::ALBUM REVIEW::

Proud angel of the Birmingham Chapter of the Gospel Music Workshop of America, the Birmingham Community Mass Choir has been a faithful institution towards the art of traditional gospel music for over forty years and continues to drive home the importance of preserving our heritage. And they are continuing to lift up the banner of our foundations with their most recent collection of music; "Our Story Our Songs". Recorded at multiple locations including the exotic Birmingham Botanical Garden at the Linn-Henley Auditorium and at Morning Star Christian Church, the choir delivers a ten track offering containing a lengthy list of hymn arrangements, cloned material and a few musical tributes. The tone of the project is highly aided by album producer Prince Yelder (Angela Spivey, Dorothy Norwood) and has a very raw, unfinished quality to the entire mix. Sometimes raw productions can be good, but in this instance, there are some areas that need serious overdubs and need cleaning up.

The album opens up with "Worship Him"; one of the better entries. Using the familiar worship chorus of "We have come into this house", the song gets a refreshing contemporary makeover from Dewayne Davis and features a flavored jamfest on the vamp. "I'll Never Let Go His Hand", featuring lead vocals from Yelder, almost flows like Dr. Charles G. Hayes' "Jesus I'll Never Forget", especially on the song's bridge. But with its churchy choral arrangements and piano spunk provided by Adrienne Combs, the song is deliciously peppered with the right dose of gospel spice. The sounds of Chicago fast-tempo charismatic church music can be heard on Gary Primm's "Going All The Way". Christal Whitfield's lead is just right for the uptempo cut, but the song's structuring lacks lyrical development and the choir, due to the intensity of the song's repetitive vamp, shows signs of weariness towards the near end. Even with all of the mechanic failures this track possesses, it should find favor with fans of Ricky Dillard's "Soul'd Out" and "I Feel The Spirit". The Birmingham Community Mass Choir also goes down memory-lane with their respected picks from the musical libraries of the late Louise "Candy" Davis and the late John Wes Lewis on an eight-minute medley. Songs like "Let There Be Joy", "Getting The Spirit" and "Better Than Blessed" are truly revived with colorful executions.

It is definitely apparent that the better and stronger cuts on "Our Story Our Songs" are heard towards the front of thr disc. When the album reaches cuts like Yelder's arrangement of "Glory To His Name" and the depressing, twelve-minute "Classical Tribute To Richard Smallwood", the album begins to lose its fire and suddenly slumps into a corner; revealing perturbed expressions of creative weakness and even weaker harmonies. There are times in the Smallwood medley where the Birmingham Community Mass Choir strains to hit high notes and occasions when the choir show signs of difficulty blending. Eric White's attempts to recreate Smallwood's original performance but falls short when belting the heavier and stronger notes. Then there's the unforgivable cloned material that surfaces. The melodies of David Curry's "Having You There" (sung by the Mississippi Mass Choir) and John P. Kee's "The Presence Of The Lord" is highly used on Robert Barnes' unoriginal "Thank You". Jamel Strong appears on the lead vocals and brings his trademark husky vocals to the tune, but the song's unoriginality is unforgivable and overshadows the entire piece. Jonathan Braxton delivers an irritating vocal performance on Adrienne Combs' "When I Think Of The Goodness" as he attempts to deliver chains of vocal aerobics. The song does have a gravy groove and displays fancy basswork from Alvin Garrett, but the uncertified sample of Rev. Gerald Thompson's "Can't Nobody Do Me Like Jesus" on the vamp disqualifies this song from gaining serious favor.

What ultimately strains the project from superior remarks is the irritating copy-and-paste audience feedback. With a careful ear, you can even hear the same response tracks used on multiple tracks. This is even used on the studio addition of the Paul Webster/Nicholas Brodsky anthem "I Walk With God". Towards the end, unbelievable praise gestures are heard. Why couldn't the song just fade out with silence? Yelder attempts to be innovative, but at the same time reveals some of his weaknesses behind the producer's chair.

There's a lot to dislike about "Our Story Our Songs". Unfinished production (no mixing, overdubs and mastering), failing harmonies, unbalanced volume equalizing, the irritating "fake" handclaps and verbal chants, lack of real originality. And of course, there's more. But the effort still should be praised. Not much comes from the city of Birmingham, except for the contributions from Prince Yelder. But let it be said that in a time when excellence is mandatory for the Kingdom of our Christ, mediocrity should not be accepted. The city of Birmingham contains much more talent than most people can imagine and there's plenty of great substance to gather from; even within the chambers of the Gospel Music Workshop. But the possibilities of that talent being heard here are silenced. For what the reasons may be, it's probably why the Gospel Music Workshop's glory years are far greater in comparison to what is coming from them now. Evidence of that truth can be heard here. "Our Story Our Songs" does have a few enjoyable moments, but the burden of too much tradition (even in its management) pulls the album far from signs of excellence.