Label: Daywind Records
Producers: Otis Forrest and Jeff Stice
Website: http://www.integrityquartet.com or http://www.daywindrecords.com
Song Titles: "When The Lord Saved Me," "Home Free," "Down Every Road," "A Little Bit-O-Heaven," "Terrible Time Down There," "If Not For The Love Of Christ," "Only The Strong Will Survive," "God's Been Very, Very Good To Me," "An Old Story In A Brand New Song," "Joshua Fit The Battle Of Jericho," "He's Worthy," and "The First Time I Saw Love"
Integrity Quartet 's Home Free has so much going for it, I think I'll share a sentence or two about each song.
"When The Lord Saved Me" has a great live feel. The guys cut loose near the end and step the energy up an extra notch, just as you'd expect them to do in a concert setting.
"Home Free" begins with a lush orchestra and you can literally feel the cellos purring. David Sutton is featured on this inspirational ballad with the Nashville String Machine doing what they do best.
We get to hear a little Lousiana fiddle on "Down Every Road." Some nice Country guitar and piano licks complete the arrangement.
It's back to Sutton and the orchestra for "A Little Bit-O-Heaven," a mid-tempo jazz number. Producer/keyboardist Jeff Stice has a classy piano solo in the middle of this tune.
Class and polish turn to chaos as "Terrible Time Down There" explores the flip side of "Wonderful Time Up There" (aka "Gospel Boogie"). This arrangement is over the top in a fun way . . . chords going every direction at once, Eric Bennett singing the boogie bass line in a minor key, and baritone Scott Inman doing his best Jake Hess impersonation.
"If Not For The Love Of Christ" sounds like an Oak Ridge Boys song. Oh yeah . . . it IS an ORB song (see From The Heart ). It's a great lyric, and Integrity puts their own fingerprint on it.
Scott Inman wrote "Only The Strong Will Survive." This tune is the first of three that have prominent brass featured in the accompaniment. By "prominent," I mean blistering trumpets at the top of their range and a squealing note holding over the final chord of the tune.
"God's Been Very, Very Good To Me" is the second brassy number. Sutton is featured on this tune.
"An Old Story In A Brand New Song" gives contrast in the midst of the brass tunes. It's relatively easy going, providing a showcase for an expressive Eric Bennett solo on the first verse and a growing energy as the song progresses.
Stice takes center stage for an instrumental feature on "Joshua Fit The Battle Of Jericho," an arrangement he has recorded previously. The extra budget for the orchestra makes this new version more dynamic. Also, those hot trumpets are back!
"He's Worthy" is a mid-tempo praise lyric. The baroque trumpet is a nice touch in the "Hallelujah Chorus" quotes near the end of this song.
"The First Time I Saw Love" is a touching solo by Eric Bennett with strings for support. Again, you can hear the little nuances in the strings that usually get swallowed in a mass of artificial reverb. Thank you for keeping it real, Tommy Cooper (sound engineer and audio editor). Bennett gets to demonstrate his flexible upper vocal range as this song reaches the climax. It's a great reflective song to end an otherwise highly energetic recording.
If I seem impressed by this project, you're understanding exactly what I'm trying to say. When December rolls around, I suspect I'll look back and call Home Free my favorite quartet recording of the year. Anything can happen between now and then of course, but the standard has been set high. Wow!
Author: David Bruce Murray
| Author's Website: http://www.musicscribe.com
Written: 06/15/2004
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Category: CD Reviews
Comments: 11
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Good review David. I can't wait to hear it. I heard the clips on daywind.com and they were great. I love Integrity. They are great in concert too. I think this is one of the most underated quartets out there.
This recording contains one of my all time favorite Statesmen songs, “Everybody’s Gonna Have a Terrible Time Down There.” I love to listen to this song. It features some neat chord structures. It’s the best on the whole recording. I hope they single it!
There are some interesting orchestrations on this recording. Some I think may have been slightly overdone, but it’s still a great recording.
I was surprised at their arrangement of “The First Time I Saw Love”. I still much prefer the Greenes version from their “Whosoever Believes” that features Taranda.
Overall, the CD is very good and pretty impressive. I would have given it 4 ½ stars, but you’ll get no argument from me for your 5 stars David.
James wrote:
<There are some interesting orchestrations on this recording. Some I think may have been slightly overdone>
Yeah, the third time the ultra high trumpet (ms?) hung on for two extra beats at the end of a song, I thought that was a bit much. Once was great. Twice was fine. The third time was overkill . . . but there's so much else that I really liked about this recording, that I couldn't see lowering the rating to 4 1/2 stars.
“Always acknowledge a fault. This will throw those in authority off their guard and give you an opportunity to commit more.”—-Mark Twain
Thanks for the review David.. I have only heard the radio release "DOWN EVERY ROAD".. (added this week at sglive365.com RADIO) I was a little dissapointed.. I am a big fan of Integrity Qt and expected a whole lot more in their first single from DAYWIND. Maybe it will grow on me.. If "Down Every Road" is the low point of the project.. then it's probably pretty good.
I will admit...I am a bit surprised at the choice of a single. I wouldn't call that song the low point, but there certainly are much better songs on the CD. I am sure you will love the CD! I was extremely impressed with it.
I really like "Down Every Road" and think it will sound great on the radio. I was always a big fan of the Oak Ridge Boys during their "Leaving Lousiana In The Broad Daylight" period, and this song has that type of feel.
I suspect they really wanted to push a new song rather than one of the more obvious "radio singles" like "When The Lord Saved Me." When looking at the five songs that are brand new on this CD, "Down Every Road" looks like the best choice to me.
I'd like to see them single one of the songs written by Scott Inman, though.
“Always acknowledge a fault. This will throw those in authority off their guard and give you an opportunity to commit more.”—-Mark Twain
I hope to see them release, "When the Lord Saved Me" and I REALLY hope to see "Terrible Time Down There" released as well. I know it's a novelty tune...with the current #1 being a novelty song, I think in a few months, "Terrible Time" would do very well for the group.
David, I think you hit the nail on the head. This is one of those recordings that I kept listening to over and over again. I would have given this CD 5 stars also.
Deon Unthank
SoGospelNews.com
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This is a very good CD. I say 4 1/2 out of 5 stars just because I have others I like slightly better. I expected "Down Every Road" to be released. It's not the most remarkable song on the CD, but I knew it sounded like something that was meant for radio. I've been curious to what the reaction to "Terrible Time" would be. Looks like people like it. Release it!
I love "Terrible Time Down There" as well. I'm afraid the very "busy" arrangement might not come across with full effect on typical SG AM radio stations, but I'd probably still release it. It's just a very cool song and a great vocal performance by Integrity.
The arrangement is totally different from anything I've heard in SG. The intro has chords going in all directions. One section has the sound of steam pumping off of a train in the background.
“Always acknowledge a fault. This will throw those in authority off their guard and give you an opportunity to commit more.”—-Mark Twain
I want to thank you for the blessing you gave us at Holly Creek Baptist Church on SUNDAY 7/17/04.Thank you for being a part of my Sunday School class.I really enjoyed your singing and I believe you live what you sing.My wife and I look forward coming to hear you sing in person again. We come up to Sieverville several times a year so we have another place we can visit to here God's message in song. Thank you so much for being our guest, you and your families are always welcome.
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