forever JONES – Musical Revival

EMI Gospel (2012)

By Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel Blog.

 

On their second full-length CD, forever JONES—the multi-talented seven-member family band and the most attractive gospel group ever—lives life out loud.  Literally.  

Musical Revival is just as tuneful and worship-driven as the group’s debut CD, Get Ready, but more sonically explosive.  The songs have an AC power pop drive that crackles with throbbing electronica and effusive spirit.

The opening selection, “Hallelujah,” is a rhythm and praise song with an anthemic melody.  It sets a smiley tone that the album maintains throughout.  Whether the songs are rock-tinged, as on “Hold Me Still,” or acoustic, such as the love song to Jesus, “Just the Way,” the album is ceaselessly optimistic in sound and lyric.

“Every Moment” is the current single, and it echoes “He Wants It All” in its piano-dominant and new-age simplicity.  Lead vocalist Dominique’ delivers the praise with emotional bursts of volume that evoke Lana Del Rey and Alicia Keys.  Her vocal on the pop radio- and soundtrack-ready “Most of All,” with its prodigal daughter lyric, is so doggone scary good that it is easy to see her doing successful solo work in the future.

The Jones men, who typically hold down the back office musicianship for the ladies up front, take a turn at the mic on “I Know Who I’m Living For” and the album’s bluesiest gospel cut, “Rescue,” which portrays the Lord as a hero, a knight in shining armor saving His people.

The cleverest lyric is the title track, which is a song about a song.  “What would it be like if music could talk?” thought writer D’Jeniele’.  “From there I got the idea for the album title as well as the lyrics to that song.”

Musical Revival is forever JONES doing what they do but in a more extroverted manner.  I’d be surprised if the album doesn’t also make noise on the Christian album charts.  Kudos to Keith Thomas for masterful production.

Picks: “Every Moment,” “Most of All.”