Album Review: Fred Hammond – ‘United Tenors: Hammond, Hollister, Roberson, Wilson’
Artist: Fred Hammond
Album: United Tenors: Hammond, Hollister, Roberson, Wilson
Street Date: 3/26/13
Label: RCA Inspiration
iPod Pick: Love You Like That
Y’all know Meastro Fred. If you don’t, he’s a veteran gospel musician who’s been around for a long time (yes as far back as 25 years back); he’s got a great voice and plays the bass guitar really well. Four words: He is a don. But one reality we must come to accept is that great artists don’t produce ‘great’ work always. And sometimes, each body of work means something special and different to the artist who made the work. Listening to the ‘United Tenors’ I must say I find it hard to decipher what this project signifies or better say what milestone it intends to mark in the career journey of Hammond.
On this project, Fred joins with other powerful male vocalists such as Dave Hollister (Yeah cousin to KC and Jojo and former member of the 90’s Blackstreet boys), Eric Roberson (a.ka Erro)and Brian Courtney Wilson (Yes, the one who did the amazing cover of Tommy Simms’ Simply Redeemed’). The opening track ‘Unshakeable’ seemed like something I had to struggle to get through on first listen but breaking through to ‘Love You Like That’ which is fresh musically and really tight in instrumentation was sure worth it.
Though it feels like a little bit of ‘too many’ good stuff and a musical experimentation in gospel, Fred Hammond’s ‘United Tenors’ doesn’t really break any new grounds musically, and lyrically? Maybe on continual listen would you finally get to hear something new that isn’t cliched to the gospel genre.
Fans of Fred Hammond sure want this to add to their collection but for first timers, I would suggest you take a stop at his album ‘Speak Those Things: Pages of Life 3’ or say ‘Purpose by Design’ before delving into this one. That journey would help appreciate this one better.
