CoCo Brother Presents Gospel Mix Volume V

Various Artists

CoCo Brother presents Gospel Mix Volume V
Blacksmoke Music Worldwide (2011)
www.mrkerrydouglas.com

By Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel Blog.

CoCo Brother Presents Gospel Mix Volume V is the latest in Kerry Douglas’s mixtape series that is essentially his company’s version of WOW Gospel. Two CDs containing a total of 28 tracks represent some of the best of Douglas’s Blacksmoke Music Worldwide label. And in the spirit of the other four volumes, Volume V introduces the listener to several emerging gospel artists.

Let’s talk about the headliners first. Blacksmoke has signed some of the top male vocalists of today. As of this writing, two tracks on Gospel Mix Volume V are in the top fifteen of Billboard’s Top Gospel Singles chart. Earnest Pugh’s “I Need Your Glory” holds the number one spot and “One More Time” by Zacardi Cortez featuring John P. Kee is number fourteen.

Former smashes on the set include James Fortune’s “I Believe” and “I Trust You,” and Earnest Pugh’s “Rain On Us.” Pugh is part of a crooning tradition that goes back to Robert Anderson while Cortez and Fortune are far grittier singers. Fortune’s emotionally-soaked deliveries in particular are so rough they leave the listener’s throat feeling raw.

I especially enjoyed the set’s quartet samplings, in particular Darrell McFadden and the Disciples’ “On My Journey.” The quartet sings about making Heaven their home to a steady beat propelled by a “soul clap” and a funky rhythm section. What better way to enter Heaven, I ask you, than with a funky rhythm section?

Most of the new artist spotlights are quite good, and special nods go to the women. Shea Taylor’s fiery “At the Altar” is a passionate hymn-like piece that interpolates “Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior” for added authenticity. “More than Faithful” by the warm-voiced Tamika Patton is a lovingly-rendered contemporary ballad. The real firecrackers on the collection are the women of 4 Love, who tear into the traditional “I Got a Feeling” with church-wrecking intensity.

The volume’s MC, gospel announcer Corey “CoCo Brother” Condrey, digs his teeth into the rocking call-and-response “What’cha Know about Jesus.” And Bryan Wilson’s voice is clearly maturing into a lovely instrument, as demonstrated on his “Expect You Now.”

With such talent collected in one place, CoCo Brother Presents Gospel Mix Volume V can’t go wrong. It is an electrifying ride through today’s gospel music landscape.

Four of Five Stars

Picks: “On My Journey,” “I Got a Feeling”