Producer: Nick Bruno
Label: Song Garden
Song Titles: “Frontline,” “All At Once,” “Wilt Thou Be Made Whole,” “Wilt Thou Be Made Whole,” “Long As I Got King Jesus,” “Was It Worth It All,” “Revival Came,” “I’ll See You Again,” “My God Still Moves,” “Wounded Soldier,” and “The Sparrow”
As one who frequently finds myself nodding in agreement when Nick Bruno writes an article about the state of the Southern Gospel industry, I was surprised to see that he produced All At Once by Max Murphy And Tru Anointing . Granted, this project is a couple of years old now, but it just didn’t strike me as the type of project that would have Bruno’s name and label on it.
The quality is inconsistent on this CD; at times it’s good, and at other times not as good. Max Murphy is the female lead singer on eight of the ten songs. She also wrote four of them. On songs like “Long As I Got King Jesus,” she rises to an energetic level that could be compared to Chris Freeman . In contrast, the title song is plagued by a lifeless accompaniment that doesn’t sit well with Murphy’s vocal style. You have to understand that Murphy is a country stylist with broad diction. She has a very distinctive style that fans will either immediately love or dismiss. (Think of Reba McEntire or the aforementioned Freeman.) The issue with this project is not about Murphy’s voice, though. There’s just a general lack of matching songs and accompaniment style to the singer. Some, like “Wounded Soldiers,” work quite well. Others, like “Frontline,” don’t.
Also, one of the male members of Tru Anointing takes the lead vocal on “Wilt Thou Be Made Whole” and “My God Still Moves.” He has minor pitch issues and major diction issues. ‘Nuff said there. After one listen, my first impulse was to rate this project at 2 1/2 stars. After going back and listening a few more times, though (particularly to the two final numbers), I felt 3 Stars would be a more objective overall rating. “Wounded Soldier” is a song where the lyrics, accompaniment and the vocal just seem to click. Also, the accompaniment for “The Sparrow” is perfectly suited to Murphy’s vocals, even though it’s a slower number. It’s a very nicely written song to boot.
This isn’t going to be a CD for all Southern Gospel fans or even for all Country music fans. However, fans who like expressive female leads should be attracted to Max Murphy and Tru Anointing.
Author: David Bruce Murray
| Author's Website: http://www.musicscribe.com
Written: 03/31/2005
| 
Category: ReviewsCD Reviews
Comments: 8
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I totally agree with this review. After listening to this CD it'll never be in my CD player again. The song "Revival Came" was the worst song on this CD. Also, I'm very surpised that Nick Bruno even let the male member of this group sing on this CD at all.
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. We may all not like the same types of music, but it takes courage and it takes alot of work to get up and sing in front of people. I always heard if you dont have anything nice to say not to say it at all. So lets just pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ.
I am sorry if I offended you in any way by giving my honest opinion, but that is what this website is for. I agreed with the original review so I don't think I was out of line. If the artist did not want honest feedback they should not have submitted their cd for review. I again apologize for any offense on my part but I was just being truthful about this cd. Thanks for your reply.
Hi,
After reading your comments about this group it was apparent to me while you were dogging them that you appear to have some type of grudge.
I don't know if it is the group or the Producer, but how inappropriate.
No gospel group deserves to be tore down like this and it makes me wonder now if you even know what you are talking about.
lovemusic
Once again I will just say again that this webpage is for honest reviews. If the group did not want to be reviewed honestly the cd should not have been submitted. As for the comment that I have a grudge against the group or producer I don't even know these people so that was inappropriate.
In all fairness to Nick Bruno, I do know that he produced this project as a favor to the group. What Nick did does not compromise what he writes about here. If someone comes to him and says we have the money to make a CD, we are going to make a CD, and we would like you Mr. Bruno to produce it for us. If you don't so it, we'll find someone who will. That is very similar to what really happened in this situation. Was he to say "No, go to some charlatan who will scalp you of your hard earned money, because you don't come up to the standard of groups that I record". No, Nick produced this CD for Max and her group, giving them as good a product as they could get. He discouraged them NOT to promote anything on this CD to radio. Nick did them a good service for a fair price, and there was nothing unethical about what he did.
Deon,
This project failed to represent some of the technical qualities Bruno promotes on a regular basis. That's why I said it surprised me to see him listed as the producer. I never suggested Bruno was unethical to produce this CD. I sure hope nobody else took it that way, but hopefully it's clear now if they did.
Phillip,
Were you addressing singer77 or me when you said there was an obvious grudge? I have no grudges against this group or the producer. I'd never heard of the group previously and I've always admired Nick Bruno's contributions to the industry, particularly his column which is posted here monthly.
This review is not an attempt to "dog" the group, nor does it mean I lack musical knowledge. Quite the contrary, in fact. A less knowledgable person would lack the skill to concisely tell you WHY they rated it as they did.
In fact, I received a very nice email from Max Murphy about this review today. She would have preferred not to have submitted the CD for review, but did so at the prompting of a relative. Even so, she said she appreciated the constructive criticism I made . . . even the negative remarks. Now that is the type of email that you don't get from artists every day. It ranks a lot higher than one I got from an artist that implied I was going to burn in hell for rating his CD low!
Max also shared the background of what led her to make this recording. She lost her son in a car accident involving a drunk driver, which led to writing a song, which in turn led to the recording of this CD.
I wrote her back assuring her that the review is not an attempt to say whether or not a person is worthy to make a CD, and it's not a judgment of whether or not the CD can be used to bless people. Clearly, she felt led by the Lord to record this CD and the Holy Spirit can use it to bless people despite any technical faults. All this review (or any review I write) does is show how the CD compares in terms of TECHNICAL quality to other recordings. It's not a judgment of ministry value or potential.
I am a friend of Max's and I like a lot of the songs on the CD. The facts are that we should uplift those who are willing to go out into the world and lift up the name of Christ in song. Leave the battering to those who don't know Christ.
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