{"id":21005,"date":"2014-11-03T02:43:14","date_gmt":"2014-11-03T07:43:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/yankeegospelgirl.com\/?p=21005"},"modified":"2014-11-03T02:43:14","modified_gmt":"2014-11-03T07:43:14","slug":"cd-review-stronger-by-taranda-greene","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/youngfogey\/2014\/11\/cd-review-stronger-by-taranda-greene\/","title":{"rendered":"CD Review: Stronger, by Taranda Greene"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

TaRanda Greene - \"Stronger\" PRE-SALE SPECIALAfter signing a batch of family acts, it was natural for fast-growing StowTown Records to add a soloist to their already impressive roster. It\u2019s probably safe to say that they picked out the most naturally gifted\u00a0one\u00a0in southern gospel: Taranda Greene. Her debut album Stronger<\/em>\u00a0plays like a triumphant personal testimony to the griefs she\u2019s experienced and overcome after losing her husband, Tony. She lends her flexible voice to a wide variety of sounds here, with a heavier urban emphasis than one might expect from an SG record. (Translation: White girl got soul!) The result may sometimes veer into over-the-top theatrics, but it\u2019s a solid, entertaining piece of work, arriving just in time to land on everyone\u2019s \u201cBest of 2014\u201d lists.<\/span>
\n<\/p>\n

Likes<\/h2>\n

* \u201cAwake My Soul\u201d is my favorite of the new cuts on here. It was penned by Randy Phillips of Phillips, Craig & Dean. Setting aside for the moment the fact that they\u2019re heretics (I love ya guys, but modalism is totes heresy, sorry), this is a really well-written song, both lyrically and musically.
\n* \u201cShackles (Praise You)\u201d may put off some fans by pulling from pure Christian R & B for this Mary Mary cover. But this fan is grooving right along with that funk!
\n* \u201cDeepest Praise\u201d: This lush piano ballad boasts an exceptionally thoughtful, vulnerable lyric about finding the ability to praise God through brokenness. Obviously, perfectly suited to Taranda. Worship leader Meredith Andrews has a co-credit on the writing. I\u2019ve always thought she was one of the better writers in CCM. Throw in Tony Wood and Ronnie Freeman, and you have a recipe for success.<\/p>\n

Maybe the deepest praise is born of darkest days<\/em>
\nFrom a painful place, a greater depth of grace<\/em>
\nWe come to know and trust the Lord <\/em>
\nIn a way we never have before<\/em>
\nThe rocky road we\u2019re on becomes the way <\/em>
\nTo the deepest praise<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Full lyrics here<\/a>.
\n* I love songs that start in one key, then change key for the chorus. \u201cAll I Need\u201d is an especially lovely example. Very classy and worshipful, though hardly an audience singalong candidate (at least not Taranda\u2019s version!)
\n*There are several smart cover choices here. \u201cIf I Could\u201d is one of them. Through the years, this mother\u2019s prayer standard has been tackled by a parade of divas, from Regina Belle, to Barbara Streisand, to Celine Dion. Production-wise, it\u2019s most similar to the Celine Dion cover. In my humble opinion, Taranda\u2019s version tops them all. It\u2019s the best track I\u2019ve heard, the best vocal I\u2019ve heard\u2026 the best.
\n* \u201cBlue Eyes Crying in the Rain\u201d is one of my favorite classic country songs and easily\u00a0the best overall song on the album. Taranda slows it down for a reflective feel and switches the gender of the original pronoun from \u201cher\u201d to \u201chim.\u201d I would guess it\u2019s dedicated to the memory of her late husband, although the lyric is pretty clearly about a breakup, not a death. The production is kept tastefully simple. Just two acoustic guitars, plus harmony vocals from Sonya Isaacs and Jason Crabb.
\n* William Murphy cover \u201cThe Sound\u201d is an exciting, power-packed\u00a0closer to wake the listener up. The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir is essentially carrying the song behind Taranda while she improvises. Another soloist shares\u00a0the spotlight with her for a verse. I like it when Taranda gets her Whitney Houston on.\u00a0Once\u00a0she locks onto the tune, you\u2019re just along for the ride.<\/p>\n

Dislikes<\/h2>\n

* There\u2019s no question Taranda has a Big voice. You could call her the female David Phelps. Many of these selections\u00a0end by\u00a0highlighting\u00a0her impossible vocal gymnastics,\u00a0knocking glory notes galore out of the park. That\u2019s a lot of fun to listen to, but on some of them, I found myself enjoying it more when she was just singing the melody in a comfortable range, allowing me to focus on the song. Then when the\u00a0arrangement would balloon into yet another Epic Finish, it felt,\u00a0paradoxically, like the impact\u00a0was lost. \u201cBlue Eyes Crying in the Rain\u201d demonstrates\u00a0the opposite of that feel, and I wish this album had more of it.
\n* Opening\u00a0title track \u201cStronger\u201d has an inspirational message, but it doesn\u2019t convey it in a particularly fresh way, with stock sentiments like \u201cIt\u2019s not about how many times you stumble, but how many times ya get back up.\u201d
\n* \u201cA Little More Jesus\u201d is one of those free-wheeling gospel vehicles that fish-tails on the line between \u201cannoyingly repetitive\u201d and kind of cool. Part of me enjoys hearing Taranda breaking out that over-the-top screech, with the piano just riffing along underneath her. But then after the first couple minutes, when I realize that yes, that really is\u00a0all\u00a0<\/em>there is to the melody, my ears are ready to move on to something else. Perhaps this is the point where black gospel and I part ways, with the utmost of respect.
\n* \u201cWhere Amazing Happens\u201d: On this one (contributed by another PCD alumnus, Dan Dean), I have but one comment\u2014\u201cAmazing\u201d is not a noun. Repeat after me, slowly: \u201cAmazing\u201d is not a noun<\/em>. Mind you, I like some of the verses, but they all run into that hook and the fact that \u201camazing\u201d is not a noun. That is all.
\n* \u201cPromise\u201d re-works Jesus\u2019 departing words to his disciples. It\u2019s fine, but am I the only one who finds it odd to hear\u00a0a female singer delivering words in Jesus\u2019 voice?
\nClosing thoughts:\u00a0<\/strong>Taranda\u2019s voice is a supple instrument that can mold itself to many styles and do them all equally well. She can tear the house down one moment and tug at your heart-strings the next. Although\u00a0she is at her very best when singing a simple, pure melody, and although I wish she did a bit more of that on this album, this is solid,\u00a0well-produced music that any fan of popspel (or is it gospop? whatever) should pick up. I think that in terms of vocals and production, it holds its own next to anything the mainstream world can offer in this stylistic vein. That\u2019s a distinction not a whole lot of southern gospel releases can boast, but it\u2019s one more example of how StowTown is paving the way for the future.
\nRating:\u00a0<\/strong>4.5 stars<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After signing a batch of family acts, it was natural for fast-growing StowTown Records to add a soloist to their already impressive roster. It\u2019s probably safe to say that they picked out the most naturally gifted\u00a0one\u00a0in southern gospel: Taranda Greene. Her debut album Stronger\u00a0plays like a triumphant personal testimony to the griefs she\u2019s experienced and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3595,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[205,109],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-4-5-star","category-cd-reviews"],"yoast_head":"\nCD Review: Stronger, by Taranda Greene<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"After signing a batch of family acts, it was natural for fast-growing StowTown Records to add a soloist to their already impressive roster. 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