J MossV4…The Other Side
Verity Records (available July 31, 2012)
By Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel Blog.
Like a gospel music version of The Truman Show, we have had front row seats to hear gospel artist J Moss, son of Essie and the late Bill Moss, grow up on record.
From the Bilesse single, “Great God Almighty,” recorded when “Jimmy” was in elementary school, to the Moss Brothers, his solo outing on The J Moss Project, V2—a masterpiece of praise party swag—and the more contemplative Just James, J Moss’s emergence as a person and artist has had its own soundtrack.
On July 31, gospel enthusiasts will hear V4…The Other Side, which finds J Moss the singer a more prominent figure than J Moss the PAJAM electronic musician. To be sure, PAJAM is ever-present on the album, though dampened on anguished ballads such as “Take Me” and “Strong Enough,” on which J Moss shares his internal struggles in honest musical conversations with God. “I want to spread my wings but I worry about what other people think,” he pleads on “Strong Enough,” echoing what is no doubt on the mind of 99 percent of his listeners.
On “Good and Bad,” one hears the sounds of cleansing water as J Moss thanks God, who “loved me through my good and my bad.” The artist explained the thinking behind this song, which is also the album’s current radio single: “The mindset of hopelessness that is so prevalent today was the inspiration behind this song. People think God and church no longer care. ‘Jesus ain’t thinkin’ about me.’ I got tired of reading that on Facebook and seeing it in faces of the people all around me. People just want to give up. The Lord gave me that song to give people hope in time of storm.’”
Still, I find myself drawn to J Moss’s high energy pieces, which on V4…The Other Side include the opening “God’s Got It,” “Keep Your Head Up,” “Shout,” a club mix of “Good and Bad,” and the album’s finest cut, “The Prayers.” Accompanied by Hezekiah Walker and Clark Sister Dorinda Clark-Cole, J Moss pays tribute to his Pentecostal roots with an infectiously head-bobbing, hand-clapping, light-hearted song about unselfish prayer in a selfish world.
Additional guest artists on V4…The Other Side include cousins Kierra Sheard and Karen Clark Sheard, who assist on the upbeat “Good Day;” and James Fortune, who offers his trademark spoken interjections on “You Did.”
“The Other Side of Victory” is an emotional ballad that articulates J Moss’s thoughts about being on the other, perhaps more complex, side of the river of adversity. The artist explained: “We have to know how to behave as stronger, wiser, better people in Christ, and we have to thank God for getting us through.”
Wiser and stronger are good adjectives to describe V4…The Other Side.
Four of Five Stars
Picks: “God’s Got It,” The Prayers.”
Written by : Bob Marovich
Bob Marovich is a gospel music historian, author, and radio host. Founder of Journal of Gospel Music blog (formally The Black Gospel Blog) and producer of the Gospel Memories Radio Show.
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