Reviewed by Phil Thomson

You have to clear the deck for this one - a full-on gospel assault, delivered through all the joy and suffering of a deeply personal journey. The premise for the whole album is in the coming to terms with the death of the much revered Rev Dr Tyrone S Thornton of Cascade, Virginia. His son, Kenneth, has marshalled some considerable gospel forces towards keeping the memory alive with this standard wall-of-sound preach and teach material, and in places it makes for a fairly emotive work out. The idea is to continue the legacy and channel the proceeds into charitable work. The album does have some memorable moments, in particular "The Only Way" - a powerfully controlled dialogue in music and song between the choir and an uncredited vocalist. Yet alongside other releases of this type, it has a more than amateurish feel to it. Rather than just live, it sounds piece-meal, especially where one or two tracks end abruptly or mysteriously (and prematurely) fade out. Then there are the songs where the leads simply aren't up to it - perhaps chosen by way of dedication to a lost loved one rather than for artistic merit. Either way, they simply aren't saying. To have pulled the album together at all is a considerable achievement and the sentiments really do come through loud and clear. Close your eyes and you are right there in the auditorium. Yet the singing is shaky, the production patchy - and because of its self-indulgent nature, you are forced to keep in mind the reason for the whole project existing in the first place. It's noisy; yes. It is argumentative and rich in sincerity, yes. But in the history lesson annuls of gospel music, this one will fail to register.

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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