Kevin Gray – The Comeback

Kevin Gray
The Comeback
Goldstreet Gospel (2010)
http://www.goldstreetgospel.com/

A sonic blast smacks you in the face, like a bracing wind, in the first seconds of Kevin Gray’s The Comeback, his third and latest project. Sneering guitars, booming bass and roaring drums attack you like Batman, whose dual life as Caped Crusader/Bruce Wayne becomes Gray’s metaphor for the “comeback,” a return from sin to salvation.

The opening salvo sets the tone for much of the rest of the CD. The Comeback is what I call “gospel fusion”: R&B mixed with rock and power pop. It’s rhythmic and vigorous, forever optimistic and relentless, much like the work of J Moss, who Gray lists as among his many influences, and Aaron Sledge, who provides guest vocals on the remix of Gray’s “Nobody Else in My Ear.”

Thematically, the songs, written by Gray in partnership with Jamel Kimbrough and Marqus Curtis, center on a person – presumably Gray but, by extension, anyone – who is given a second chance to turn from sin and do the right thing. The freedom experienced upon salvation could mean a better relationship (“Beautiful”), or as in “Peace Love Joy,” the ability to stop war, poverty, and prejudice between people and nations through the application of love to all things.
The finest moments on The Comeback are the quiet ones, when Gray sings with tempered instrumentation. “There is a God” allows the singer to set loose his estimable voice in praise of a God who cares about everyone and never forgets anyone. Similarly, the calm, beautiful and dramatic “Please Stay” features a cameo appearance by Chicago-born opera star Martin Woods who sings in Italian (when he was in high school, Woods was one of my late wife’s choir students).

Gray’s message is that the road to salvation may not always be smooth; on “Show Me the Way,” he pleads for direction. Still, by believing (“Dream Big”), one can achieve maximum potential.

The Comeback is expansive and richly complex, melodic and appealing.

Four of Five Stars

Picks: “There is A God,” “Please Stay,” “Nobody Else in My Ear.”