Endurance – I’ve Got a Home (SCCME Records 2008)

Endurance
I’ve Got a Home
SCCME Records 2008
www.musicbyendurance.com

“I’m talking about foot tappin’, hip smackin’, good old fashioned church!”

This line, from Endurance’s uptempo workout “Old Fashioned Church,” could well be the group’s personal motto. The Stellar-nominated three-man quartet from Houston provides listeners with plenty of opportunities to tap feet and smack hips on I’ve Got a Home.

“We Don’t Have Church” echoes the sentiments of “Old Fashioned Church” by lamenting that the worship service used to be an all-day Sunday event, but today “church begins at eleven o’clock and ends at twelve o’clock” (sounds like the Catholic Mass!).

An unintentionally relevant moment appears on “Wait on the Lord,” when a man is told by his bank that he will have to wait on his loan. Gee, I wonder why…

The album’s hit is the title track, a driver that features a quintessential quartet backbeat and colorful guitar riffs from Nathaniel (Big Tye) Thomas that pay homage to the Dixie Hummingbirds’ Howard Carroll, a quartet guitar pioneer and innovator.

Prathan “Spanky” Williams does a superb job as producer, striking an ideal balance between musicians and vocalists so listeners can appreciate the message as well as enjoy the music. Williams himself wrote most of the songs on I’ve Got a Home, provides some of the back-office musicianship, and even handles the cover design. A busy guy, to say the least.

Three of the thirteen tracks on I’ve Got a Home are musical soundtracks to songs featured on the CD. While I understand why groups do this, I would have preferred to hear three more original songs by Endurance instead, and let those who need the soundtrack buy one separately. The lyrics aren’t in the liner notes anyway, so a separate soundtrack CD is a better idea for quartets interested in covering these songs.

Endurance is Claude Cummings, Earl Sampson and Mike Robertson. They may not have walked away with the Stellar this year, but look for great things from this quartet in the future. They have an energy, an “endurance,” that struts right out of the speakers and into your heart and soul.

Three and a Half of Four Stars