Reviewed by James Attlee

For this, the second Family and Friends Choir album, Ronald Winans has assembled some of the greatest lead voices in contemporary gospel music.  It lends weight to the Winans' claim to belong to the foremost extended family in gospel that so many of them share the same surname as himself.  He's then invited in a few friends, at least one of whom - Twinkie Clark - has undisputed superstar status, and matched them with a superbly disciplined and powerful choir.  The results, recorded live at the Greater Grace Temple Detroit, are dynamite.  The dynamics of the best gospel choir performances are the dynamics of tension -tension between the monumental power of the massed voices of the choir and the naked expressiveness of the solo voice.  Between iron discipline and split-second timing on the one hand, and spontaneity and Holy Ghost-inspired improvisation on the other. This album covers the spectrum.   Highlights include the vocal interplay between Margaret Bell and BeBe Winans on the slow-building ballad "I Will Remember", the unique pure falsetto of Daniel Winans on the self-penned "Holiness", the blistering performance turned in by CeCe Winans on "Put Your Trust In Jesus", the intimate warm growl of Ron Winans himself on "White As Snow"... the list goes on and on.  Apart from the soloists, the choir shines on the uptempo "Give Him The Praise", in the call and response sections of "Put Your Trust In Jesus", acappella for a few moments in "I Trust In God" - my only complaint is that several tracks are faded just at the point when things are really hotting up, and the choir sound ready to demolish an average-sized building.  Presumably the decision to stick with a single album had been made, and questions of space had to prevail. With so many famous names involved, it's commendable that the album doesn't fall into the trap of 'going showbiz', a perennial danger for American gospel all-star revues.  Only Twinkie Clark sounds as if her reputation is weighing a little heavily on her shoulders, and ends up playing to the crowd.  Superlative.  You will be moved.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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