George Sluppick<\/a> \u2013 provides faithful and insistent support that chugs and swings. Will Sexton (originally from Texas but these days a Memphis fixture as well) lends sinewy guitar licks in the restrained yet soulful and note-perfect manner of Steve Cropper. Calvin Barnes\u2019 superb Hammond organ is equally understated.<\/p>\nAnd like the best of classic Memphis-based musical projects, Can\u2019t Turn Me Around<\/i> features some tight horn work: Jim Spake and Art Edmaiston give the project an injection of the kind of brass that helped make Stax and Muscle Shoals productions truly special. And Bruce Watson\u2019s production here demonstrates a deep understanding of the group\u2019s aesthetic.<\/p>\n
But the distinctive musical personality of the North Carolina quartet ensures that all of those Bluff City ingredients don\u2019t overwhelm; the record is Dedicated Men of Zion through and through. Instrumentally, the hypnotic title track is little more than a one-chord vamp. But the vocalists and musicians wring every bit of emotional intensity out of those spare elements, and the result is transcendent. When Sexton peels off a solo, it\u2019s mixed low in the arrangement; it\u2019s clear that the singers are the center of gravity here and throughout the record.<\/p>\n
Set aside the lyrics and \u201cYou Don\u2019t Know\u201d is \u2013 at least at its start \u2013 a down and dirty blues number. But the song shifts quickly into a modern take on traditional African American gospel, redolent of the Dixie Hummingbirds. The group manages it have it both ways, staying true to the musical values of traditional gospel while sounding thoroughly timeless. The music\u2019s appeal is undeniable.<\/p>\n
The devotional, spiritual nature of Can\u2019t Turn Me Around<\/i> shines through on all of its ten tracks. When Dedicated Men of Zion sing a phrase like \u201cGreat God Almighty\u201d on the relentlessly, joyously uptempo \u201cWhen I Look Back,\u201d they mean it literally. But secular-minded listeners may well react to the verve, passion and fervor with which the group serves up these tunes by shouting that same phrase. When the four singers chant the title of the closing number, \u201cWork Until My Days Are Done,\u201d listeners may find themselves hoping that those days are far away in the future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Right out of the gate, the strolling and assertive introduction to \u201cFather, Guide Me, Teach Me\u201d signals that Can\u2019t Turn Me Around is not your typical gospel album. Music lovers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19252,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,49,60,65],"tags":[4273],"class_list":["post-19265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gospel","category-new-release","category-rb","category-review","tag-dedicated-men-of-zion","cat-35-id","cat-49-id","cat-60-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19265"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19265\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20640,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19265\/revisions\/20640"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/dedicated_zion.jpg\")
Right out of the gate, the strolling and assertive introduction to \u201cFather, Guide Me, Teach Me\u201d signals that Can\u2019t Turn Me Around<\/i> is not your typical gospel album. Music lovers raised on a diet of \u201870s arena rock may find that thoughts of Foghat and Bad Co. spring to mind. It\u2019s not until the close harmony response vocals come in that one gets confirmation that indeed, Dedicated Men of Zion have the Lord on their minds.<\/p>\n