley only contains two songs and both clocking at an unreasonable five minutes each. The songs are nicely executed, but it's just too drawn out and flows like a never-ending worship segment.

Tucked deep in between all of the songs is a definite attention-getter. "I Believe" is dunked with brassy synths and features mesmerizing 80s guitar pumping action. Almost gives you a wiff of the rock-funk style of Prince and Morris Day & the Time. Yet a disappointing cliffhanger lies in the vamp with its wordless chanting of "I believe". With a little more lyrical attention, the song would have left an immediate worthy and lasting impression on the ear.

Churchy cuts seasoned with powerful affection also make the list with Geraldine Jones bringing sanctified ad-libs to "Breakthrough". Amazingly, the song has a likeable bounce and an instrumental tag slammed with enough charisma to wow the holiest music critic. Calvin Napper's drum work definitely finds a worthy place to impress here. On the other hand there is "Put It Back". Filled with churchy sounds, the song is strongly underdeveloped and finds a non-convincing Carlatta Miller rendering lead vocals. This is probably one of the evident failing qualities found on the bulk of this project's musical selections. Add mediocre vocal performances, wordless vamps, poor image editing, lack of fonts and outdated graphic design to the mix, and the overall project doesn't make a strong enough effort to reign with top church choir contenders. While The Hour Has Come & Now Is has its share of musical casualties, there are favorable moments captured here. The best thing about debut projects is it gives artists the opportunity to fix what is broke and allows grace for a second chance.