::ALBUM REVIEW::

When EMI Gospel released the official debut of Bishop Eddie L. Long's church choir, the New Birth Total Praise Choir, no one really thought that it would have such a profound impact upon the music market and would revive the passion of good choir singing. With its fair share of debut church choir releases from Kirbyjon Caldwell and Dennis Leonard's angelic choirs barely making ground, EMI gained all smiles with their successful release of "Spirit & Truth" from the famed Atlanta church. Its hits, "Suddenly", "Thank You For Your Grace" and the memorable title cut, cemented the album into being one of its finer projects of 2004. Two years after, changes have been made as the arrival of the sophomore release, "A New Beginning", landed on the shores of music shelves. While those changes are not that drastic in the sound department, since the stellar Kevin Bond is back on board handling production duties, the changes overwhelmingly hurt the makeup and structure of their previous successes.

First off, Bond places the attention on the choir for all of the material offered here. No guest artists or soloists at all here. While it is true, the choir has a stand-out presence that doesn't require lead vocals from individuals, choir performances are usually empty or left incomplete without a few ad-libs to help strengthen a song's impact. That effect is greatly felt here, even when Bond increases the musical arrangements and the intensity of the band, which features the same crop of musicians from the last session, to cover up the sudden emptiness. So does the choir deliver?

The choir sounds pretty much the same since their debut, so nothing vocally is missing from the group. But there is another problem that rises to the forefront. The songs are not as lyrically impressive as their debut, which is a very strange observation to point out especially since Bond pens the bulk of the material once again. "God Is", the first and probably the only single to be released, is an urban-funky jam dipped in the influences of East Coast thump and gritty rock elements. With soaring modulations and blazing guitar spells, the song is an adventurous musical voyage, but with repetitive phrasing and simple lyrics on board, you begin to feel cheated. Maybe a lead vocalist would have helped the situation. The same is even applied to "It Shall Come To Pass". Musically, the song rocks in the beginning with its traditional, synth-dominated foundations. It's just right for a choir, but with its kindergarten lyrics thrown into the mix ("It's mine/He said it would be mine...I know that it shall come to pass, I know that it shall come to pass"), you begin to wonder. Things repeat themselves alot here and you'll even get a little disoriented with the busy horn and string arrangements added towards the end of the song. It's a typical Bond jazz session, but it's far from being a complete work of art. You don't want to hear this on a gospel-AM radio station. Too much to digest. "Sacrifice Of My Praise" flows like the remnants of Spirit & Truth's "Servant's Prayer"; which showcases a failure to pull out fresh moves and changes.

Much of the songs here are forgettable and sound like B-side (if there were 45 r.p.m. records still being printed) material. "Lord We Bless Your Name"; which is safely one of the better arranged cuts hear, is one of the serious stick-outs here. Not too busy and not too simple. Jeremy Haynes' "Holy Are You Lord (Santo Eres Tu Senor)" is a straight worship chorus which features mild Spanish interpretations. It's nice on the ears, even though it lacks the right amount of creativity. It's mostly an unison piece, until the vamp picks up and the choir rejoices with a harmonic mass choir sound on top of sensitive worship lyrics. "Magnify The Lord" is a fast-forward, gospel-tinged anthem which will fit nicely into the Bond music catalog. It is a very busy piece of work, but the close harmonies and irresistible rhythms definitely will surprise many. Chris Byrd' "Make His Praise Glorious (Rejoice)" is also likeable with its groovy, head-banging tempo. And while "Christ In Me" definitely rocks with exuberant joy and urban appeal, the song is still an album-filler. The same version, heard on the "Spirit & Truth" project, re-emerges once again. It's like Bond did a 'copy and paste' with this one.

Another cliffhanger to ponder: Pastor Long definitely needed to make his presence known in order to have equal billing with the ones that clearly labored to make the music here. He does so with several sermonettes, laced with dramatic string performances created by Bond. Put all the sermonettes together and you have one super-sized sermonette, a big snippet, from Long's "God Starts With A Dreamer". These inclusions, which are thrown throughout the project, kind of sends the project into a topsy-turvey. It's not a good demonstration of Long's memorable sermons and it barely fits in with the choice of songs as well. Overall, it feels like one big messy situation. To make a better sophomore release, while using the fancy bandwork delivered here and the powerhouse vocals of the New Birth Total Praise Choir: put a few soloists into the mix, take out the sermonettes, put a good number of seasoned, well-baked tunes into the oven, leave out previously released material and the sophomore jinx would have been lifted. This is truly dangerous territory for Long's choir to tread. Fans of "Spirit & Truth" need to leave this one alone; for disappointments will rise.