::ALBUM REVIEW::

One of the premiere voices of contemporary gospel, Marvin Sapp has remained a fixture on the recording scene since his six-year tenure with Commissioned and has found a way to place his distinctive, mature vocals into a comfortably, shaped style of urban sound that well suits his voice. On his own, he has become an suitable presence in the field of praise-and-worship - experimenting with the style firstly on 2002's I Believe and further delving into on the incomparable 2003 release of Diary of a Psalmist. In 2005, Be Exalted was released and only anchored by two radio-ready singles. Even though it sold better than Diary (charting at number two on Billboard’s gospel charts and even peaking at number 164 on the pop charts), Be Exalted was a far cry from the enduring brilliance showcased on Diary - mostly accredited to the fresh songwriting (“You Are God Alone,” “One Thing,” “Unrestricted Praise,” “Miracle”) and Kevin Bond’s clean production work.

2007's Thirsty brings Sapp back to his newly-celebrated praise-and-worship format while revealing lessons learned from the jumbled list of producers and content found on his former release. Israel Houghton’s musical director/producer Aaron Lindsey, who worked with Sapp on the last album, returns on Thirsty and guides the album from start to finish. But Lindsey isn’t alone - bring in vocal coach and EMI Gospel artist Myron Butler and members of Levi into the mix, a neater grade of praise-and-worship songs for the extraordinary singer and we have a soothing, uninterrupted worship experience that almost feel like a replica or even a sequel to Diary.

Starting things off is a series of uptempo tracks that almost seem to flow from one song into the next without any real interruption. Opening things on the right note is the smoky percussion-driven “Magnify”; a light-funky contemporary tune co-written by Aaron Lindsey and Martha Munizzi. Sapp explores his fun side throughout the cut while granting the cool melody the best treatment using noteworthy ad-libs. The mystical experience of “Power” goes from elctro-R&B, with neat use of synths, big horns and preppy rhythms, and then shifts into a funk-gospel towards the vamp. Sapp later goes into his renowned preaching mode as he leads the background singers into a churchy call-and-response revival. “Possess The Land”, co-written by Butler, is the last big jam captured here and once again brings back to mind the energy Sapp formally showcased on his earlier urban contemporary workouts.

On the rest of the disc, Sapp pulls out a lengthy, intense list of worship ballads soaked in Lindsey’s brilliant guidance. “Praise Him In Advance,” with its sing-a-long melody and absorbing harmonies, is revived from his Deon Kipping’s 2006 independent project and emerges as one of the memorable power ballads here. The feeling here is more intense and effortless. The same even goes for the title cut, which is also another rendition from the independent circuit. Penned by songwriter/vocalist Jason Nelson, whom also bears a similar vocal style to Sapp, the song receives appropriate string advancements from the Asian Philharmonic and is punctuated with a sweet R&B quiet storm beauty that sits well on the mature singer. Sapp, already known for searching for heartfelt, emotional songs of this caliber, finds a comfort zone in the vamp as the song leaps into a reprise of the classic hymn “I Need Thee” while the background singers repetitively sings the prayerful phrasing of “I am thirsty for you.” While there seems to be an overwhelming and alarming number of slow burners packaged after the first four cuts, “Never Would Have Made It”, the only offering co-written by Sapp, rate as one of the vocalist’s best moments yet. His soulful crooning and the beautiful batter of nostalgic R&B and traditional gospel proves to be winning ingredients for Sapp’s repertoire. We only wish he would sing more of these kind of intense R&B love ballads - it perfectly demonstrates his heart for ministry in song.

The only distractions that can be calculated here are the oddly positioning of all of the fast, uptempo songs towards the front (which only happen to be three, really). Ballads that unendingly stream together, whether one is a praise-and-worship fan or not, tend to hurt the attention span of a listener. And sometimes one may tend to label or prejudge an artist of being uninspiring; depending on how motionless the songs are. There are some good ballads tucked in the collection, but the it would have been a bit more satisfying to hear some of the funkier cuts afterwards. Plus, there is a lack of uptempo cuts - which is partly a rarity for most of Sapp’s popular albums. Add in the fact that there’s just a few too many covers to filter through - especially if you are well familiar with Jason Nelson, Jonathan Dunn and Deon Kipping. But Sapp can sing the names in the Yellow Pages and get away with it. He’s just that kind of singer. One listen and you are instantly convinced and amazed of his emotive soulfulness. While Thirsty lacks the creamy spontaneity of Diary of a Psalmist, it surely is a move in the right direction from Be Exalted. And that’s tough to say when Sapp deserves to dig more into other gospel-influenced themes and not being complacent in singing friendly praise-and-worship choruses all the time.