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Just As I Am: A Collection of
Hymns Simply put, Tim Kepler can sing. The man’s voice spans an incredible range as he easily slips into and out of falsetto voice and displays so many tonal colors, from soft and breathy all the way up to dynamic and expressive. Perhaps just as amazing is his testimony of turning from a Christian background to follow a life of crime that ultimately earned him a prison sentence, then experiencing the liberating power of God and a chance to use his talent again. He now writes, records and produces music and uses his past experience to minister through song. Tim’s second release, Just As I Am: A Collection of Hymns, is a laid back presentation of 12 classic songs that will soothe the soul and delight the ear. On the record you will find a nice assortment from the hymnals: “Swing Low Sweet Chariot,” “Love Lifted Me,” “Blessed Assurance,” “Just As I Am,” “Have Thine Own Way,” “Old Rugged Cross,” “Tis’ So Sweet,” even the “National Anthem” and more. For the most part, Kepler successfully manages to put his own spin on the songs while keeping them recognizable and true to the original melodies. Rather than being an independent collection of songs, it seems more like a “big picture” where the parts sum together to make a bigger, coherent entity. The entire record seems to just flow together naturally. The music of Just As I Am is top notch and mates well with Kepler’s smooth vocals. Most of the songs are placed on a bed of easy listening grooves, with occasional ventures into funk, which serves to keep the listener’s interest. There are also guest appearances by prominent smooth jazz guitarist Doc Powell and the Edwin Hawkins Seminar Choir. The music, production, and overall presentation here is top notch and flawlessly executed. I am further astounded that Kepler did the producing, engineering, and mixing for this project. What unbelievable talent. I really only have two complaints with Just As I Am. First, in a few rare instances Kepler attempts to stretch the melody to fit the jazzy groove, and it ends up sounding unnatural. On the whole, he manages to be creative while maintaining the essence of the songs, but to this reviewer’s ears, the occasional warp of the melody can leave the listener off balance. The second and final gripe I have with Just As I Am is the Edwin Hawkins Seminar Choir. While talented and everything it is supposed to be, the sound of this choir is totally out of place on this record. The brash, abrupt lines they sing behind Kepler defy the easygoing grooves that have so skillfully defined the sound of this CD, but fortunately that is only a minor point as the choir only appears on a handful of tunes. Overall, Just As I Am is a very soothing, fresh approach to the songs we already know and love. It is worth the price of admission for just the music alone, not to mention Tim Kepler’s stunning vocal talent. This is a very easy record to listen to, and I imagine it could serve well as both listening for pleasure and devotional background.
ninetyandnine.com © 2003, Stephen Bunch --------- Stephen Bunch writes reviews for ninetyandnine.com. |
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