In that way, the album could arguably be in the same vein as Johnny Cash's "My Mother's Hymn Book." Bobby McFerrin has self-dubbed Christian faith, and this album is a musical and spiritual journey to the musical spirituals of his heritage (with a few unfortunate theological divergences on the way), and from the lyrics and explanations in the CD jacket, while the stories are personal and inspirational, he has a few other spiritual landmarks of biblical truth to reach. I don't have the space here to elaborate on that.
The main musical difference is that Cash's album, though without a drumset, still delivers the acoustic drive and the deep, warm and dramatic vocal tone that listeners have come to expect from Johnny Cash's work.
The same can't be said for McFerrin's "Spirityouall." Those hoping to be once again joyfully bombarded by multi-layered vocals, harmonies, melody jumps, and voice percussion in acapella works that show off McFerrin's 8-octave range (e.g. "Don't Worry, Be Happy" and "Drive") will be disappointed. We hear some arpeggios on "Grace" and McFerrin explores the upper ranges on occasion throughout the album, but "Spirityouall" features a full set of folk and jazz instruments as well as background vocals. Their interpretations of the ol' time spirituals do often get creative and are always well-executed, but I (and I imagine others, too) were hoping for McFerrin to showcase his vocal talent more often in this album.
Bobby McFerrin is a deep and talented vocalist and musician. While some may dislike portions or aspects of "Spirityouall," it's my hope that his journey to timeless truth continues and again comes to beautiful musical fruition.
No comments:
Post a Comment