RIP, "Big Jim"

According to the Singing News, Jim Hamill passed away this morning at 5:30. This will no doubt be a big news event with many articles, so I won't go into a lot of details.

I will say, however, that like him or not, Hamill's impact on Southern Gospel is undeniable. His ability to command (and I do mean COMMAND) a stage is unparalleled even today. He had a way of reading a room, and taking over.

My father's all-time favorite record is the Kingsmen's "Big & Live" album, a now-legendary release. Just listen to him lead "Love Lifted Me," and you'll know why he is so widely-recognized.

Shameless self-plug!!

I have done my best to avoid using this blog as a platform to promote my own material (save for the last blog, anyway!), but it's still MY blog, so I'm gonna do a shameless self-plug post!

Acclaim, the group I sing with, has just released a brand new single to radio, "Shake The Master's Hand." Our brand new project will release from WilloWood Productions in January, 2008. You can learn more about this and other news at http://www.acclaimqt.com/, or on our MySpace site at http://www.myspace.com/acclaimquartet.

I also have a solo Christmas CD (as mentioned in the previous post) available, entitled Spirit Of Christmas. You can sample songs from this CD at my own MySpace, http://www.myspace.com/kyleboreing. You can order copies of this CD by e-mailing wavemakersmedia2@gmail.com with your contact info. Perfect to listen to during this holiday season!!

Christmas Recommendations

Now that Christmas Season is upon us (and thanks to Wes Burke), I decided to give my recommendations for Christmas music this year. These are CD's that are not only great to listen to at Christmas, but also year round (and some of my personal favorites). In no particular order....

• Gaither Vocal Band - Still The Greatest Story Ever Told (1998)
  The GVB is known for their massive, epic arrangements and letting the singers soar in the rafters. This album does the opposite. It's very mellow, laid back, smooth, and easy. Even the "freaks of nature" vocal arrangements on "Go Tell Everyone" and "Hand Of Sweet Release" come across not so much as epic as they do just pure singing. This also marks David Phelps' first recording with the group (although I get the feeling the project had been started while Jonathan Pierce was still with the group; the track for "New Star Shining" is identical to the one used the previous year on a live Christmas Homecoming video, which might also explain why the arrangements aren't quite as high).
• The Oak Ridge Boys - Christmas (1982)
  This was the Oaks' first Christmas release at the peak of their popularity in the early 80's. While there are several Christmas standards ("White Christmas," "Silver Bells," "Silent Night," etc.), this album has a majority of new material. Some of the records sound dated by today's standards, but the songs still stand strong. Of particular note, this is the album that the Boys' now-classic "Thank God For Kids" came from. Also, one of the best arrangements of "Oh Holy Night" I've heard!
• Gold City - A Gold City Christmas (2005)
  This project was original a "table release" in 2004, and was the last project to feature Jay Parrack. The fact that this was an indie deal really surprised me because this has the "market-ready" production, including full orchestration. It also shows how much Doug Riley really is missed; his production work on here is superb. I always thought that, had Doug not died to tragically, he could've easily transitioned into the next big producer/arranger. His arranging brought GC back to the forefront, soundwise ("I Have Seen The Light" is wonderfully arranged and easily the best song on this project). When GC signed with New Haven, they quickly replaced some of Jay's vocals (although not all), cut two more songs, and repackaged it for stores, which means it never quite got the promotion it deserved. It is still a wonderful album.
• The Oak Ridge Boys - An Inconvenient Christmas (2002)
  Yes, I know I'm on another ORB album, but this one really is one of the best albums I think the Oaks have ever turned out, and also some of the best production Michael Sykes has been involved with. The mix, mastering, and overall sound of this project is very clean, crisp, and tight. Not a note is out of place. And the arrangements are not your typical country-gospel fare. "Just A Simple Christmas Song" starts off with an African jungle loop, reminiscent of "The Lion King," "I Pray On Christmas" has a very cool bluesy jam-session feel (including Ponder, Sykes, and Wright adding extra vocals in the background), and "The Hallelujah Chorus" (yes, THE Hallelujah Chorus) gets a full, epic rock track. The best cut on this album, however, is Joe Bonsall's feature, "My Son." Listen to this track just once and you'll feel chills. He absolutely NAILS this one, and to see it in concert is a real treat (you could hear a pin drop after the bridge).
• Michael English - A Michael English Christmas (2002)
  Michael English is somewhat of an acquired taste for traditional southern gospel listeners. Sure, he is the one behind the amazing "I Bowed On My Knees," but his voice leans much more toward contemporary, and this album shows it. Still, a very good album. Some of the songs are more along the lines of modern country in style, which is a bit of a departure for English. This album also includes a pseudo-acoustic version of "Mary, Did You Know," the song that he made famous in 1991. This version, in my opinion, is much better.
• Kyle Boreing - Spirit Of Christmas (2006)
  It's my blog, and I'll plug my own music if I want to!! This is a solo project that I recorded last year more as an elaborate experiment than anything. The arrangements are probably best described as borderline-contemporary, and I've included classics like "Go Tell It On The Mountain," "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen," and "Silent Night." A highlight on this project is a song I wrote (I have no shame!) entitled "Gotta Find That Gift," a humorous take on dads and last-minute Christmas shopping. This CD is available to order directly from me by e-mailing wavemakersmedia2@gmail.com.

Okay, now that I've gotten my own opinions (and marketing) out of the way, do we have any suggestions from others on good Christmas music???

Trainwrecks coming off the tracks

I have all the room in the world to comment on this particular problem, as I flew brain-first into one at a recent date.....the advent of tracks has made on-stage goof-ups (often referred to as trainwrecks) all the harder to fix.

Case in point - not too long ago, we were singing the classic "Old Country Church" during a show. The group hadn't done the song for a while, and I had never done it on stage with them before (other than soundchecks and a couple rehearsals). We had it down pretty well that afternoon, so we decided to take it to the stage.

BAD IDEA!!

The typical arrangement of this song goes as follows: Verse One, "Shall We Gather At The River," Verse Two, "In The Sweet By & By," Verse Three, "Leaning On The Everlasting Arms," Verse Four, "I Have Been Redeemed." Triumphant demonstrated this arrangement beautifully on the "Remembering The Greats" project from the NQC a couple years back. As long as you can remember the order that the songs are sampled, you're set.

I didn't.

Instead of singing my lead in for "In The Sweet By & By," I belted out, "Well, I'm redeemed....," only to hear "In the sweeeeeeeeet" coming from the other three singers. Not only did I screw up my part, but I threw the rest of the group off who was questioning whether or not we had somehow skipped two verses without knowing it. We pulled it back together in time for me to botch the third verse, try to replace "Leaning" with "Redeemed" (again), and a no-mercy forth verse, finally getting to the song we all so desperately wanted to sing, just to get the song over with.

In the spur of the moment, it was incredibly embarrassing (God bless the congregation for being so lenient!!). Immediately afterward, it was maddening. The next day, I wrote the entire song down on my water bottle so I didn't screw it up again (much to the delight of our tenor singer!).

Now, had this been in the days of bands, the band would've simply followed where we went, the song probably would've ended a couple verses early, but we would've been in control, even when we weren't. Nowadays, we're at the mercy of the IR360, which does NOT stop unless we tell it to. If you flub a line, you gotta get back up, jump back on the train, and keep on chuggin' somehow.

I talked to the band leader of a mainstream group who told me once that they use a pre-programmed synth loop along with a live band on one of their songs. This particular song is notorious for both minor and major trainwrecks on stage, so he has what he calls the "kill switch," where the synth loop is turned off and the band just follows where the singers go. So far, he's only had to use it a few times, but it still has been used nonetheless.

Too bad we don't have the same advantage in SG, unless we're really good at impromptu acapella!!!

Schitzophrenic Album??

I just got a copy of "Peace Of The Rock," what I consider to be somewhat of a "lost" GVB album. It was made up of the same lineup that produced the "Southern Classics" album (Gaither, English, Franklin, and Lowry), and to my knowledge, is the only other Vocal Band album to include Terry Franklin, but it was far overshadowed by the now-classic (no pun intended) status of the SC album, especially considering "Classics" included the legendary "I Bowed On My Knees" track.

The album itself seems to be somewhat schitzophrenic. Songs like the title track and "I Wanna Put My Armor On" are classic GVB middle-of-the-road fair, and "Home Where I Belong" is by far the best cut on this album (and one of Lowry's best vocal performances) with a subdued acoustic arrangement. Then there are songs like "Every Day, Every Hour" that harken back to the late 80's synth-pop arrangements, and a "We Are The World" type anthem titled "We Ar---", er I mean, "Arms Around The World." It never seems to find musical genre to call home.

What's interesting is to hear the GVB arrangement of "Every Day, Every Hour" (written by Terry Franklin), then compare it to the Cathedral's version from around the same time. The synth-pop is gone and it becomes a borderline-jazz song. Kinda makes you wonder which is the version that Franklin originally had in mind when writing it!

Lowry has said himself that he felt that this album may have been too progressive for the audience that Bill was trying to catch. While I will give him the fact that the album is well-produced, it just bounces around too much.

I can see why "Southern Classics" is the one that is remembered.....

It's about time

According to Curb.com, Michael English will FINALLY be releasing his first new CD of original material since 2001's Heaven To Earth (unless you count his Christmas or Greatest Hits CD's; I don't) on February 28th, 2008. It will share the title of his autobiography, The Prodigal Comes Home.

I first heard the title cut nearly two years ago when Michael first started his MySpace page, and I fell in love with it. If this song is any indicator of what's to come, I think this could be his best project to date. It's kinda maddening, I'm sure even to Michael, that it has taken this long to get this project released, seeing that by the time some of these songs finally see the light of day, they will have been in the can for at least two years, but I think it'll be worth it.

Below is the track listing that I found on Curb's website, as well as the planned album cover:


01. Sanctuary
02. Breakthrough
03. The Only Thing Good In Me
04. Don't Think I'm Not Thankful
05. You Redeem Me
06. Time
07. A New Day
08. Have A Little Faith In Me
09. Walk On Some Water
10. The Prodigal Son
11. BONUS TRACK - Right Where You Are

"Right Where You Are" was originally on English's Greatest Hits package (hence the BONUS TRACK label), but the rest are all new. I believe "Sanctuary" was also on his MySpace profile at one point, but I can't remember for sure. Either way, I am very anxious to hear what this new album sounds like (as well as to see what producers he is working with this time).

Spending time at home....????

Some comments at Daniel Mount's recent blog about free agency had someone thinking about why some singers announce that they are leaving SoGo Group A to spend more time at home with their family, only to resurface a short time later with SoGo Group B. Is it a question of integrity (is the singer covering up the fact that they just don't wanna be with that group anymore), is it regret (man, I really wish I hadn't quit singing!), or is it an offer Group B ("Dude, would you be interested in singing again, only this time with us?")? Either way, it is rare that a singer announces that they will be spending more time at home, and they actually DO that.

I know that some singers have left quartets and either "gone solo" or "come off the road." Some remain that way, while others come back in another group (case in point would be Tony Jarman, who is now embarking on his SECOND solo career after leaving Legacy Five, singing solo, then joining the now-defunct Old Time Gospel Hour Quartet, only to leave to go solo again). Now granted, soloists have a LOT more flexibility in their scheduling, as THEY are the boss, and THEY get the money, but as any soloist will tell you, unless you're Ivan Parker or Janet Paschal, good luck getting dates (and even those two are doing shows together now, so what's that tell ya?).

Occassionally, there will be those who DO come off the road and STAY there. Has anyone heard from Parker Jonathan since he left the Kingsmen/Carolina Boys/Kingsmen?

The problem now arises when you have to word a press release in such a way that it doesn't sound like the baritone singer threw a fit and walked off the bus (or was kicked off). "Spending more time at home" IS a lot more PR-friendly than, "He won't keep his shoes out of the aisle." Also how would it look for someone to say, "Tenor #1 is leaving SoGo Group A to join SoGo Group B." Let the rumors fly there!!!

Travelin' Live

Wes Burke had an interesting post on the Cathedrals' Travelin' Live DVD that was recently reissued, naming "Whosoever Will" as a hidden gem. While I agree with his assessment, I think this entire DVD is somewhat of a lesson in how to do a live album the RIGHT way, and how NOT to do an accompanying video.

The original record included the now-standard "Boundless Love," which won song of the year, and had a distinction of being one of the few singles to include a live encore.

Or was it??

Listening to the record, it sounds like the Cats nailed the song dead on. They came right back in on the encore and picked right up where they left off, and the song hit number one. But if you watch the original concert footage on the DVD (which for some reason was NOT edited), Glen, Mark, and Danny are looking at each other almost in panic trying to figure out exactly what George meant by "trio." It's painfully obvious that the record was heavily edited to fix this problem, as well as a few others.

Also, if you listen closely, you can tell that the record has several more instruments than the DVD does. That's because the show was done with a minimal band (looks like drums, piano, someone other than Mark playing bass, and an acoustic guitar). A synthesizer and electric guitar was added to the record later, but was not added to the mix on the video.

The overall look of the video suggests that it may have been almost an afterthought compared to the record. It's almost as if someone said, "Let's do a live album, and if we have some money left, we'll video tape it." The budget definitely doesn't live up to other videos of the time, such as "An Evening with the Cathedrals," and the addition of the band almost seems to throw off the group's routine. George can't just call off a song to Roger and let it flow, it has to be planned out with the entire group (who's playlist is fairly limited to whatever song charts they have on their music stands). The organicness is lost.

From what I understand, the video for this concert wasn't available very long, then disappeared for many years until now. It appears to be an early attempt at what Gaither & Co. now does, with combo live DVD"s and CD's. Nowadays, however, the video takes priority, and the music is done almost as an afterthought (or, as with the last few DVD's, no live companion CD is even made, as the DVD is based on an existing studio record). It was an interesting effort, and like with a lot of Cathedrals material, just slightly ahead of its time....