That and the title of the San Diego singer's live double album--Out The Box--gives you a remarkably accurate assessment of this album.
Peculiar? Well, yes, if you're expecting another gospel album full of runs and riffs and pop-hop funk beats set to churchy lyrics. Don't get me wrong, there's plenty of that on Out The Box...but there's also quite a bit of material that s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-s the limits of ordinary gospel sensibilities, adding in everything from Sheila E. to the Family Feud theme song. It's got Yolanda Adams, funky little interludes that leave you shaking your head and your body, and a distinctly multi-cultural flair. On top of all of that, the album is 95% live, recorded in one long marathon session of a concert in San Diego two years ago(*see the note at the very end of this review). It's a pretty wild ride when all is said and done, and as the last note on the album fades, Tonex proves once and for all that it is not the medium that counts--it's the message. Those called to minister via their performance talents often face persecution because our art doesn't always seem to fit into the confines of church culture. Out The Box is an inspiring piece, in that regard--Tonex shows by example that if God is the beacon that illumines our lives, there is no shame in doing what we love in order to serve. Out The Box is incredibly unorthodox, although not in a shocking way--it's just that you get a sense that this is who and how Tonex honestly is. He's not quite like anyone you may have met in church before, and he probably keeps his thoughts and feelings a little too close to the surface for comfort, but he is who he is. He likes it. God does too. There's no shame in Tonex spending his life doing what he loves to do in the service of the Most High--even if it's a bit peculiar.
At least that's what I get out of it(one of many things, I suppose).
Alright, enough muddled preachifying badly disguised as reviewing. Out The Box is a double album, mostly live, divided into eight distinct musical sections.
Section 1: Hi Energy/Dance/Rock begins with a spoken intro by mellow gospel diva Yolanda Adams, sounding about 300 times more hype here than she ever has on any of her own albums. That right there tells you you're in for a treat--this is a wild, hyper, no-holds barred crazy section. After a strange overture that melds together some of Tonex's biggest hits from his previous albums, Tonex offers up The Trust Theory, a strange blend of gospel and arena rock that shows off his freakishly high and liquid tenor range and touches upon the theme of trust in God. Then the Peculiar People are introduced. The 40-voice choir collectively pop the listener upside the head with Alive. As live gospel goes, their vocals are all shouty and hyper and rough--but I haven't heard anything so musically hot from a live choir in a long time. There's a great community feel to the way that they sing.
Alive and its sequel, Alive 2 are both based on samples; the Jackson Five's Dancin' Machine and the Judas guitar riff from Jesus Christ Superstar respectively. It's to Tonex's credit as a songwriter that the two don't sound disjointed at all, and to his credit as a singer and director that his solos, in which he sounds a bit like a black Robert Plant, don't sound weird with the gospel choir.
A fifty second spoken synopsis of apostolic doctrine kicks off Section 2:Progressive Gospel, followed by the whimsical Work On Me. This song has a fun horn section(all of this is completely live, mind you) and reminds me a little bit of the munchkin's song from The Wiz in it's tone and phrasing. The lyrics are honest in their search for correction, and there's a surprise lyric from an old Whitney Houston song in there that is completely appropriate in context. Games is the theme from Family Feud married to the Peculiar People's wry delivery of lyrics decrying playing games with spirituality. A few more seconds of theology lesson, and here comes The Children's Bread, which is interesting, built around the booming lyric "deliverance is the children's bread". I don't have the foggiest idea what that might actually mean, but I'm usually so busy enjoying the slam-bang-boom of the backing track, Tonex's dry, slidy New Jack vocal and the choir's sudden, booming declaration of the chorus that the lyrics aren't too much of a worry.
Section 3: Tonex Throwbacks is just that; 5 of Tonex's tracks from previous albums revisited live. They don't generally sound at all like their original versions, which is a good thing. Most intriguing is the wonderful meshing of the theme from tv's Taxi(written by jazzman Bob James) to Tonex's own romantic jazz vocal piece Taxi and from there into the broody, thoughtful verses of his breakout hit Personal Jesus(thankfully devoid of any Depeche Mode crossover). Personally, I think that the album is worth buying for these three tracks, if only to hear Tonex make a wry reference to "Bishop P. Diddy" that comes completely out of left field, then swoop all over his vocal range, transforming his own compositions into completely new creations. Oh, and the addition of the Peculiar People to these heretofore completely solo tracks? Hot! Can I say that enough?
Two live tracks form Section 4: Studio A; God Is Love is a sweet and simple worship track, while Ain't is a considerably more complex piece that addresses why Tonex hasn't managed to hit the mainstream in the way that his fellow gospel frontmen Kirk Franklin and Hezekiah Walker have. He passes out plenty of blame to religious and secular venues alike, but offers no solution. Not being a fan of the "silly hater" track that it seems that everybody does now, I'm kind of ambivalent about this one(and it's the only track on the album I feel that way about). But, he does up the bar of new and different as usual...all kinds of strange effects and vodering mark this indictive track.
On to disc 2, and Section 5: Dance/Praise. The first track is am introduction to the Nureau Ink crew, a musical conglomerate/record label that Tonex is sponsoring creatively, apparently. I'd like to say that the minute long rap and beat interlude is completely unnecessary and pointless, but I can't--it's actually very interesting to me and has whetted my appetite for more Nureau Ink stuff, whatever that may be. Tonex takes the opportunity to pop off a few more jokes from left field and segues into the absolutely normal, pleasant Believer, a track written by Tonex about ten years ago and to my knowledge, not previously recorded. It sounds as fresh as if it had been written yesterday.
Believer segues painlessly into Todos Juntos, a bouncy, salsa-inspired track featuring live percussion by Sheila E. and lyrics that are mostly in Spanish, with a concession to monolingual English speakers towards the end in the form of a translated chorus.
If I had to pick my least favorite section, it'd probably be Section 6:Prophetic Worship--it sounds wonderful like the rest of the album, but slows it way down. It would have been better placed at the end of disc 2 instead of in the middle. Your Word is a very pretty song, with a very nice vocal arrangement that features Morpheus from Nureau Ink and the male sections of the choir echoing Tonex's solo sections. The Spirit Realm is also notably pretty and very moving--it has sort of an Asian flair to it, and almost a New Age tinge to the instrumentals, although certainly not the lyrics.
Section 7:Graffiti/ Hip Hop isn't really all that hip-hop, but it does feature Kirk Franklin doing his usual emcee thing(he plays piano in the throwback section as well) and two very upbeat, bubbly, yet relaxing gospel tracks and an outro that samples the beat from a Mary J Blige song(which is probably sampled from somewhere else) and some stylistic influence from James Brown and other soul/funk/jazz greats.
But, the album is still not over--the last section, Studio B consists of a few more non-live tracks for lagniappe--Doesn't Really Matter features a guest spot by AppleJaxx(who would impress me much more without being named after a crunchy cereal the color of neon snot) and has the weird start-stop lyrical structure of a lot of current hip-pop. Thank Q seems like kind of an afterthought, a heartfelt thank you lyric attached to music that wouldn't really fit in anywhere else on the album. It's a nice way to wind down all by itself, but, as usual, Tonex thinks outside of the box and includes a closing interview. It's fun to listen to Tonex talk freely about his music, discussing things like what he has in common with Beyonce(no, really!) and his major focus in making music. It's a nice way to end a great album.
Oh, and there's a hidden track too, but I won't spoil it for you--let's just say that I'm too busy chuckling at its silliness to do it descriptive justice.
This is a long review, but Out the Box is a long album. For all its length(and remarkably reasonable expense, given that), it's a great album with a broad scope and a high enjoyment factor. It's an indispensible addition to a music collection for a modern gospel listener. I could also see anyone with a taste for the eclectic liking some parts of the album based on it's musical merits alone.
Tracks:
Disc: 1
1. The Introduction
2. Overture
3. Out The Box
4. The Trust Theory
5. Alive (Not Dead)
6. Alive 2
7. Fundamentals
8. Work On Me
9. Games
10. Endangered Species
11. The Children's Bread
12. Real With U
13. Taxi Overture
14. Taxi
15. Personal Jesus
16. Why?
17. God Has Not 4got
18. Alrite
19. Ain't
Disc: 2
1. Nureau Ink
2. Tudos Juntos Featuring Sheila E.
3. Your Word Featuring Morpheus
4. The Spirit Realm
5. Make Me Over
6. Since Jesus Came Featuring Kirk Franklin
7. Bout A Thang
8. Doesn't Really Matter Featuring Applejaxx
9. Syng
10. Closing Interview
Check This Out If You Like: Music! Well, specifically gospel, R&B, soul, neo-soul, hip-hop, eclectic sounds.
Good Music To Listen to While: Dancing, singing along, getting spiritual, just sitting and relaxing and listening.
*Note: There are two invitations to concerts that I've turned down, and I'll be kicking myself for the rest of my life about refusing both of them. One was to the concert that became this album. The other was to a Dave Matthews Band show at Red Rocks Amphitheatre...yeah, that Red Rocks Amphitheatre, and that show became another incredible album...
Out the Box features 2 discs full of energetic, live, uncut performance, written and produced by Tonex. Out the Box offers a coveted glimpse of Tonex ...More at Christianbook.com
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