As Doug at AVFL mentions in his latest post, a lot of what he and Mickey Gamble, on his Gospeleer blog, have been talking about with regard to the dramatic shift in the music industry and the idea of “tribal” marketing coming to the forefront. There are two sites that I believe are early examples and prototypes of what will become of artist websites. One is The Dills, and the other (and just released to the world) is Lauren Talley’s site.
There is a basic, fundamental difference between these two sites and most other artist websites. This difference is in the personal connection with the audience. Most artist sites are somewhat distanced from the viewer, here is Group X, here are their tour dates, here is a short bio on the members, and oh yeah, buy their stuff in the store. If you look at the Dills site and Lauren Talley’s site, you will see that the approach is much more personal with the fans. The main page of the site is the artist blog where the artist posts thoughts, announcements, whatever they feel like sharing, and the viewer has the opportunity, and is in fact encouraged, to leave comments or questions for the artist. The artist can and will occasionally then respond to the comments or questions left by the fans. The Dills, instead of just putting a link to their twitter pages somewhere on the site, actually have their latest twitter posts showing up on the main page. Yes, the signup for the newsletters are there, but in Talley’s case, the standard offer (as opposed to a special, limited time offer seen elsewhere) is made of a free mp3 download for signing up. The standard website fare is there, tour dates, store, etc., but it all feels like it is coming straight from the artist, not from an impersonal webmaster.
It’s taking what was begun with the Talley Tree-o site that Crossroads did, with the site having great success, and instead of making that an afterthought community site, it’s now the main place to go for all things by the artist. It’s their main web presence…more communication, less presentation. I think these two sites are a great window into what is coming down the road from the industry as a whole.
Gold City has issued a press release that announces the departure of Chris Cooper, however there is no mention of the new tenor as of yet. The full text of the release is available here, but here is the money quote:
Gold City had delayed making an official announcement as they finalized details on additional developments that will be announced soon.
This makes it sound like they are still ironing out the details with a new tenor, though it certainly sounds like the replacement is already known. Brandon mentioned the possible fill-in piano player, but that’s all of the “additional developments” I have heard. I certainly wouldn’t put it past the Rileys to have a few surprises up their sleeves, though. Stay tuned….
Kyle floated this morning, and Brandon confirmed, that Chris Cooper is no longer with Gold City. A press release is apparently imminent to make the news official. Like Brandon, I had heard the rumblings of this for a couple of days, but it is surprising to see it come to fruition. Best wishes to Chris and to Gold City as they search for a new tenor.
With the recent news of Chris West joining up with Ron Blackwood, it appears at this point that Tim Riley is planning on staying at the bass spot for the time being. Let’s hope that this will be the end of the personnel changes for Gold City for a while, goodness knows they need a little stability.
According to this press release on SGN, Adam Harmon is joining the Dove Brothers, replacing the departing Jerry Kelso. Kelso’s departure was announced a few days ago, and now his replacement has been named. Best wishes to Jerry, Adam, and the Dove Brothers. Adam’s first appearance with the group will be on New Year’s Eve.
I’ve noticed in a couple of Facebook posts from SG personalities that the Voices of Lee, who have made numerous appearances on SG projects, are competing on the NBC show Sing Off. I believe that this show is done all acappella. Apparently the Voices of Lee appeared on the show tonight and made it through to the next round. Congratulations to them, and let’s all root for them to win it all!
I was listening to the album Sing Songs to Remember by JD and the Stamps a little while ago, and I noticed a little “oops” in the song “Jesus Is Coming Soon.” On the second verse, Donnie Sumner is singing the pickups on the lead line with the rest of the quartet joinng him on the last couple of words. On the last phrase of the second verse where the quartet comes back together, I think the lyrics were a bit problematic for JD. Donnie sings “Homeward we..” and the quartet joins for “..then shall fly, glory to share.” With JD, if you listen closely, you’ll hear him sing “then shall fly, glrr..rrr…SHARE!” Just something funny I head that I thought I’d share. If you have the album, pull it up and listen.
Since it is the Christmas season, and I previously did a series of Christmas “Hidden Gems”, I thought I’d do a classics corner on a very solid, yet sometimes forgotten Christmas album. Released in 1980 (and re-released in 2000 on CD), this album features the Imperials lineup of Jim Murray, David Will, Russ Taff, and Armond Morales. While by this time the Imperials were firmly entrenched on the forefront of the CCM scene, they still retained a significant following among SG circles as well.
Tracks:
Child Of Love – The album starts off with a “new” Christmas song that gently flows with a bit of a classical feel. Jim Murray sings the verses in a minor key, with a shift to the major key for the chorus and some really nice harmony from the group. The chorus also has more of a “contemporary” ballad feel to it. A very enjoyable opening track that showcases this group’s ability to blend.
It Came Upon A Midnight Clear – Another slow, flowing ballad arrangement on this song that features Jim Murray on the Christmas classic. When the entire group joins, David Will takes over the lead part and Murray jumps to the tenor above him. There’s a nice key change at the end of the first verse that leads to an instrumental break with some beautiful “oohs” from the group that is the Imperials at their vocal best. While still a ballad, the tempo doesn’t drag, but instead moves along at a nice leisurely clip. Some more “oohs” tag the song quite beautifully.
Mary’s Boy Child – David Will steps up to sing this classic tune that includes some female background vocals in addition to the quartet. It’s a bouncy arrangment that features some nice percussion and lets the acoustic guitars drive the verses. It’s a nice arrangement, but as with the others, almost seems too effortless.
Immanuel – This tune starts out with just piano and Russ Taff singing a very slow deliberate verse. The orchestra comes in slowly, then in the middle of the verse tempo speeds up some and the rhythm changes to a more pop based rhythm. The second verse returns to a ballad style and again returns to the pop style in the middle. It’s definitely a much more complex arrangement, and is one of the highlights of the disc. The chorus builds the intensity of the pop style
O Come All Ye Faithful – There isn’t a clear division between this song and “Immanuel”, which makes me think it was originally intended to be a medley. It’s a fairly traditional, straight forward rendition of the first verse and chorus. The chorus is then repeated with the “For He alone is worthy” lyric, and then the pop feel somewhat returns for the power tag led by Russ Taff. Great song, especially considered as a medley.
Christmas Praise – This song was penned by Jim Murray, and returns to the flowing classical feel of the first couple of tracks. The chorus features some smooth swirling harmonies. It’s a very pretty song with some really great lyrics.
Silent Night – The intro to this song features some more breathtaking “oohs” from the group, then Armond Morales comes in for the first verse. Again, this is a fairly traditional rendering that features some nice background vocals behind Armond’s lead. These guys could really sing well. The oohs are repeated after the first verse including a key change with some cascading style harmonies. Russ Taff sings the next verse. The oohs are repeated to tag the song. Again, a very pretty song.
What Child Is This? – The most unique arrangement of this song you will ever hear. It’s given a pop/jazz arrangement and sung very soulfully by Russ Taff. It is almost unrecognizable from the typical variation of “Greensleeves”, but it is also the single best track on the album. The track is basically a Russ Taff solo, but it’s absolutely incredible.
O Little Town Of Bethlehem – David Will comes back to sing this very mellow arrangement of the timeless carol. There is some smooth harmony behind Will’s lead vocal on the first verse, as well as some nice group harmony on the second verse. There’s a brief appearance by a choir on the second verse as well. This one is short and sweet.
O Holy Night – This song again features some female background harmony adding to the quartet with Jim Murray singing this great song. Murray has the classical sounding voice that fits this arrangement perfectly. While it isn’t stratospherically high, Murray’s vocal is outstanding. This is the style song that his voice was made to sing. A great way to end the disc.
Summary: Outside of “Immanuel” and “What Child Is This?”, there aren’t a lot of risks taken in the arrangements on this album, but that isn’t to say the arrangements aren’t solid, nor the disc boring. Quite the opposite, actually, this is a perfect album to play to really get into the Christmas spirit. The vocals are top notch, the harmonies immaculate, and the two aforementioned tracks are placed perfectly to spice up the album. These four guys could really sing well. Russ Taff and Jim Murray both really shine on this disc in particular. If you have the LP or CD, pull it out, give it a spin, and just try not to be swept up in the Christmas spirit by the smooth harmonies of the Imperials in their heyday!
According to David Bruce Murray’s latest blog post, Tony Peace will be joining Southern Sound after the first of the year. Southern Sound is one of the most solid, yet overlooked quartets around. Their lead singer, Ben Harris, is quite active on SG blog sites and message boards. Ben has a great lead voice that is very big and full, which should really fit well against Peace’s fuller sounding baritone. Hopefully Southern Sound can take the transition and get some good momentum going in 2010. Congratulations to both parties, and here’s to a great 2010.
This year, our church has chosen the Christmas Cantata titled Glorious Impossible, based around the GVB song of a few years back. It’s a bit interesting that we’re just now seeing a cantata with that song as the title track, when the song was included a couple of years ago (in a better arrangement too, IMHO) in the cantata Unspeakable Joy, which I believe won a Dove award, and was a VERY good cantata (we did it as well, the year it came out). Glorious Impossible is a pretty solid cantata, but it doesn’t have that one song that just knocks you over. How about the rest of you? Is your church doing a cantata? Are there any standout songs to you? Unspeakable Joy had a couple that came from the SG ranks, the aforementioned “Glorious Impossible”, and a great arrangement of “Come Make A Place In Me”, originally recorded by Ernie Haase and Signature Sound.
Here’s a real jewel from the original Perfect Heart captured in a live concert. I’ve always thought that this group had the best arrangement of “In The Sweet Forever”, and the key change and harmony inversion at the end is incredible. No tracks, no stacks, and no studio overdubs. Just a piano, bass, and 4 voices. This is what an elite quartet is supposed to look and sound like.
Just something funny I head that I thought I’d share. If you have the album, pull it up and listen.
