The Bottom Line: What kind of gospel album gets rid of the good and over-inflates the bad? This one is going into my orphan Cd case until someone else adopts it.
tjolims's Full Review: Awesome Wonder by Kurt Carr & The Kurt Carr Singer...
Kurt Carr and the Kurt Carr Singers have always amazed me. Part of that is their obvious vocal prowess--the group has never numbered more than eight people, but they still somehow manages to sound like a whole choir. They do so without the benefit of production tricks that many artists take advantage of; they record the majority of their albums live, and still sound like a huge mass choir instead of a dinky vocal group.
The other thing about the Kurt Carr Singers that impresses me is their ability to impart every nuance of emotion in their generally well-crafted songs. It's unusual for a gospel group to explore the whole spectrum of emotions, but KCS has always done so very well and believably. "For Every Mountain" from their earlier album No One Else is a powerful enough performance to bring even the most jaded old gospel music detractor to tears, while "Do You Know Him" never fails to provoke grins.
Judging from the performances on their newest album, Awesome Wonder, the Singers must be very angry this time around.
Gone are the subtle inflections of emotion in their voices, and the stylistic range and vocal intricacies the group became famous for have seemingly gone the way of the dodo bird.
Instead, the group screeches and hollers their way through seventy minutes of music. To the old school gospel lover, who equates all that screaming and hollering with 'going to church, y'all' this album will be a godsend. To more non-traditional listeners like myself, who like vocal expertise other than being able to pop a vocal cord on demand, this album is seventy-plus minutes of almost pure torture.
In the Sanctuary is the first track of the album, and it sounds very good. Don't be fooled by its sparkly instrumentation and excellent vocals, though—it’s simply the calm before the storm. This is what I like to call a gospel party song, meaning that if there were good Christian dance clubs, this is the type of song that would play there. It's certainly on the weaker end of the spectrum, nowhere near the work of say, Fred Hammond or O'landa Draper, but it still has a beat to it, and the Singers do a wonderful job of having fun with the lyrics and tune of the song. It's a simple two or three sentence praise song, easy to learn and sing. It's probably being plagiarized all across the nation as I write this.
We Declare War is a so-so song. It falls back on the old gospel standby lyrical theme, “stomp on the devil”. This is the first inkling that something has changed about KCS, but given the subject matter, they’re supposed to sound loud and angry, so it goes largely unnoticed. Kurt Carr’s musicianship shines through here, in the form of the surprisingly intricate instrumentation. Bass, a funky drum line and excited organ playing offset the loud angry nature of this song perfectly, often where you’d least expect it.
Oh My Soul Loves Jesus starts with one of those tinkling three-chord arrangements that any long-time gospel listener has learned to associate with the ballad. That’s exactly what this is, of course. Soloist Nikki Potts’ voice is rough around the edges and bluesy, but the overly mellow song doesn’t match up with it.
I Almost Let Go is lyrically one of the most intriguing songs I’ve heard in a while. It emphasizes holding on, not to faith, which is the usual topic of songs in this vein, but to life itself. The song has a quiet, meditational feel to it, one of the few times when the Singers sound like the small group that they are. There’s a lot of audience noise in the background, which can be distracting at first, but the song clips along at a pretty even keel, and even the shouted chorus lyric doesn’t sound so bad. The soloist’s freestyle howls at the end are pretty unpleasant, though. This song is much more old style gospel than I’ll ever listen to on a regular basis, but I could see it being great to fans of that style.
We Offer You Praise is a fun bilingual surprise on this album, with a marvelous guest appearance by the nine piece Alberto Salas Band. ASB provides a salsa background to KCS’s English and Spanish lyrics. As a praise song, this is a lot of fun—-happy praise without all the screaming and hollering that usually accompanies it. The Singers really sing here. You’d swear that there were thirty of them, not six. Kurt Carr provides a lead vocal that proves that he has what similar choir frontmen like Kirk Franklin and Fred Hammond really don’t-—a marvelous singing voice.
This is probably my favorite track on this album, and I’d definitely like to see more of the Alberto Salas band. Their collaboration with KCS has definitely guaranteed them a ready-made audience, if and when they ever decide to put out an album.
The album peaks here, and goes sharply downhill. Jesus Can Work It Out is a call and response gospel classic that reminds me of Vickie Winans’ song Long as I Got King Jesus. It’s probably a lot of fun to watch, but it’s beyond irritating to listen to. Shervonne Wells yells and grates her way through the lead on this one, milking the responses of “work-it-out” and “yes-he-will” from the rest of the group for what seems to be a good two minutes of song, fleshing out the rest of the song with some unimpressive vocal acrobatics a la Shirley Caeser.
The customary Worship Medley is usually something I look forward to on Kurt Carr albums. In this traditional inclusion on every album, they take a group of traditional praise songs and meld them together effortlessly and beautifully, in their signature intricate and emotional style. Their previous worship medleys were remarkable. This time around, it’s still good, but seems a little jerky and disconnected compared to earlier works. It’s also disappointing, encompassing only three songs, two of which I’ve never heard before. You Are God(not the Katina’s masterful ballad), Jesus, We Reverence Your Name and Oh, How I Love Jesus are the choices. The first two are pretty boring. I can take or leave them , but the new interpretation of the Sunday school classic Oh, How I Love Jesus is interesting. Taking something traditionally sung by angel-faced Vacation Bible School kids (with unruly mops of blond hair, more often than not...yikes) and turning it into a traditional gospel song, complete with over-emoted vocals and a hollering soloist is definitely something new. Although I am usually not too big a fan of old-style gospel, preferring the cleaner vocals and better production of more modern styles, this time I don’t mind, for some reason. A large part of it is that the hollering soloist has an amazing range. Just when I’m ready to write her off as yet another screamer, she hits a wonderful pure high note that makes the hair on the back of my neck stand on end.
Awesome Wonder is something entirely new for the Kurt Carr Singers. They often dip into the margins of funk, soul and R&B for inspiration, but this is the first time they have ever done a song completely in a non-gospel style. It begins with a synth-violin loop somewhat reminiscent of the one from the beginning of Destiny’s Child’s “Survivor” and darts off from there into a chorus that is much poppier than anything KCS has done before, but retains its gospel authenticity through the powerful lyrics (which address the mystery of God). Kurt Carr sings some excellent verses in his sweet tenor voice, but the addition of a vocoder on some of his soloing over the chorus is surprising, but well-done and not too intrusive.
The Blood Still Has Miraculous Power begins with a lot of potential. It has that same three chord tinkling intro, and the title pretty much gives away the subject matter, yet another powerful old gospel standby. Lead vocalist Yvette Williams starts out with a subdued, classy vocal, but before too long, I’m left wondering three things:
1) Is there an actual tune to this song?
2) Where are the rest of the singers?
and,
3) Why did the piano change from tinkling and pretty to an over-powering sound that sounds like it belongs at a funeral?
The rest of the singers eventually do make a weak appearance, but I’m still wondering about the piano and the tune.
At All Times is a more upbeat song, drawing on some heavy funk rhythms and guitar to back it up. However, once again, the group vocals lack their usual sense of artistry. The song is pretty decent otherwise, a praise song in the style of their earlier “Kumbaya” reworking. The lyrics are a call to “bless the Lord at all times”, despite personal feelings. I don’t know about the accompanying comparison to being like David though—I’m sure he was really blessing the Lord during Bathshebagate.
A Narration fills in a little space here, a combination mini-sermon/altar call all wrapped up into one minute. Kurt Carr takes this opportunity to introduce the next song and the groups newest member, Troy Bright.
That’s Just the Way the Father Is and Set the Atmosphere run into each other with almost no separation, so I'm going to talk about it as though it's the same song. It's mostly shared between Carr and Bright. Carr’s voice is silky and well-trained as usual, and Bright keeps up with him all the way. There is a similarity in their phrasing that leaves me wondering who inspired who. Bright’s voice has more of what opera buffs call a spinto quality, meaning his voice is sharper and brighter, sounding “pushed” rather than effortless. (Gospel music described with opera terminology—you won’t see that anywhere else.) The song itself is a loving ballad, and although the rest of the group doesn’t come in until very late, when they do it’s one of their best showings on the album. The accompanying crowd noise really yanks on a nerve, though, since it detracts from the quiet, powerful arrangement on that part of the song. You can actually hear them singing louder, throwing the effect all off, just so that they can compensate for all the crowd noise. This might have turned out better if it had been studio-recorded.
Then again, since it degenerates into more painful screech-holler-whine towards the end, maybe not.
I'm giving this album two stars because it minimizes everything good about the Kurt Carr Singers--impressive vocal arrangements and heartfelt lyrical interpretation--and maximizes the not-so great, like their lapses into old-school gospel hollering. I respect the sincere mission of the album, but musically, this album is not up to par with the rest of their work.
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