It seems implausible that a bpm count would ever be a factor in gospel music, but that's the feel of this odd collection of Jamaican and Caribbean gospel sides that brings together secular dancehall beats with Sunday morning reverence. Mostly these hybrids just sound like fish flopping out of the water, although
Sanchez's "Across the Bridge" is decidedly uplifting and
Joseph Niles' "When We All Get to Heaven" is so theatrical (at times it almost sounds like a polka gone dancehall) that it works in a perverse, guilty pleasure sort of way. Thankfully there are some fairly straight gospel cuts here, like
George Banton's "Never Grow Old," that don't spend time worrying about musical synthesis and just get down to business. ~ Steve Leggett