Gospel Music vs. The Gospel 2008
Somebody in Gospelmusicland must've
heard us because, last year
we were whining about there not
being much out there. This year, it's a bit overwhelming. Dave
Hollister's vintage turn with the haunting and deeply disturbing
"Standing" should earn him a Grammy. Hollister's emotional
paralysis here is like an Edgar Alan Poe tome, you can feel the
icy flutter of circling ravens. Both Hadden and Hollister
channel Bobby Womack by way of Al Green and Anthony Hamilton,
which takes nothing away from two outstanding cuts that likely
appeal to me disproportionately because they resonate so truly
to the city streets I grew up on.
Marvin?!
Kirk Franklin remains the 800-pound gorilla of Gospel. Yolanda
Adams is actually bigger than Gospel, being racked in most
stores along with soul and even pop music. Despite weak
material, Tye Tribbett continues to dominate the charts, Regina
Belle has gone Gospel, CeCe Winans is back with a solid hit and
Martha Munizzi (who?!) has one of the hottest releases out.
There’s more new music, more independent music, out there than
ever before. New faces like Seven Sons of Soul, Joshua’s Troop,
Spensha Baker, 2nd Baptist Mass Choir and Ashmont Hill. Dorinda
Clark’s come back strong, with niece Kiki Sheard waiting in the
wings. It’s a very, very crowded field of the good, mostly the
average, and, occasionally, the outstanding. And, sitting atop
that heap, for 58 weeks is—Marvin Sapp? Marvin Sapp, the former
lead singer of Commissioned? Marvin Sapp, who’s been a pleasant
asset but not a barnstormer since the group’s dissolution in
1995? Marvin Sapp, whom we’ve pretty much taken for granted,
who’s nowhere near 19 or 20 years old like the new hotshot
kids. Marvin?! Propelled by the blockbuster hit, “Never Would
Have Made It,” a song now so ubiquitous that many churches are,
frankly, sick of it (that’s how good it is—churches are sick of
hearing it now), I’d like “Never…” more if it weren’t built on
the basic chord structure of the Boys II Men mega-hot “End Of
The Road.” I’m not sure that was even done consciously, so I’m
hardly accusing anybody of anything, but it is nonetheless true.
The timing is different and stuff’s been moved around but there
it is, under the surface, “End Of The Road.” This re-jiggering
is fairly common in Gospel, most consistently by Kirk Franklin
whose biggest hits resonate of established pop and R&B hits,
most notoriously “Hosanna” which was either quietly licensed
from or coldly ripped off of the writers and producers of
Vanessa Williams’ mega hit “Save The Best For Last.”
“Never Would Have Made It” is hardly that brazen, but I’m quite
sure the tonal mirroring of “End Of The Road” is what tends to
evoke the homey reception to the song’s overall message of
repentance and thanksgiving. Sapp certainly puts in his day’s
work, preaching through the luxurious arrangement to
minister—truly minister—to his audience. The anointing is
palpable, knocking out entire rows of folk, and Sapp’s sincerity
breaks through the emotion of the moment to pierce hearts and, I
believe, genuinely impact lives. This is an outstanding moment
that surely deserves the attention its received. The rest of the
CD, however, is, well, a Marvin Sapp project. Laid back
California urban Gospel. It’s his thing, his groove. Being a New
York grouch, Sapp’s stuff usually lacks enough punch to win me
over. Like Marvin Winans' recent Alone But Not Alone, another
way-too-laid-back California Gospel album which plummeted off
the charts in short order, Sapp’s work is pleasant but not
always compelling. It’s a little too polished for me, as I like
stuff stripped bare and I want to actually hear the musicians’
sweat dropping on the keys. A little imperfection is a good
thing, I think, as too much polish tends to dull the music’s
edge. There’s some very good stuff on Thirsty, and your opinion
can and should differ from mine. This is by no means a bad
album, it’s actually a very good album. But it’s a very good
Marvin Sapp album. I’d just love to drag him out of Bel Aire and
get some pipe-swinging New Yorkers working with him.
Oh, and I wasn’t thrilled by the fedora and the bright red tie
and matching hanky and the bling. The CD art falls short of
being one of those terrible I’m The Joint covers, but it kind of
dates Sapp, making him look like, well, what he is—somebody’s
dad. It’s a Dad Outfit. And it reminds me of the pastors here in
Ourtown, who tend to congregate at cheap buffets after church on
Sundays. You can always tell who in the restaurant is a pastor
because they sit and eat with their hats on. I mean it, they
take off their coat and scarf and what have you, but are quite
deliberate about leaving their hats on—which, besides being
barbaric manners, makes them look stupid. Sapp’s hat is not as
gregarious as our pastors’ here, but why a brother needs to wear
a hat on the album cover—a cover already too dark (the
background is as dark as Sapp’s suit, making this hard to see at
a distance)—is beyond me. Actually, now that I mention it,
Marvin Winans is also wearing a hat and a Dad Suit on the cover
of Alone… Strongly recommended in spite of it not necessarily
being my cuppa.
We've been doing this a couple years now, and each time I try
and find a new way to say the same thing: the gospel music
business needs to promote and exemplify the Gospel of Jesus
Christ. The two should not be mutually exclusive. Like Caesar's
wife, a Christian in the business world must be above reproach,
and selling things that use the Gospel of Jesus Christ as a
creative base is an at best questionable practice. The Gospel
should be free. Gospel artists should be more vested in
preaching the Gospel than they are in selling records. Gospel
music websites, especially, tend to give me the creeps because
there's all of this idolatry going on there—this fawning over
stars and who's hot and when their project is dropping. Which is
probably why we only do this once a year because, just sifting
through it all, I need to take bath. I was actually going to
skip it this year, but I wanted to run a piece on Larry Norman,
and our annual look at the Gospel music industry seemed the best
place for it. Most of you likely have no idea who Larry Norman
was, so I encourage you to skip over there and read the essay
about him. Suffice it to say, if there were no Larry Norman,
there may not have been a market for Edwin Hawkins' "Oh Happy
Day," the first commercial pop hit of a Contemporary Gospel
song. And, if it weren't for "Oh Happy Day," we wouldn't be here
talking about all of this.
So, here we are, running the issue. And it feels like somebody
in Gospelmusicland must've heard us because, last year we were
whining about there not being much out there. This year, it's a
bit overwhelming. There's so much product out now, and a lot of
it is quite good, but, so far, I'm not hearing a lot of albums.
I'm hearing lots of song collections by various producers, stuff
gathered together in hope that something on it will take off.
But, in terms of artistic cohesion, well, maybe that day is
done. It's the iPod generation. I just miss the old days when
music artists were also storytellers, and where an album was
just that: a cohesive, seamless piece that flowed from the first
track to the last. Our previous nods for outstanding works—J.
Moss' glorious V2... and Adrianne Archie's HTHAELHH were both
albums, crafted from start to finish by a creative group of
people. At press time, we're not seeing much in that vein. Which
isn't to say these are bad records, but that there's not enough
cheese in the casserole, not enough of a consistent
through-point to bind these collections into albums. They are,
in most cases, a bunch of tunes, things thrown at the wall to
see what sticks. Many hands on the recording and mixing
consoles, and no storyline to follow. With all the noisy, buzzy,
clanking digital wizardry we're seeing these days, what seems to
be missing is vision. Archie's HTHAELHH (He That Hath An Ear Let
Him Hear) was produced for about thirteen bucks and some Carl's
Jr. coupons, and it just brings you to your knees. J. Moss'
V2... sounds like it cost twice the $30 Million Michael Jackson
blew on Invincible, and it works because V2... tells a story,
has a specific vision. I think, when I begin seeing more of that
old school approach to album-crafting, I'll get more excited
about spending seventeen bucks apiece on these things. Between
now and then, here's where we are.
The untimely passing of Isaac Hayes seems to be underscored all
the more by the increasing trend toward a vintage 1970's sound.
What appears to be a natural progression from Neo-Soul—a kindly
exploitation of Stax-era southern R&B—is the emergent harder
sound no doubt inspired by Anthony Hamilton (whom we've tacked
onto our '08 mix just for fun)'s soundtrack for American
Gangster. Outstanding Shaft-isms are being delivered this summer
by both Deitrick Hadden on his upcoming release Revealed and by
Dave Hollister on his freshly-minted and wonderfully-titled
Witness Protection. While I could go on about the pitfalls of
glorifying a gangster culture (or, for that matter, Hollywood),
I'd rather make the observation that, as someone who was
actually walking around New York City with a .357 Magnum in my
school bag during that time, this stuff sounds like home.
Hadden's production quality and attention to detail continues to
amaze—he has some of the best-sounding records on the street
these days, and Hollister's vintage turn with the haunting and
deeply disturbing "Standing" should earn him a Grammy. If you
make it past the external '70s affectations and let those lyrics
sink in, you'll find Hollister wrestling with temptation,
regret, sadness, loneliness, and an abundance of things that
must surely challenge a guy who once burned so bright in the
Teddy Riley party-drink-sex millhouse whose own Damascus Road
conversion has re-set his moral clock. Hollister's emotional
paralysis here is like an Edgar Alan Poe tome, you can feel the
icy flutter of circling ravens. Both Hadden and Hollister
channel Bobby Womack by way of Al Green and Hamilton (hence our
inclusion of Hamilton), which takes nothing away from two
outstanding cuts that likely appeal to me disproportionately
because they resonate so truly to the city streets I grew up on.
A couple of quick mentions: Minster Darryl Cherry is causing a
ruckus over on Facebook, with a live concert album (yes, it is
an album) that I don't talk about a lot because I co-produced it
and pushing the CD here feels like cheating on your math
homework. But I encourage everybody to click the CD cover and
wander over to MySpace or look Darryl up on iTunes and get
yourself a copy. Twins Jas & Jo don't actually have a deal, yet,
but Minster Cherry brought them to my attention, and their
atypical brand of Christian music holds a great deal of promise.
We have a brief chat with them here. Kiki Sheard's new project
is due out...um...soon. I was hoping we'd have it before our
deadline, but I don't actually have a title or release date.
I've heard she's back in the studio with PaJam, but her website
hasn't been updated since July of '07. One of the brightest
lights on the horizon, Kiki's music, as we said last year, has
the potential to explode on the urban gospel charts. What she
lacks is real depth, like that of her mother Karen Clark-Sheard,
whose forward momentum seems stunted by unwise turns toward
Israel Houghton and back to the Clark Sisters. Kiki, I suspect,
tends to censor herself a lot. At age 20 or whatever she is now,
you can't tell me she doesn't have a whole lot on her mind. And
with her younger brother, J. Drew Sheard, producing and writing,
I expected more sizzle with the steak. I can all but hear her
pumping her brakes, though, with her Bishop daddy and the whole
Mattie Moss Clark legacy hung around her neck. I've no doubt she
wants to be progressive while also minding her manners, so we
get head faints toward biting issues while drowning them in
metaphor to the point where you spend way too much time guessing
what she's trying to say. I look forward to her emancipation:
the music is hot. I'd really like to know what's in her soul.
Once she gets that weight balance right—scoring the depth of her
mother's work—she'll be unstoppable. I'm sure there's an album
on the way...somewhere. Can't wait to hear it.
Another front-loaded mention goes to Sean Simmonds, whose It's
Over will hit stores third week in September. I've only heard
clips, but this sounds like a major leap forward for Simmonds,
whose True Story was quite good. I beat him up a bit for the
cover art to Story, which I regret since Sean and I have been
exchanging emails and he's really a true brother. I've just got
this pet peeve about these guys and their "I'm The Joint" CD
covers. I'm sure I could have expressed myself more
diplomatically, Sean, but what fun would that be? In any case,
It's Over's cover is a great improvement over Story. Simmonds
retains his urban street cred while appearing buoyant and
sincere rather than angry and arrogant. Church Folk, however,
will not like this music. Simmonds grabs the baton from Tonéx,
who's been kind of turning circles the past two years (see
following). Two years ago I said I wanted to buy 500 copies of
Tonéx's masterpiece, Oak Park 91205, and pass them out to these
runny-nose gang types hanging out trying to look hard. Well,
this year, I'd be buying 500 copies of It's Over. Simmonds' work
here is aggressively and unapologetically urban, pushing the
limits of what we expect when we rip the cellophane off of a
Gospel CD. This is not entertainment for Christians, but rather
an issue-oriented collection of probing songs that require a
response of the listener. Simmonds demands to know why we live
the way we do, why we think he way we do. Rather than sell
Church Folk happy melodies, Simmonds puts his word on the street
where it belongs, creating an evangelism tool, a teaching tool
for youth. While still lacking the lyrical weight of Tonéx, It's
Over sounds like a big leap forward for Simmonds. This is the
kind of CD churches should be buying in bulk and simply handing
out to their kids. Instead, I suspect Simmonds will get
criticized for going too far, for being too out there. Or some
jackass with a website will get on him about his CD cover of all
things.
After reconciling with his label, Verity/Zomba (subsequent to a management change at the label), Tonéx was set to release what he called "My Thriller," Stereotype:Steel & Velvet, in September of 2007. However, once word leaked of Tonéx's limited-edition underground project, The Naked Truth—whose title track apparently features an expletive-ridden venting about his turbulent relationship with Zomba—the label dropped Tonéx from its roster. He is reported to be currently producing songs for upcoming projects by Janet Jackson, Michael Jackson, Brandy, Usher and Danity Kane, while promoting his current release Bapostogic. He is currently releasing albums exclusively at his official store. Which brings us to our annual observations of what's what this year:
