Donald Lawrence- The Law Of Confession Part I
Riding high off a massive wave of success from the double-GRAMMY work on the Clark Sisters’ reunion effort Live: One Last Time and producing debut offerings for DeWayne Woods, Sunday Best finalist Shari Addison and the Murrills, Donald Lawrence remains gospel’s latest renaissance man with the knack of solidifying chart-topping albums and chorally-embellished material fixed up with a polished production. In the world of rich, colorful gospel interpretation, Lawrence has build an earnest reputation around his crafty work with the now-retired Tri-City Singers and continues to model his more recent projects in the contemporary gospel traditions of old but with a more flaring embrace towards more pop-injected melodies. Then there’s the ambiguous usage of “feel-good” messages over the years, loaded with lyrical content of prosperity and blessings, tucked in Lawrence’s parading line of radio hits. Track back to “The Blessing of Abraham” and beyond: “I Speak Life,” “Giants,” “Healed,” “The Best Is Yet To Come,” “Never Seen the Righteous.”. All, in which, have a thematic underlining that bears a course of repetitiveness. Figuratively, it’s almost easy to predict the nature of Lawrence’s next step. Not surprising, Lawrence gives recession-burdened audiences a jolt of the same type of rhetoric using popular teleevangelist Bill Winston’s latest “name it and claim it” scriptural theories on his second solo album and his second concept album, The Law of Confession, Part I (his first was with the Tri-City Singers’ Bible Stories). Backing him up again is the faceless Co., a group of well-trained, yet relatively unknown singers that include the likes of Blanche McAllister-Dykes, Jason Nelson, Floyd Wilkinson, DeWayne Woods, Latrice Pace and Kim McFarland-Anderson.
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Stephen Hurd- Times Of Refreshing
Gospel songwriter and recently-turned worship pro Stephen Hurd has encountered moderate success but seems to have trouble breaking into the top tier of gospel’s scoreboard academy. His greatest triumph leans on the gospel-friendly remake of the Steven Ford-produced “Undignified (I Will Dance, I Will Sing).” The Matt Redman tune got lots of airplay on gospel radio and catapulted his Integrity Gospel debut to number 15 on the gospel charts in 2004. My Destiny followed in 2006, but failed to produce a big follow-up hit. With an abrupt change of producers (now leaning on Jonathan Nelson protege’ Justin Salvage) and a more intimate live recording setting arranged for worship leaders, pastors and other gospel artists, Hurd releases Times of Refreshing; his third project with Integrity. But this time around, there’s more trouble with the changes than meets the eye. Not that the production is all wrong: it’s structured differently and not as pristine as Ford’s contributions but it’s not overtly raw and local sounding. The problem mostly lies on a larger abandonment away from conventional album structures by inserting more talking segments, excessive interludes and album fillers. Even though he uses these gimmicks on previous releases, this one bites the bullet with twelve complete songs and twenty tracks in total! Talking and spoken word exhortations may be a friendly factor on worship albums (careful reminders of what authentic worship services should feel like), but Hurd comes off a bit indulgent and does his best in killing the insurmountable attention span listeners may have.
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Demetrius West & Reflections of God Chorale- It Happened In Worship
From the flatbeds of Indianapolis, Indiana comes one of the burgeoning choral aggregations to step into the contemporary gospel mold. On their independent debut It Happened In Worship, Reflections of God Chorale, championed by choir leader Demetrius West, carries the neighboring traditions of Chicago choir gospel into a beefy set of infectious contemporary grooves and sophisticated worship choral ballads. Taped at the New Direction Christian Church, the nine-track offering (minus intros, reprises and interludes) may be a bit brief in performance but technically it’s not lacking substance.
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