Democrat or Republican?

In light of the ever-increasing lunacy that is known as the Presidential Election, I post the following (thanks to Ban-Joey!!!):

A woman in a hot air balloon realized she was lost. She lowered her altitude and spotted a man in a bass boat below. She shouted to him, 'Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don't know where I am.' The man consulted his portable GPS and replied,

'You're in a hot air balloon, approximately 30 feet above a ground elevation of 2346 feet above sea level. You are at 31 degrees, 14.97 minutes north latitude,
and 100 degrees, 49.09 minutes west longitude.'

She rolled her eyes and said, 'You must be a Republican .'

I am,' replied the bass fisherman. 'How did you know?'

'Well,' answered the balloonist, ' everything you told me is technically correct, but I have no i dea what to do with your information, and I'm still lost. Frankly, you've not been much help to me.'

The man smiled and responded, 'You must be a Democrat.'

'I am,' replied the balloonist. 'How did you know?'

'Well,' said the bass fisherman, 'you don't know where you are or where you are going. You've risen to where you are, due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise you have no idea how to keep, and you expect me to solve your problem. You're in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but, somehow, now it's my fault.

GVB "Bonus Cut"

Thanks to a good friend, I got a chance to hear the "bonus cut" on the new Gaither Vocal Band Christmas project, "Fear Not." I must say, this track is much closer to what I was expecting from the GVB. It's a modern country arrangement, has a classic quartet 4th modulation (wherein the tenor takes over the lead vocals), and closes with convention-style choruses (wherein each singer has a separate melodic line). For good measure, an encore is tacked on. I only wish the rest of the project was along the same lines, as opposed to the Charlie Brown jazz.....

Blu-Ray

I'm surprised, with the release today of the new Signature Sound CD and DVD, Dream On, that Gaither hasn't chosen this particular project to be the debut of the Gaither Gospel Series on BluRay. Then again, that would mean he'd have to start releasing the rest of his projects on BluRay....and do we really wanna see some of those people in HIGH DEFINITION?!

The Art of Theater

A rather heated debate (big surprise) at Averyfineline begs a question that I've often had: Is there a such thing as Christian theater?

The biggest issue in question is regarding a "miraculous" healing of Vestal Goodman, which is said to have been nothing more than an elaborately-staged introduction that was often repeated. The Goodmans were always known for their stage presence and flashiness, but people seem to have a problem with the idea of a gospel act "faking" a healing in order to work a crowd.

I am not defending or condemning the idea of a flamboyant show; the goal is to get an emotional response out of an audience. The question is, what is the difference between a "performance" and "blasphemy"? When an artist cries on cue or "suddenly" regains strength to finish a song, is it using the Holy Spirit to further self, or is it the simple act of "working the audience."

A musical performance, just like any other show, is exactly that: a performance. Artists will travel the country putting on the same performance (or very similar) night after night. Just because it's southern gospel doesn't mean that it's exempt from the stage factor. How is crying through "Amazing Grace" any different than crying on cue during, say, an Easter play? The idea is to evoke a response from the audience. The only difference is, instead of reciting lines, they're singing songs.

He's back....

Dave Mann, that is. My buddy from Stamps-Baxter (and now member of the Blackwood Gospel Quartet) has brought his blog back. Check it out here.

Chris Golden - "CenterStage"

Chris Golden is a part of a massive musical legacy. His brother, Rusty, is a critically-acclaimed songwriter who has been finding recent success with cuts by Signature Sound, the Booth Brothers, and the Kingsmen, among others, and his father is the famously-bearded William Lee Golden of the legendary Oak Ridge Boys. Chris himself has been playing drums for the Oaks for the last 12 years after touring extensively with Rusty as The Goldens throughout the 80's and 90's. His connections throughout the gospel world are immense; even though he is recording country music, his gospel background has a strong presence throughout his singing and playing.

His latest effort, CenterStage, is a prime example of what happens when you let an artist do what they do best. The entire project was either produced or co-produced by Golden himself, and at 17 tracks total, you are bound to get something you're going to enjoy. Granted, this IS a country CD, so you're gonna get some secular themes, but even then, they do not sink into the typical cheating, drinking, depressing country songs. The entire project is upbeat and very family-friendly.

Anyone who has caught Chris or The Goldens singing in the past will recognize several songs on this project. "Keep The Faith" was a moderate hit in the early 90's and a staple of their stage show; "Columbus Stockade Blues" was performed by Chris during the Oaks' 1998 television series, and "Three Verses" was previously recorded on Chris' first solo project, The Kiva Tapes, recorded at his father's studio. All of these songs are given updated, modern arrangements that don't come across as just recycled (the Oaks even sing backup for Chris on "Three Verses"). Another song that should be well-known (although not from Chris) is "Sixteen Tons," which gets an updated arrangement, but is still reminiscent of Tennessee Ernie Ford's popular rendition.

Of the new songs, the selection is wide enough that there is something for every fan, but not so much that each song sounds like a completely different style. There are moving ballads, some relaxing mid-tempo ventures, and some hand-clapping boogies. What makes the project so enjoyable is that, regardless of the song, there's a soothing, relaxing feel to it. While it's by no means reserved, it's not in your face, blasting you through the next room. The overall feel of the album harkens back to the mid-to-late 80's country - modern enough to be enjoyable today without going overboard with fancy production tricks and gimmicks.

Key tracks include "Terminal of Life," an interesting look at people departing and arriving at an airport in Anytown, USA, "Isn't It Always Love," a syncopated mid-tempo tune about the ups and downs of relationships, and "Walk These Hills," one of those songs that could either go in the direction of a lost love or someone who has passed away (it's these types of songs I like the most, as they can be adapted to whatever the listener feels).

The only problem I really have with the entire project is the fact that it is an independent release. The quality of this album is easily comparable to any major label release today (I'd venture to say that it's better than a lot, considering production quality today requires compressing songs to the point of distortion). The mix, levels, and overall flow of the recording should serve as a standard for mastering engineers. Not only that, but the packaging is also top-notch in a digipak cover full of complete credits and photos. No pennies pinched there!

I hope that someone at one of the "big boys" on Music Row gets a hold of this album. It deserves to be heard by the masses. Job well done, Chris!!

You can purchase this project by visiting http://www.chrisgolden.net/

Gaither Vocal Band - "Christmas Gaither Vocal Band Style"

I had actually gone into the store looking for another CD when I noticed that the GVB had released their new Christmas CD, so having no luck on my original quest, I purchased it. Their previous effort, Still The Greatest Story Ever Told, is one of my all-time favorite projects, so I was anxious to hear what they had to offer with this album; it also set the bar VERY high for my expectations. I will try to get the comparison out of the way early in this review, as it is inevitable.

Right off the bat, before I ever got the shrink wrap removed, I saw two big differences between the two projects. The first is the song selection. Story included only one "classic" Christmas song (two if you count "Mary Did You Know," which has become a modern standard). There were covers of other songs, but for the most part, they were more recent songs that hadn't been done many times before. On Style, 8 of the 11 tracks are what you would call Christmas "standards."

The second difference between Story and Style is the producer. Story was produced by Michael Sykes at a time when both he and the Vocal Band were beginning to reach their full potential, resulting in one of the best albums the group ever recorded. Style was produced by Russell Mauldin, a name that is not necessarily new to the GVB (he has done all kinds of orchestration and arranging work for their albums over the years), but is quite new under the "producer" credit for them.

Now, on to the review!! I actually had started a song-by-song review for this CD, but I found myself repeating a lot of the same things for each song. This may seem like a shorter review than I usually do, but in reality, I can't really find a whole lot to say about this album.

It seems as of late, the Gaither Vocal Band has been leaving their "powerhouse" sound behind in favor of smoother, lighter vocals and arrangements. This is extremely evident with Style. Rather than belting out super-high harmonies and blowing the roof off, they are crooning smooth jazz-flavored carols and a capella numbers. There are only a few spots where they really seem to let loose. Part of this could be due to the current line-up's abilities (and the absence of David Phelps who, regardless of how you feel about him, is undeniably a freak of nature with his tenor voice), but I can't help but wonder if the years of strain on Guy Penrod's voice has finally taken it's toll (the recent announcement of his sabbatical makes me think the latter is more the case).

Russell Mauldin's arrangements abandon the modern country sound for tracks that sound like something you might hear in a fancy lounge at 1am. With very few exceptions, I kinda felt like I was listening to "A Charlie Brown Christmas" (although that may have been part of the goal). There are country-flavored songs on here ("Come And See What's Happenin'" and "Christmas In The Country"), but for the most part, it's less "southern" and more "smooth jazz." If that is your cup o' tea, then you should enjoy what the Vocal Band has to offer, but for the fans of the more up-to-date sound, you may be disappointed.

From a song stand-point, you're gonna find a lot of standards here. Of them, I'd say that "O Holy Night" is the most Gaither-esque, in that it has the epic ballad feel and high-vocal ending. The rest of the "classics" are mellow arrangements that you could easily play in the background while you're having Christmas dinner, but probably wouldn't be jamming out to in the car. Even the newer songs like "Come And See What's Happenin'" and "My Heart Would Be Your Bethlehem" come across as bland and uninspired (somewhat like the CD title).

There are a couple a capella arrangements included, as well (harkening back to their 2004 A Capella album) that sound quite good. The "Carol Medley" is self-explanatory, but their rendition of "O Little Town Of Bethlehem" is beautiful (thanks in part to the chord structure utilized).

To be fair, I have not heard the bonus cut that is only available through Gaither.com. I have been told that the style of "Fear Not" is fairly different from the rest of the album, but unless you order online directly from Gaither, you won't get this song included in the package.

I can't help but feel like this album is more of a novelty release than the GVB's previous Christmas project. Instead of setting out to record a top-notch, southern gospel-flavored Christmas album, we get what feels more like something they did almost as an afterthought. It's a shame, because the jazz-style tracks actually do sound quite good; it's just so much of a departure for the Gaither Vocal Band that it left me scratching my head as to what the ultimate goal was.

The other side....

Thanks to Dean Adkins for posting this redeeming video of Kurt Young during his tenure with the Cathedrals.....



This performance shows that Kurt actually did have quite a bit of control and range. He sounds spectacular on this song with his smooth tenor. The problem, however, is that the Cathedrals were just coming off of a 6-year run with one of the most powerful tenors in gospel music, and it appears that, while Kurt obviously has a wonderful tenor voice, he simply couldn't keep up with the songs the Cats were doing at the time.

She said YES!!

This past Saturday, I made a trek to Rising Sun, Indiana, to catch The Oak Ridge Boys at Grand Victoria, bringing my girlfriend, Emily, along to catch the shows with me. The first show was great as usual (their new material is quite interesting, I must say!!), and I told Emily I had a surprise for the second show - I was gonna sing a song with the Oaks.

That in itself is not all that unbelievable, as I used to do a song with the Oaks every now and then when I was a teenager. My first experience on stage was with the Boys when I was 13. Since that time, all of the Oaks, band & crew included, have become some great friends.

Come time for the second show, I sat in my seat with my arm around Emily, heart pounding like a jackhammer in my chest. I'd planned beforehand with Joe Bonsall as to the exact point in the show I would take the stage, and I was counting down the songs to that point.

Sure enough, Joe slows down (the best that Joe CAN slow down, that is!!), and he begins his introduction as I get up and walk up toward the stage. As I make it to the stage, though, he stops and said, "Hey, bring Emily up here, too!!" Needless to say, she was NOT expecting to join me.

Joe gave me Duane Allen's mic and said, "I think Kyle has something he wants to say...." I turned to the audience and said, "Well, Emily thinks that I'm up here to sing a song with these guys, but I actually had something a little different in mind." I pulled a ring out, and the crowd went wild. I dropped to one knee right there on the stage, and in front of everyone, asked Emily to marry me. Sure enough, she said yes!!!

So, now we are officially engaged. No exact date set just yet, but it should be soon. I'll be sure to keep everyone updated.

MONEY QUOTE - Just seconds before the show starts, William Lee Golden stops me and hollers, "What if she says no??"

Benson Bootlegs??

A few months back, I found a CD of the "Cathedrals Collection," a 10-song compilation from the Benson years, at a booth at the flea market. I was kinda suspicious when the insert looked like an ink jet print off, but I bought it anyway for the songs. Sure enough, when I got in the car, the CD was actually a CD-R, but the songs were intact.

Fast forward to this morning. While running some errands, I spotted a small Christian gift store, so I stopped to see what they might have music-wise. I've always found that the smaller, mom-and-pop stores seem to have a larger selection of older CD's that have been out of print for a while. Today was no exception.

As soon as I walk in, I spot Gold City's "Renewed" CD on the shelf. Fans will recognize this album as the first to include Jay Parrack and Mark Trammell, as well as the official (if not short-lived) switch to lead for Steve Lacey, who joined GC as baritone on their landmark "Pillars of Faith" project.

Again, the insert looked slightly cheap, but I couldn't tell for sure. Since I'd wanted this project for a while anyway, I took a chance. I get in the car, and - you guessed it - another CD-R and ink-jet insert. I must say, however, that the CD and insert artwork appeared to be pretty much a direct copy of the original artwork, and all of the credits and liner notes (even fonts) were intact.

Now I HAVE seen some CD-R's come from Daywind (the last pressing of the Singing News 30th Anniversary CD set I saw was a CD-R), and I see performance trax on CD-R all the time from multiple companies, but I have to wonder....has Benson sent out cheap prints, or am I just that good at finding bootlegs?

Anyone else have any early-90's Benson CD's like this??

Singing News chart survey

Daniel Mount has an interesting survey on his blog regarding the Singing News Charts from 1983 compared to 2003. Here is a link to his site to better explain the survey (and to take part).

Quote of the Week

This one comes from everyone's buddy, Doug Harrison over at Averyfineline.com. While describing Steve Ladd (who anyone will say has grown by leaps and bounds vocally over the last few years with Gold City), Doug says:

It comes from hard work and careful, searching, often painful self-examination and study. There's not enough of that in sg.

I couldn't agree more!!!

Guy Penrod takes a break

According to SoGospelNews.com, Guy Penrod will be taking a sabbatical from the Gaither Vocal Band. I guess after 14 years, Guy finally earned enough vacation time to take a few weeks off.

What surprises me about this is the length of the break. Guy is only taking a "few weeks off," according to the press release, which hardly amounts to a "sabbatical." I have noticed over two most recent projects, the Vocal Band has refrained from the skyrocketing vocal arrangements they made their name by; Guy's voice has also started to sound somewhat strained, so maybe a break is what he needs to recoup.

Aside from Bill himself, Guy is the longest-running member of the GVB in the history of the group (beating Mark Lowry, who previously held the record at 13 years). With that kind of longevity in a group that one doesn't own either shows one's dedication, or just how good Guy really has it, in which case, a few weeks off is well-deserved. I only hope that it's not something that becomes permanent.....

So much for the theater gig?

According to DBM, the theater that the new Florida Boys had booked as a steady gig closed all of a sudden (VERY sudden from the sound of the article). While events like this are not necessarily the norm, things DO happen and businesses DO close without notice. My question is, how solid is this new incarnation of the FB that they may be able to bounce back?

A steady theater gig not only keeps the members paid, it also gives them a place to learn and grow and gel together as a group (Triumphant is a perfect example of this). Charlie Waller probably saw the gig as an opportunity to really fine tune the group without running them to death in the process. Now that the theater is closed, will they bounce back with another theater to play in, or will they bite the bullet and hit the road?

Digital Rights Management

David Bruce Murray has an interesting post on Digital Rights Management (where songs you download are coded with a lock that prevents you from listening to said songs anywhere else but where you originally downloaded it, making the experience of blasting your favorite songs through your car stereo at ridiculously-loud levels all the more difficult). While the following quote actually refers to movies and OnDemand, the same principle applies, I believe....

As much money as Hollywood makes on DVD (and now, Bluray), there's one thing about it they still hate. Namely, the fact that you get to watch your copy over and over again without paying them again each time....Even worse, you can loan your disc to a friend, without your friends paying to see it. Or, you can sell it back to some record store that deals in used DVDs. It's like highway robbery!

[snip]

They hate it so much that they've been trying to devise a system that will lure the consumer away from, you know, actually owning movies and watching them when it's convenient, to a system where the consumer pays, every single time, to watch the movie, at Hollywood's convenience.

A chuckle for today

Here's an interesting quote from my little brother....

You could put a Howitzer on your roof, but then you'd be brandishing a friggin' Howitzer, which I'm pretty sure is illegal. - Kevin Boreing

I love Photoshop

It's a slow news week, so in the mean time, I finally created a logo for the site. It's nothing too fancy, just something I whipped up real fast in Photoshop. Let me know what you think!!

Also, within the next couple days, I'll be adding a "fan page" for the site on Facebook. Be sure to mark yourself as a fan of Southern Gospel View (and while you're at it, add yourself as a fan of Kyle Boreing as an artist....yes, it's a shameless plug!).

Garry Jones on Southern Gospel Music

Found this while going through YouTube from a recent Garry Jones concert....