::ALBUM REVIEW::
by J Matthew Cobb
Posted: April 30, 2009

The heart of traditional quartet gospel music comes to life on My Journey, the debut solo offering from Conrad Miller. A former member of MGM recording group The Soulful Seven, and an once-familiar songwriter best known for writing “Carla, My Love” for the Baltimore-based soul group The Softones, Miller revisits his gospel origins along with his music career, which had been on pause for over twenty years. He teams up with prominent producer Steven Ford to help him along the journey while mildly commanding the album’s attention by penning virtually all the songs by himself. While Ford proves to be a multi-taskmaster by working on almost every sound imaginable for the project, the studio effort also ushers in guitar virtuoso Jonathan Dubose, Jr.; giving the album a more livelier, acoustic atmosphere.

Much of the album leans on traditional, bluesy-anchored midtempo rhythms swollen up with smooth male harmonies and Miller’s sweet lead vocals. It’s the friendly, very familiar Sunday morning sounds, yet highly laid-back and innocent than most aggressive, full-throttled gospel workouts usually done in the traditional camp. If your mind can conjure and find satisfaction with the old-school comforts of Billy "Soul" Bonds or any of the Southern blues pantheons, one could easily enjoy Miller’s hospitable approach used on My Journey.

Where Miller shines the most is on the soulful batter of “Jesus Is the Way,” “Blessed By the Best” and “Amazing,” which quickly resonates well among traditional enthusiasts due to its accessible melodies and traditional hooks. “Movin’ On Up,” which ironically bears the exact essentials of the previously mentioned, features a sample of Curtis Mayfield’s “We’re a Winner.” “More than Enough,” using smartly inserted “oohs” and “ahs” during Miller’s verses, is treated with the sensibilities of soul groups like the Stylistics and Blue Magic. The song never picks up with intensity nor the needed modulation to launch the song into single-ready status, but it remains one of the album’s more reverent offerings.

The disheartening damper of the project falls on how each track follow each other like an extension of the previous entry. The melodies bear too many similar qualities to each selection that it’s practically hard to distinguish one from the other. A slight detour from the non-ending flow can be traced in “Paradise.” Miller, while not too shabby vocally, still isn’t organic enough of a singer to command attention on a full-length album. His voice is consistently well-mannered, occasionally whipping out a cooling vibrato and warm falsetto, but lacks the passionate exertion of gospel quartet leaders Paul Porter and Harvey Watkins to rock the songs beyond their calmer environments. Some of the songs, although marred with loads of bible stories and quickly-assembled lyrics like on “Blessed By the Best” (I used to hang out on the corner with my so-called friend/I was chasin’ after every earthly pleasure, I was up to my chin in sin) and “Movin’ On Up” (Church, we’re movin’ on toward the place God has ordained/Gathering wood to build a house where we can sing and praise His name”), possess evidence of potentiality but are marred with unadorned, safely executed performances. The burden may have to fall on Ford, who controls the entire production and musical responsibilities, for not pushing Miller and the songs to greater measures. Still, for the devoted fans of the doo-wop soul of Impressions and the Soul Stirrers that are looking for a slightly-mellower update, My Journey proves to be a respectable extension.