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Label: Cathedral Records
Producer: Lari Goss
Websites: [url=http://www.signaturesoundquartet.com]http://www.signaturesoundquartet.com [/url] and  [url=http://www.cathedralrecords.com]http://www.cathedralrecords.com [/url]
Song Titles: "Climbing Up The Mountain," "Great Love," "Will The Lord Be With Me," "This Could Be Dawning Of That Day," "Even Now," "Down In My Soul," "You Better Pray," "What A Way To Go," "I Can Never Out Give The Lord," "When He Comes Again," and "We Will Remember You"

Great Love sets a high standard of vocal performance, musicianship, arrangements, and song selection.

Signature Sound Quartet offers a variety of styles on  Great Love drawing from brand new material as well as older tunes. The guiding hand of Lari Goss gives Great Love a unified sound. Goss actually had a three fold role of involvement. He produced, arranged/orchestrated, and played keyboards.

A few tracks tip their hat to the big band/pop influences of the 1940s. The title song "Great Love" moves slowly with plenty of thick blending vocal harmonies. The intro to "I Can Never Out Give The Lord" gets an element of brass swing. The brief nostalgic closer "We Will Remember You" has sweeping strings for accompaniment.

There's plenty of fun on Great Love as well. The opening track ("Climbing Up The Mountain") has a rhythmic harmonica along with percussion driving the beat that would play well on Southern Gospel radio. If you enjoyed bass singer Tim Duncan  singing "Stand By Me" on the first SSQ CD, you should also like "You Better Pray," a tune written by George Younce . "Will The Lord Be With Me" gives every singer a chance to shine, while "Down In My Soul" gets more of a "convention song" treatment. "What A Way To Go" begins with a light pop sound then morphs thru several musical feels . . . an interesting little journey.

A third song form found on Great Love is the inspirational anthem. A classic Gaither tune written in 1971 ("This Could Be The Dawning Of That Day") gets a lush orchestration that builds to a dramatic climax. "When He Comes Again" has a similar timeless treatment. "Even Now" offers a more modern ballad arrangement with electric guitar filling in between vocals and contrasting with piano.

If you want the total package of male quartet singing, Signature Sound Quartet is the way to go. Even though lead singer Ryan Seaton  is new on this recording, SSQ continues to amaze me with their balance . . . no single vocalist dominates their sound, though each is identifiable. The classic touch of Lari Goss has meshed well with the scope of what the singers have to offer, and the song writing comes from some of the very best . . . names like Smith (both Belinda and Sue), Gaither, Lindsey, Griffin, and Peck.

Reader Comments

I didn't really hear that much similarity to the Melody Boys on "Will The Lord Be With Me." Have you compared the two or are you just going on memory?

Ernie Haase sings the "acrobatic" section of this song for SSQ that Jonathan Sawrie sang for MBQ on _Get Happy_. They're in different ranges and at slightly different tempos. Sawrie goes up and holds a "woo" at one point, which Ernie doesn't do. Ernie takes the first "Chilly Jordan" up in pitch while Sawrie doesn't. One extends and/or repeats certain words while the other pushes on thru and vice versa.

Each singer puts their own distinctive mark on the song.

“Always acknowledge a fault. This will throw those in authority off their guard and give you an opportunity to commit more."---Mark Twain

Well it is the same song with a similar feeling arrangement after all, so of course in that respect it sounds similar. They are singing the same words in a similar style . . . but the Sawrie/MBQ version takes more liberties with meter and rhythm in that section of the song, whereas Haase/SSQ sings it more straight thru.

Not to mention, Jonathan Sawrie's singing style is much closer to that of Jake Hess. Ernie Haase sounds nothing like either of those guys to me on this song or any other . . . even if you ignore the obvious differences in vocal tone and just compare the notes themselves. I don't hear it in a general sense, nor in a specific sense, other than, as I said, the fact that they're singing the same words of a similar arrangement.

“Always acknowledge a fault. This will throw those in authority off their guard and give you an opportunity to commit more."---Mark Twain

John, I haven't been in the sun too long, I just like good quartet singing better than you.... :p grin

Deon Unthank
SoGospelNews.com
My Blog

Some people are like Slinkys… Not really good for anything, but they
still bring a smile to your face when you push them down a flight of stairs - Author Unknown

Belinda, your songwriting is always great!

“Always acknowledge a fault. This will throw those in authority off their guard and give you an opportunity to commit more."---Mark Twain

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