Flashback 1997: Brenda Lowe – Waiting (Alpha 7 Ministries)

Brenda Lowe
Waiting
Alpha 7 Ministries 1997
www.alpha7ministries.com

TBGB reviewed Brenda Lowe’s 2002 project, Somebody Somewhere Was Praying for Me, which preceded V.O.W.’s current hit version of the song. But that wasn’t Lowe’s first solo project; in 1997, she released Waiting, also on Minister Randall Ogans’ Alpha 7 Ministries label.

Waiting is a nine-track CD representative of the California Bay Area gospel sound in which Lowe, as a Bay Area resident, is fully immersed. It’s a smooth sanctified vibe fashioned by the Hawkins Family and kept in play by artists such as Bishop Yvette Flunder, Charlene Moore, Gene Viale and the late Danniebelle Hall.

Although released in 1997, Waiting leads with an Eighties vibe, electronic rhythms and synth flowing through the first couple of tracks, although by the end of the CD, the music leans far more to the traditional side.

“I Give You Jesus” bears the most similarity to “Somebody Somewhere” in its melancholy melody and Lowe’s showtune-like delivery. Equally interesting is Lowe’s work on Deanna Stampley’s “A Man Named Jesus,” which is suffused with old fashioned gospel blues; and “All Things Work Together,” which, like “I Give You Jesus,” benefits from the singer’s impassioned let-it-all-out vocals.

Lowe brings together a number of Bay Area gospel stars for the project, including Ricky Grundy, Elder Debra Henderson and Lynette Hawkins Stephens.

While Somebody Somewhere is the better project of the two, Waiting was an auspicious introduction to the gifted Brenda Lowe for those who didn’t live in the Bay Area and were not already familiar with her artistry.

Two and a Half of Four Stars