Israel Houghton

I thought that I knew what to expect from Israel Houghton.

Boy, was I wrong.

Yes, this is the same Israel Houghton you might know from Israel Houghton and New Breed, but don’t expect an album of energetic, if somewhat generic, ‘praise and worship’ music. With The Power of One, Houghton joins the likes of Kirk Franklin, Tye Tribbett, and Marvin Winans – artists who have deftly stepped outside the box of Contemporary Gospel music – to create a genre-defying solo project that inspires the soul, engages the body and treats the ear to many a musical surprise.

In creating his first solo album Houghton decided to record songs that had no corporate agenda and no worries about whether or not it would fit a particular demographic, or as Houghton himself expressed, “if the church would accept it.” The result is an album rich in influences and styles, yet unified by a rich, solid production job by the increasingly amazing Tommy Sims, who worked wonders on Marvin Winans’ recent Alone But Not Alone CD.

At more than a full hour in length and boasting fourteen songs, Houghton delivers a musical cornucopia including funk, soul, rock, reggae, pop, and contemporary black Gospel in a seamless work with only very occasional missteps.

Houghton is joined on almost every track by co-songwriters (and multi-instrumentalists) Aaron Lindsey and, of course, Tommy Sims. Lindsey’s tasteful keyboard work and Sims’ stunning bass playing are augmented by a plethora of amazing players, including Jerry McPherson and Akil Thompson (son of drummer Chester Thompson) on guitars, and three of the best drummers in the business – Dan Needham, Calvin Rogers, and Lemar Carter. Mary Mary, Martin Smith (Delirious?), reggae vocalist Chevelle Franklin and tobyMac contribute guest vocal spots; although Houghton’s vocal presence is strong throughout the album.

The Power of One starts off with a child’s voice (more about that later) saying, “Hello everyone. My name is Israel Houghton,” followed by a synth intro to a half-minute or so of instrumental jazz fusion which leads into the ‘actual’ first track, “Everywhere That I Go,” a party of a song that combines fairly standard Gospel lyrics with an infectious mix of urban/pop that’s so funky and in-the-pocket that it grabs you immediately. Like much of the rest of the album, this song features thick, funky bass and a strong percussive attack. The aforementioned child’s voice also typifies the project’s primary weakness, which are the occasionally inappropriate (or at least unnecessary) tags or preludes to some tracks.

Israel, Toby, Kirk, and any number of other artists: please, please, please… enough with the use of children speaking or singing on your CDs. Please, no more children’s’ choirs: and, while you’re at it, you don’t need to yell out “Jah-maaay-ca!” every time you do a song with a reggae beat. Trivial complaints, perhaps – but these are becoming clichés on all too many projects that really don’t need to be that cute. We get it; we’ve been there – ‘got the Tee-shirt, don’t even wear it any more.
End of rant.

Minor lapses of taste aside (and – seriously – if I were remixing this, I’d simply edit out those few moments between songs), there are many really fine, strong moments here. “Just Wanna Say,” with a powerful drum and bass foundation, is reminiscent of OutKast’s “Hey Ya” and is an energy-filled dance track. Houghton channels Sly and the Family Stone on “U R Loved,” with some good late-sixties funk and soul. “Saved by Grace” is a tour-de-force that starts innocently enough but turns a corner about three minutes into the track and becomes a Prince-style pop/funk jam: the song does a gospel-style breakdown only to pick up the instrumental riff and party it out for the rest of the seven-minute track.

Houghton didn’t forget the ballads – strong stuff here. “Moving Forward” soars to life on the moving, powerful ‘You make all things new,” refrain. “I Receive” is the closest thing to a Praise and Worship track on the album and “Every Prayer” is everything a ballad ought to be, with Mary Mary providing an excellent guest turn on vocals. Of course the title track, “The Power of One,” is a showpiece, with a Stevie Wonder-like feeling and Johnny Lang-influenced vocals. This powerful, anthemic song even has trace elements of The Beatles here and there. Houghton, in fact, describes himself as “a black kid who grew up in a white family in a Hispanic neighborhood,” and the cross-cultural mix manifests itself throughout this CD: this cultural stew proves tastiest in songs like the Tommy Sims penned “Better to Believe,” which starts out like a Stax/Steve Cropper/Booker T song and ends up sounding like “We Can Work it Out,” if The Beatles were a soul act.

So you want to bang your head? “You Found Me,” featuring guest-rapper tobyMac, just might be the heaviest ‘Gospel’ song you’ve ever heard, with an amazingly heavy riff and a smart, tuff arrangement – yes, you will be head-banging before it’s over.

For the most part, this is a project that transcends the boundaries of the most obvious genres that it should belong to. The strong moments are many – not the least of which is the extra six minutes of the Prince-like “Saved by Grace” that sneaks up on you as an extra treat at the end (the drumming is literally off the charts – nobody would write a chart like this!). Israel Houghton will surprise a lot of people with The Power of One, and those who were expecting another ‘praise and worship’ project just might have to re-examine their pre-conceived expectations – maybe it’s time to get out of that particular box.

Tagged as: Israel Houghton, The Power of One

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