It's About Time! Chrissy Faith is Spectacular!
It's About Time! Chrissy Faith is Spectacular!
Chrissy
Faith’s current CD, which arrived in the mail recently was accompanied by a
handwritten note that referred to her album
It’s About
Time! as being eclectic and it certainly
is, for it touches on almost as many musical grooves, moves and vibes as her
music career. We have not possibly got time to do justice to Chrissy Faith’s
extensive and astounding career, but allow us to give you just a sampling of the
people with whom she has toured and recorded. Chrissy Faith’s concerts and tours
include, Patti Austin, Sheena Easton, Al Jarreau, Robert Plant, Paul Simon, Neil
Diamond, and Lou Reed. Can we stop now? She also served as a lead singer in one
of the new configurations of the Mamas & Papas. Ms. Faith has appeared on the
recordings of the Brecker Brothers, Leonard Cohen, Celine Dion, Connie Francis,
Cyndi Lauper, Billy Ocean, Neil Sedaka, Todd Rundgren, David Sanborn and many
others.
While all of the ten songs on
It’s
About Time! are well worth listening to,
the two that really perked up our ears are two of the six songs that Ms. Faith
wrote, the title song and “The Journey.” The arrangements for “The Journey,” are
lush, Ramsey
Embick’s
guiro and Leo Traversa’s bass guide us on our
first few steps of this journey and Eddie Martinez’s guitar work invites hips to
sway and heads to bob. Jeff Young’s Hammond B3 adds texture and Patrick Lamb’s
solo is incredible. Ms. Faith’s poetic lyrics should be mandatory reading in
English Literature classes, as she has a gift for imagery that sparks the
imagination. “The Journey,” is a beautiful love letter in which the singer –
songwriter says to her beloved, it is not about where we are headed, as much as
it is about our journey together. Chrissy Faith’s vocals are imbued with warmth
and sincerity and one wonders if the song may have been inspired by her love for
her husband Greg Hopkins whom she married in January of 2009.
The song “It’s About Time,”
that introduces the album is a blend of R&B and powerful soulful vocals, backed
by Eddie Martinez’s Carlos Santana like guitar licks. The killer combination of
Chrissy Faith and Eddie Martinez convey to the listener that they are about to
experience a special album, by a wonderful singer who as surrounded herself with
incredible musicians. For his part, it is easy to see and to hear why, Mr.
Martinez has an impressive resume that includes, David Lee Roth, Robert Palmer
(“Simply Irresistible”), Meat Loaf (Bat
Out Of Hell II: Back into Hell), Blondie’s
Farewell in Concert in 1982 at Toronto, Canada and Mick Jagger at the 1985 Live
Aid concert.
Enchanting, romantic and
longing, are words that one might use to describe “Blue Perfume,” another
original song from Chrissy Faith, as the lyrics and her phrasing paint vivid
word pictures of a woman, lying in bed, turning her face to her lover’s pillow,
as she hears the door close, with his scent still in her bed and blue perfume
hanging in the air. She desires to recreate or to perhaps hold onto those
timeless moments and yet the opening line “She
wakens to a closing door – the echo shakes her to the core,”
suggests her lover will not soon return, if ever. To say that Chrissy Faith’s
vocal range is impressive would be an enormous understatement and her ability to
hold a note is astounding, as witnessed for five or six seconds, approaching the
three minute mark of “Blue Perfume.”
For the middle tracks on her album, Chrissy Faith
selected The Four Tops’ hit song “Reach Out, I’ll Be There,” written by the
Motown songwriting team of Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Edward Holland, Jr.,
a Ray Charles / Rick Ward song “Light Out Of Darkness,” and Brian Auger’s
“Happiness (Is Just Around The Bend). Having grown up within a few hours of
Detroit and being nurtured on the sounds of Motown, it takes a lot for this
writer to nod his head in approval whenever a Motown hit is covered, but Chrissy
Faith’s spectacular vocal performance is filled with passion and soul, while her
energy and the masterful job of mixing and producing this song leave the
listener feeling that you are at a live concert. You will not remain sitting,
unless you are in your car, when you are listening to Ms. Faith sing this song,
because her performance invites you to get up and dance.
Earlier on the album Chrissy Faith’s voice soared and
with “Light Out Of Darkness,” she used the lower tones in her vocal registry,
while she is accompanied elegantly on keys by Ramsey Embick. The song speaks to
the themes of love, light and wellbeing.
If you enjoy the sound of
tablas you will enjoy Benjy Wertheimer’s percussion on the subtle environmental
missive “In The Water,” crafted by Chrissy Faith. If you listen carefully to
Chrissy Faith’s lyrics the message is clear act now to protect our water supply
and yet the genius of this song is it does not come off like an activist tune.
We like the groove that this song possesses and it is one of those songs that
invite you to dance. Chrissy Faith recorded her own background vocals and call
and response and there are some pretty funky sounding droplets of water
providing the background. Ms. Faith growls out “Down,
Down, Deep Down / Don’t let our dreams drown,”
and the music blurs the lines between Blues, Jazz and Soul.
Leo Traversa builds a solid bass foundation for another
Chrissy Faith original song “Keep The Fire,” and Jeff Young delivers a hot organ
solo during Ms. Faith’s “Free.” The album closes with a cover of Sean Young’s
“Darkness, Darkness,” and once again Chrissy Faith demonstrates her vocal
versatility with deeper tonality.
In brief Chrissy Faith’s
album
It’s About Time! Is comprised of ten
superbly crafted songs on which Ms. Faith delivers the goods time and time
again. The album however is not just about the singer, as she is complimented
well, by some equally gifted musicians and Ramsey Embick’s ears as the engineer,
as well as mixing and mastering the album that he co-produced with Chrissy
Faith, make this an exquisite musical experience.
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