Soul Seekers – Soul Seekers II

Soul Seekers
Soul Seekers II
My Block Records/Malaco Music Group/Sovereign (2010)
http://www.thesoulseekersmusic.com/

The eight men who comprise the all-star collective the Soul Seekers are individually talented and award-winning artists in their own right, but as a group they are unstoppable.

Their sophomore CD, the aptly-titled Soul Seekers II, was released last month and it is a masterpiece of a quartet album. It contains phenomenal songwriting and arranging, strong singing and expert musicianship. There’s not a weak selection on the ten-track CD, which was produced by group member Warryn Campbell. The album, recorded live, is quality record making; each track complements the next.

From the jangling guitar work on the funky “Holding On” and Mighty Clouds of Joy-like bass runs on the drive-tempo “He Rose,” to the bluesy, Chicago-style arrangement of the old-school “Trouble in My Way,” the album is consistent while providing shades of musical variety at every turn.

The current single is “It’s All God,” featuring Pastor Marvin L. Winans, but other strong tracks on SS II include “Come On Jesus” and “Take Your Burdens.” “Come On Jesus” sounds like an early 1960s quartet outing dressed up for the new millennium. Similarly, “Take Your Burdens” features tight, exquisite and soulful harmonies sung to a solitary electric guitar accompaniment until halfway through, when bass, drums and a warbling B3 enter the picture. By bringing back the electric 1960s proto-soul sound on these two tracks, the Soul Seekers sound more traditional than many traditional groups on the gospel highway these days.

Teddy Campbell, Warryn Campbell, Nisan Stewart, John “Jubu” Smith, Gerald Haddon, Charlie Bereal, Craig Brockman and Eric Seats are to be complemented for making an album that is exciting and worth listening to again and again. Hands down, it is one of the year’s best gospel projects.

Five of Five Stars

Picks: “It’s All God,” “Come On Jesus,” “Take Your Burdens.”