::ALBUM REVIEW::

Hezekiah Walker has been on a very incredible journey. A journey filled with heartfelt emotion, surprises and tons of loops and curves - almost reminiscent to a roller-coaster ride. But you have to understand that comes with the territory of a Gospel artist whom not only successfully created the Love Fellowship sound, but transcended contemporary gospel music to a highly, respected plateau. Now bearing the responsibilities of a pastor, author and of course, gospel artist, Walker continues to add to his resume’ with “20/85 The Experience”; the commemorative anniversary project celebrating twenty years in the music industry with one of the most popular choral institutions in Gospel; the Love Fellowship (Crusade) Choir.

Not many choirs can brag on existing for twenty years, so it is befitting to see and witness Love Fellowship once again doing what they do best. Surprisingly, this time around Hez takes on new directions and approaches; attempting to update their sound and stay current in order to appeal to commercial outlets. Big changes include the production quarters with Donald Lawrence on board and a few studio cuts handled by T. Bizzy (Tonex’)/Anthony C. Williams, II (the man with many aliases). For years, the Heze sound was perfected by Ken Pennell and Dan Cleary (whom has produced for O’landa Draper, Carlton Pearson, Vanessa Bell Armstrong, Beverly Crawford and Natalie Cole) on the Benson music label, but Walker attempts to try new things, tweaking a few things, while keeping zesty, contemporary grooves the attention-getters for Love Fellowship. Kicking things off is Joeworn Martin’s churchy “Lift Him Up”; a song soaked in familiar grooves from James Hall and the late Benny Cummings. It’s a typical Pentecostal-flavored song heard in the New York area: Calvin Rodgers' fancy drum licks, infectious hand-clapping, blazing horn blasts and bass thumps. Only problem, not enough lyrical content. It’s seems empty in many places and with six minutes stretching this track, it can be very irritating at the least. Walker does help survey the damage on the closing reprise by jumping in to help salvage the lengthy song. His ad-libs help, but the song is overbearing; especially for an opening track. Even Benny Cummings didn’t used a song like this as an opener. Strategic move: probably.

David Frazier pens “Do You Know Jesus”; a mid-tempo ballad soaked in occasional unison parts and milky harmonies. It’s a different take from Frazier, but it’s definitely proof of the versatility in his craft. Walker jumps in towards the end with a word of encouragement and speaking on the importance of just knowing Jesus. He also constructs a groovy lather on "No Defeat", which includes the famous line by Pastor Hez ("Because God is the greatest power, we shall not be defeated."), but the ending is poorly done when an odd key change interprets the musical process - quite uncomfortable. Probably another way of trying to be creative. Jules Bartholomew known for penning slow ballads like “Calling My Name” and “Come Home” flips the script and pens an up-tempo, groovalistic groove for Heze on “It’s More Than That”. It is definitely reminiscent to Danny Eason’s party-like jams in the melody, while getting major props in the lyrical department. That is a known factor in a Bartholomew song. He tends to take his time in working his songs and the proof is definitely in the pudding. Craig Wiggins charges the song with his “in-your-face” vocals. Jules returns with a second composition on the choir-only, “Faithful Is Our God”.

Where “Family Affair” (1999) and several of Heze’s previous works lacked with him not singing enough (since his name has always been the headliner), this one picks up the slack. Walker leads on “Hold Out” - a more, traditional groove compared to LFC’s usual, but it fits well on his vocals. It might sound like a GMWA tune, cheesy in some places, but it’s definitely good listening, especially with Jonathan Dubose’s guitar making high strides along with Lloyd Barry’s horn arrangements which reminds you of Rev. Milton Brunson’s horn structures on “Jesus Rose”.

The studio cuts, only two, are thrown into the mix and are not highlighted at the end of the project like Hezekiah Walker’s previous collections. “On Tyme God”, spelled differently to not confuse folks of the Dottie Peoples’ classic, appears to be the most infectious of the two with its Prince-influenced backdrop and “outer-space” keyboard attachments. Shawn Brown’s “Grateful” closes out the project on a slower pace, with an emotional, seven-minute reprise featuring R&B crooner Dave Hollister, Kervy Brown and Rubenstein McClure. Put both tracks together and you have a whopping, fifteen minute adventure.

With only twelve tracks featured and each song almost stretching past the five minute line (not good for radio), this album is a little awkward to critique. Some songs are just too long, some songs are just too plain for Hezekiah’s troop, and some of the new changes are too much to accept (still wondering where was LFC with D. Lawrence bringing in his whole crew to take over). But with the few good tracks offered here, especially since it is all new material compared to “Family Affair II” which was mostly covers, it’s a long way coming. To many Heze students, this project may be considered a disappointment, especially when you think of a reunion album not including material from Melvin Crispell, a return from Monique Walker, Lorraine Stancil, Bishop Eric McDaniel, or to hear the jazzy movements from Lawanda Campbell. The sound is a bit distorted now when one looks back at the “Toronto”, “Atlanta” and “London” experiences. Truly, Hezekiah has experienced his zenith and his glory days are part of the past. But I guess the show must go on.