Eddie James Presents Victory: the Best of Phoenix Mass Choir

Eddie James Presents
Victory: The Best of Phoenix Mass Choir
Eddie James Ministries/Fresh Wine Records 2010
www.ejworship.org

The Phoenix Mass Choir, founded by praise and worship maestro Eddie James, who also serves as the group’s vocalist and principal songwriter, is a big-voiced ensemble that delivers the smooth, rich harmonic sound that has come to define P&W choirs.

The group’s latest release, Victory: The Best of Phoenix Mass Choir, not only includes Israel Houghton on lead guitar, but also showcases James as lead vocalist and a roster of female leads whose voices of varying textures sell the selections.

Victory is titled a “best of” project, but not in the traditional sense, i.e., a collection of previously recorded material. Instead, it is a collection of the choir’s most popular songs in performance. These include “The Battle,” a song reminiscent of, but not the same as, V. Michael McKay’s “The Battle is the Lord’s” and featuring female soloists. “Faith,” a lovely and moving ballad, also benefits from a female lead whose rendition of what is essentially a love song for Jesus has appropriate reverence and emotion.

The talented choir showcases its part singing dexterity during special segments of the title track and “Lord We Praise You.” There are a couple of good hand-clappers on the project, notably “Keep Trusting” and “Lord Have it Your Way.” The latter interpolates the Lord’s Prayer and the main couplet from “Anyway You Bless Me, Lord,” and as such feels like an old school medley.

The Oakwood College Choir joins Phoenix Mass on “When I Think About the Lord” and “God of Wonders.” The former track has that easy praise and worship vibe and melodic hook that work especially well on radio.

Some technical nit-picking: Victory‘s limited liner notes list the names of the musicians and choristers but do not identify the lead singers, most all of whom are superb. The tracks also end abruptly and jarringly rather than fading tactfully or dissolving into the next cut. Nevertheless, the Phoenix Mass Choir is a well-trained, professional-sounding group that can hold its own with the best of ‘em.

Four of Five Stars

gPod Picks: “Keep Trusting,” “When I Think About the Lord.”

Reviewed by Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel Blog.