The reviewer at the Gospel Music Times has qualifications few can match. He spent 10+ years traveling as a musician. After coming off the road our reviewer has served as a Session Musician, Studio General Manager, Producer & Engineer. After leaving the studio and control room, our reviewer then went into administration serving artists in marketing.
Project Name: Music To Live For
Artist: Gold Harbor
Website Price: $15.00
Artist Information:
It's not often you have a performing group
that sings country, contemporary ,praise & worship, bluegrass and
southern gospel, all wrapped in to 4 guy's who are determined to spread
god's good, great news. We pray that you come and hear us and will be
blessed. We have a new CD Called "MUSIC TO LIVE FOR" Our smooth
tenor known as the professor of gospel music is-Jim Peretic " A Super
Tenor" He has been in contemporary music for years and an
undiscovered crown jewel in the industry. Our lead singer is Mr. Figit,
who also is our manager and mc . His name is JR Richards a 42 year
veteran. He also sings baritone when the arrangement calls for it. He
produces all our songs on the Nazareth Label . Scotty Aldridge is Mr.
Cool, a 30 year old Mega Talent that sings lead and baritone. He is one
cool dude. He can sing so many styles of music naturally that it gives us
at least four different sounds as a group. Last but certainly not least is
Steve McGregory, known as Grandpa Steve and Ole' Hot Licks. He plays 10
different instruments, so you never know what he will surprise you with on
stage.
Project Overview: To
be honest, when I opened this CD, I took a second look into the package to
see if the "real" CD was somewhere else in the package. The
first thing I notice is the cover, it's very hard to read and whatever
effect the group was going for with the cover design, it missed the
mark. In addition to the really bad cover design, the project did
not have any shrink wrap, leading me to believe this project was a
"home made" CD. The back cover of the CD as well as
the printing on the CD itself all looked as bad as the cover. I
sincerely hope the group just ran out and sent this one to us here, I hope
this isn't what the group is attempting to sell on the road. I
assure the group, sales will go up with an attractive cover and CD
design. In addition it is almost impossible to read the song names
and no where did I see any contact information for the group.
The talent of Gold Harbor is very evident on this project, however what this project needed was a good engineer and a good producer. There are spots in this project where the volume on one song changes in the middle of the song. You shouldn't have to "ride" the volume button on your CD player to enjoy a song. A good producer would have been worth a mint on this project. The artist needed someone to tell them when they were going flat or when an ending needed to be changed or just left off entirely. Luckily there is no indication on the CD where it was recorded so I don't have to pass that information along to you.
My favorite on the project is Child Of The King. This song was very well done and I really liked the arrangement on this song. Another song that was a hit with me was, the old standard, Beulah Land. Again, this song had a good arrangement and was very well done. I was really liking the "Old Time Medley" until it got to the ending and unfortunately the ending ruined the entire song for me. So many of the other songs could have been very well done if only a producer or engineer had done their job.
Everything Else:
I actually got angry
while listening to this project. Angry that some studio somewhere
would take this much talent and let a recording like this out the
door. Sometimes it amazes me the amount of mistakes some studios let
go instead of taking the time to fix them. I hope this artist will
let me know what studio recorded this project so I can file that away in
the back of my mind for when someone calls looking for a recommendation.
In Closing:
I feel comfortable in
recommending that you take the first opportunity you have to hear this
group live in concert. But until I can hear a recording that a
studio takes the time to do correctly I cannot recommend the
project. I'm sorry, but an artist's recording can only be as good as
the studio, engineer and/or producer working on the project.
My Rating Out Of A Possible 5 Diamonds:
Project Name:
Father Thank You
Artist: Joe Tomlinson
Website Price: $15.00
Artist Information:
In 1967, at the age of twelve,
Joe accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior. In 1971 he
received his first guitar and began to play and sing Christ centered
music. Since that time, God has impressed upon him to write, sing and
record music that….1st - bring honor and glory to our Lord! 2nd -
causes the unsaved to come to know Christ as personal Lord and Savior! 3rd
- enriches the church and brings them to a higher place of praise!
Joe has been married to his wife Cindy since 1979 and they have two sons that are also involved in music and ministry. They attend Calvary Full Gospel Church in Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania, pastored by Revered David Farina, where Joe is involved with television and music ministries and outreach. Joe’s mission and vision is to share the gospel, in music, to the unsaved so that they may come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ; to fellow believers, that they grow to know our Lord in a greater way than ever before and to honor God in all things. Joe knows that God has called him to only write music that glorifies, honors and brings praise to our Lord and bring ministry to those who are in need of a special touch from God.
Project Overview: Like a lot of projects I get to review, I must confess I had never heard of Joe Tomlinson. While listening to this project, I kept hearing a lot of Governor Jimmie Davis' influence in the style of Joe's singing. Joe has that ole time vocal soloist style down to an art and does it very well. You will also find there is a good bit of Joe's songwriting on this project and most of it is very well done. The song "It's Me Again Lord" co-written by Joe, had some phrases repeated too much for my tastes with the same words being used over and over again in the song.
"Because He
Loved Me" is a very catchy tune written by Joe. You could
almost see Johnny Cash singing this song and enjoying every second of
it. "The One I Adore" is another song written by
Joe. This is a very good song, but is not the style for Joe to
sing. When Joe goes into Amazing Grace, listen for the Elvis Presley
style coming through in a big way.
Everything Else:
The studio did a good job on this project. Some of the keyboard
arrangements and background vocals are outstanding. I'm not sure
where this project was recorded but someone did a good job of mixing and
mastering this one.
In Closing:
If you are a fan of the "old style" singing or a fan of Governor
Jimmie Davis you will no doubt enjoy this project. For a regional
artist, this is a very good project.
My Rating Out Of A Possible 5 Diamonds:
