I just bought the new Gaither Vocal Band CD, "Give It Away". While Marshall Hall (new baritone) sang 2 or 3 songs on the CD "The Best of the Gaither Vocal Band" including the power ballad "Picture of Grace", this recording features the new GVB consisting of Bill, Guy, Marshall, and new tenor, Wes Hampton.
Now, let's be honest. Whoever followed David Phelps as tenor with the Vocal Band was bound to get panned. Phelps possesses a one in a million voice. While Wes is an able tenor, this recording either does not showcase his range or indicates that his high notes will fall far short of David's arial acrobats. In fact, Guy takes the tenor on a few of the songs, and does a great job at it. Give Wes a couple more albums before you judge his ability, though.
Marshall is a great addition to Gaither's men and he cuts loose on several tracks, bringing back memories of the most underrated baritone in Southern Gospel music, namely Mark Lowry.
Overall, I am disappointed with the song selection. I read interviews with Bill and he was hyping the fact that he was more excited about this recording than any project he had ever worked on. He needs to relax a little. This CD falls far short of some of the great GVB projects like "Loving God, Loving Each Other" and "I Do Believe". I've come to expect more.
One great song on this album is "Give It Away". This is a fantastic song that will have you tapping your feet. If you're a GVB fan, buy the album and add it to the collection. If you haven't bought one of their CDs before, don't start with this one.
6 comments:
I just bought that CD the other day, so I guess you're saying I should give it away. (I'm sure you didn't catch the pun there, because it was so subtle.)
Anyway :-), I enjoy reading your blog!
Nice review. I think that I will just wait until lagging record sales cause them to Give It Away.
I know that Wes is a good ol' boy, but c'mon, he's not that good. At least, the CD didn't give him a chance to cut loose. Whatever the case, like I said, I'll give him a couple of albums before I make up my mind. Yeah, "Bread on the Water" is a pretty good song. Do you remember when the Imperials were considered Christian Rock?
We heard him last night on TV, and we liked his style. I guess it's each to his own-right?
Now, I have to say that we've heard some really good things about Liberty's new tenor!!! Do you know much about him? :)
I just bought this CD the other day as well. I was so hyped up about it because of all Bro. Bill was saying about it. I too must say that I was extremely disapponted. I am a big fan of GVB and this truly is one of their worst albums. The Eagle song...what's up with that?
OK, it might have history but that doesn't make it a good song. Just for the record, I remember when the Cathedrals album "Masterbuilder" was banned from the campus of one of our Bible colleges. That Mark Trammell. He was playing with fire.
Matt, it's good to hear from you. And I have to agree, this is one of the worst albums put out by GVB.
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