Angie Alan's self-titled debut is a collection of mediocre R&B tunes with paint-by-numbers production and run-of-the-mill Christian lyrics with a very high "J Count" (a CCM industry term that refers to the number of times Jesus is mentioned on an album).
Tim Miner produced the record for Frontline Records, and he seems to have intended to cast
Alan as a female version of
Jon Gibson, the label's resident
Stevie Wonder sound-alike. But
Alan's talents are meager in comparison with
Gibson's. She lacks his raw vocal power, his infectious energy, and his songwriting ability. The songs on
Alan's record are wholly forgettable, and she and her songwriting partners (husband
David Ebensberger,
Miner, and
Cindy Cruise) seem incapable of crafting the sorts of indelible hooks that this genre requires.
Miner attempts to compensate by repeating many of the keyboard gimmicks he used on
Gibson's records and by inserting
Kenny G-esque sax solos by session man
Ron Jones. But the project proves a doomed enterprise from the outset.
Alan's contemporary Christian music career never took off like
Gibson's or
Kathy Troccoli's or even
Kim Boyce's. Her debut spent a few months in the discount racks of Christian bookstores before it disappeared entirely.