Apr 04

Album Review: His Faithfulness (Chris Allman)

When I saw this past weekend that Chris Allman was re-releasing one of his solo albums as a digital download, I knew immediately it was something I wanted to pick up.  As an old-school southern gospel harmony fan, I generally am not intrigued much by solo projects, but I make exceptions when it comes to my very favorite vocalists.  Chris Allman is one of those.  And since I only became aware of Allman’s existence in the last few years as I obtained Greater Vision’s early music, I did not have the opportunity to enjoy his solo projects when they were originally released.

His Faithfulness is Allman’s most recent solo effort, originally released in 1999.  Having only heard him in Greater Vision’s context, I didn’t know exactly what kind of music to expect.  What I found upon downloading the album was Allman adapting his soulful delivery to an enjoyable variety of gospel styles.  I was also pleased to find four songs I was already familiar with and like, including two of the five Allman compositions on the project.  Recording solo inevitably gives the vocalist freedom to explore his full range and ability, and this is no exception.  Allman hits some notes on this project I haven’t heard him reach with Greater Vision, and his improvisations are well-executed.  In summary, what I can say right off the bat is that this recording sounds great.

The two songs written by Allman that I had heard before were both recorded on the Mark Trammell Trio’s Once Upon a Cross project in 2007.  It is always interesting to hear how a song’s writer hears it, especially compared to a cover with which you’re already familiar.  The opener for His Faithfulness is “Won’t It Be Wonderful There,” which isn’t all that different from the MTT version, only without the Celtic effects.  It’s a solid heaven song with a quick 6/8 tempo that keeps the listener’s toe tapping.  “I Still Believe” reaffirms the promise of the second coming with a fast-moving traditional country track.  Now is a good time to mention that I am impressed with the quality of the tracks on this recording, especially on the uptempo songs.

The other two familiar (to me) songs are covers.  The standard hymn “The Love of God” is performed flawlessly alongside lovely piano accompaniment.  A good comparison is Allman’s signature delivery of “Blessed Assurance” with Greater Vision.  Speaking of the ol’ trio, His Faithfulness also contains a cover of Lanny Wolfe’s “Precious Blood,” which Greater Vision recorded on Take Him at His Word.  This version is just a hair quicker, and has a little more power throughout.  I like Greater Vision’s harmonies better than the background vocals, but actually prefer this arrangement by a bit.

The six remaining songs were all completely new to me, and establish the theme of this recording…more on that in a bit.  Three of them are Allman’s own compositions.  “For All He’s Done” is an outstanding inspirational number that had me singing along from the start.  It bears some similarity to my all-time favorite Allman-penned song, “I Could Never Praise Him Enough”.  Syrupy sweet steel guitar dominates the slow country ballad “Lay It Down,” which has a thought-provoking lyric sung directly to a struggling Christian, but might move just a little too slowly.  That is definitely not the case for “Don’t You Doubt,” which was my most pleasant musical surprise.  The story and application of doubting Thomas is told in pure Western Swing.  It sounds like it might have come out of George Strait’s early 1980s discography.  This is a hot track, and tons of fun.

“Beyond What I Can See” is a Larnelle Harris cover, and is probably my favorite performance on this project.  It has a light pop flavor, which usually doesn’t bode well for me personally, but the lyric is powerful, and Allman’s delivery is fantastic.  I’d love to see Chris pull this one out in the middle of a Greater Vision concert…people would eat it up.  The last two songs on the project dip into the black gospel style, and both feature a Hammond B3 organ and a gospel choir backing Allman. Rodney Griffin’s “As Faithful as You” is good, but not as good as the project closer, “Jesus Never Fails”.  It opens softly with Chris singing alone and gradually crescendos with the choir joining in unison to start the first chorus.  Then the choir harmonies split with power in the middle of that chorus…I got the glory bumps.  Another memorable musical moment is later when the accompaniment drops out, leaving Allman and his choir to belt it out.

So there is a heaven song, a second coming song, a blood song, and a song about God’s love.  The remaining six illustrate the project’s central theme, which is, aptly, His Faithfulness.  This recording hammers home again and again that our own strength is nothing, but that we serve the God of all strength, in whom we can put our total trust.  I would not be surprised if it was recorded at a time when Allman either had just been reminded of, or needed a reminder of God’s faithfulness.  And we are all better for hearing it.

If you didn’t pick up a copy of this one 13 years ago, I recommend getting the whole thing.  My individual song picks would be “Jesus Never Fails,” “Beyond What I Can See,” “Don’t You Doubt,” “For All He’s Done,” and “The Love of God”.  See the link below to download.

 

Album Rating: 4.5 stars

Available at: CD Baby

Track listing:

  1. Won’t It Be Wonderful There (Allman)
  2. Lay It Down (Allman)
  3. For All He’s Done (Allman)
  4. Don’t You Doubt (Allman)
  5. The Love of God (F.M. Lehman)
  6. Precious Blood (Lanny Wolfe)
  7. Beyond What I Can See (Larnelle Harris/Daryl Williams/Mak Kaylor)
  8. I Still Believe (Allman)
  9. As Faithful as You (Rodney Griffin)
  10. Jesus Never Fails (Gary Driskell)

Apr 03

Top 100: #5 Always Have a Song (Mark Trammell Trio)

Release Year: 2008

Album Rank for Group: #1 of 8

Here’s a blurb: We’re in rarefied air now, entering my Top 5 albums of all time.  Leading off the top five is my favorite album ever that wasn’t recorded by a quartet.  Of course, the only thing this recording lacks that keeps it from being an all-time great quartet album is a bass singer.  This album has everything the neotraditional quartet fan could want: power ballads, barnburners, convention songs, mid-tempo numbers, all executed to perfection.  Let’s start with the power ballads, which, in my opinion, are two of the best recorded by anyone in the last decade.  Kyla Rowland’s “Loving the Lamb” is the group’s biggest song to date, and has become their go-to, sing-it-every-night, bring-the-house-down song.  But Rodney Griffin’s “If Only Just a Few” is just as good in my book.  Both showcase Mark Trammell at his very best, which better than any baritone has ever been.  Kyla Rowland also contributed two stellar uptempo numbers, “Coming Out and Moving In” and “Called In, Called Up, Called Out” (the latter co-written with Dianne Wilkinson).  They are totally infectious and pure southern gospel, all the way.  “I Always Have a Song to Sing” is a delightful true convention song.  Mark doesn’t get all work, as Eric Phillips (the rollicking country tune “Safe on the Glory Side”) and Dustin Sweatman (the pensive mid-tempo ballad “What Good Would a Crown Be”) each get one of their best features of their careers so far.  Am I crazy to think they should put Pat Barker on this thing and release it again?  I don’t even know if that’s possible, but I would buy it.  It just might be my favorite quartet album of all time.

Knock my socks off: Loving the Lamb, If Only Just a Few, Coming Out and Moving In, Called In Called Up Called Out

Don’t skip that one: What Good Would a Crown Be, I Know That I Know, I Always Have a Song to Sing, Safe on the Glory Side

I could honestly do without: At the Whisper of His Name

Apr 02

Top 100: #6 Within the Rock (Gold City)

Release Year: 1998

Album Rank for Group: #3 of 15

Here’s a blurb: Recorded right in the middle of my favorite recording era by any southern gospel group, Gold City’s Within the Rock has some of my favorite uptempo and mid-tempo songs the quartet has ever recorded.  “Gonna Take It and Leave It” is the quintessential brassy barnstormer, “When He Knocked on the Door of My Heart” is a little more country-flavored, and “In Time, On Time, Every Time” is rollicking, but they all have one thing in common.  They all turn Jay Parrack loose and climb up into stratosphere with the vocals.  And that’s why we all listen to Gold City, right?  Along with “Gonna Take It,” this album contains two more of the late Doug Riley’s best compositions: the exciting album opener “He Lifted My Burdens Away,” and the tremendous Trammell-led mid-tempo number “Mercy Rescues Me”.  (Listen for this…in the first verse is where you find the album’s title.)  The only reason this album is ranked this “low” is that it doesn’t hit a home run with a power ballad.  The Wilburn-led “When He Touched Me” is the closest, but it’s not quite at the level of other Trammell features recorded in this era.

Knock my socks off: Gonna Take It and Leave It, When He Knocked on the Door of My Heart, In Time On Time Every Time, Mercy Rescues Me

Don’t skip that one: He Lifted My Burdens Away, Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah, Isn’t He Wonderful

I could honestly do without: None; not a really weak song here

Mar 28

Tweet Tweet

Over the weekend I decided to finally set up a Twitter account.  Adam has one set up for the blog itself @SGCritique, but this will be my personal feed.  Follow me @sogobravo and you’ll get updates on new blog postings I write here, as well as general southern gospel musings I’m having.  Don’t worry…I’ve tweeted five times in four days, so I’m not going to swamp your Twitter feed with every detail of my life.  But I’d love to connect with some of the folks that read here so I can better serve you as a blogger.
I couldn’t find a Youtube video of Greater Vision’s “Follow Me,” so this will have to do.  Enjoy, from the Cathedrals’ Travelin’ Live, “Following in His Footsteps”.

 

Mar 27

Neotraditional Southern Gospel

I know there are folks out there who tire of the constant need to attach a “genre” to everything, and they have a good point. Good music should be enjoyed without trying to place it in a box.  I have to admit I’m not one of those people.  If you knew me a little, you would know that I have some obsessive-compulsive tendencies.  If you knew me lot, like my wife does, you would say I’m a full-blown nutcase.  But I digress…

I’m always thinking about what to call the music I like.  I like southern gospel, but I don’t like all southern gospel.  I sometimes say I’m a fan of traditional southern gospel music.  But that’s not exactly the whole truth.  To me, traditional southern gospel is the Statesmen and Blackwoods, and modern groups like the Dixie Echoes who make similar music.  While I like those groups, they aren’t my top favorites.

Neotraditional is a term used often in country music to refer to artists, many of whom came along in the 1980s, who brought back the sound of classic country, but with a fresh production and presentation.  In my country music listening days, I was a huge fan of lots of these artists, including George Strait, Randy Travis, and Ricky Skaggs.  Maybe it shouldn’t be surprising that this is exactly the kind of music I now am attracted to in southern gospel.  I love music that has roots in that southern gospel tradition, but sounds fresher and bigger.

So who are these southern gospel groups who we might consider to be carrying the neotraditional banner?  It’s basically a rundown of my personal favorites: Mark Trammell Quartet, Legacy Five, Kingdom Heirs, Perrys, Greater Vision, and many more.  It’s no secret that southern gospel fans tend to be generally older and conservative, so it stands to reason that the neotraditional groups are some of the most popular groups on the road.

When I think about neotraditional southern gospel from a historical perspective, two groups pop into mind immediately.  Gold City’s music of the 1990s and the earlier part of this century is to me the very definition of neotraditional.  Plenty of convention songs and hard-driving quartet singing kept it firmly rooted in traditional gospel music, but boy, was it big and bold.

The more I think about it, the more I think that the Cathedrals were the “founding fathers” of neotraditional southern gospel.  Throughout their earlier years, they could definitely be called a traditional quartet, but they were always putting in some modern twists.  Think of albums like With Strings, which looking back, seem ahead of their time.  But it was the 1980s when, in combination with Bill Gaither, and then Lari Goss, they helped to launch the big quartet sound that now dominates the southern gospel landscape.

Let’s not forget that at the same time, Gold City was doing similar things with the Parker/Free lineup.  So nobody did all of this by themselves.  But there is little doubt that in terms of legacy in that style of music, the Cathedrals left a wider footprint.  Mark Trammell Quartet, Legacy Five, and Greater Vision are all Cathedrals legacy groups, and represent some of the best of neotraditional southern gospel today.

So let’s hear from you.  What do you think about the “neotraditional” term?  What groups does the term bring to mind for you?  Were the Cathedrals the first neotraditional group?  Or am I just a nutcase?

Mar 26

Top 100: #7 It’s Just Like Heaven (Greater Vision)

Release Year: 1992

Album Rank for Group: #1 of 13

Here’s a blurb: My favorite Greater Vision album reaches back to the original lineup, which I consider to have the greatest trio vocal blend in the history of gospel music.  The album contains my favorite Greater Vision song, “He Is Mine,” as well as every kind of song you could want on a southern gospel album.  The opener and title track is the oft-forgotten page #2 in the redback Church Hymnal and is given a terrific straight-up convention treatment.  The studio recording of one of Gerald Wolfe’s signature songs, “There Is a River,” is found here, although it doesn’t touch their live performances of it.  A Chris Allman composition, “Lay Them Down and Leave Them,” adds some country flavor.  And there’s so much more. All are arranged with primarily piano and strings, giving the album a very simple but elegant feel.  If there’s a gospel album out there where a trio sounded any better than on this one, I want to know about it.  I believe this is it.

Knock my socks off: He Is Mine, There Is a River, Stand in Awe, It’s Just Like Heaven

Don’t skip that one: Lay Them Down and Leave Them, Don’t Try to Tell Me, No One Cared so Much, Nothing Is Impossible

I could honestly do without: Always Enough

Wait, there’s more!: A full review

Mar 23

Top 100: #8 Pressed Down, Shaken Together, Running Over (Gold City)

Release Year: 2001

Album Rank for Group: #4 of 15

Here’s a blurb: This is the last album recorded by my favorite Gold City lineup of Tim Riley, Jonathan Wilburn, Mark Trammell, and Jay Parrack.  After five years together making the albums that dominate the top of my countdown, Trammell was the first to leave, to start the now-augmented Mark Trammell Trio.  A long time ago, just for fun, I ranked every Gold City song I had in my music collection, which at the time included thirty-something albums.  When I averaged the ranks of all the songs for each album, it was surprisingly this album that had the best average.  It doesn’t have a bunch of songs that “knock my socks off,” and that’s why it’s not higher in the countdown, but it is 9-deep with songs that I really, really like.  The best among them are Trammell’s last Gold City power ballad (“He Who Was and Is to Come”) and a great new convention song (“Some Glad Day”).  The rest is the usual traditional-leaning, hard-driving quartet music of this Gold City lineup, with a Danny Riley-led progressive-leaner thrown in.  And they certainly get bonus points for an album title taken straight from the words of Jesus (Luke 6:38).

Knock my socks off: He Who Was and Is to Come, Some Glad Day

Don’t skip that one: I Believe, I’m Not What I Was, Grace, He Took the Hill, I’ll Just Praise You, Land of No Time, It’s a Matter of Grace

I could honestly do without: None