Artist Name: Mike Upright
Website: N/A
Album Title: “Plain. Simple. Good”
Song Titles:
1. He Is Risen
2. The Only Fire
3. Narrow Minded
4. The Visit
5. I Have Not Forgotten
6. Promised Land
7. When The Sun Comes Up Tomorrow
8. It’s Bound To Be The Lord
9. Too Much Time
10. What A Prayer Can Do
“Plain. Simple. Good.” is the second project from Penrose, NC-based artist Mike Upright. Style-wise, it is very much what the album title proclaims it to be. It is traditional, no-frills, Southern/Country Gospel singing.
The cover of the album depicts an “old-timey” radio, which is very much in keeping with the theme of the album. The inside of the cover contains the production and recording credits, and the back of the cover contains a message about the album from Mike himself. No picture of Mike is found anywhere, and neither are the lyrics to the album’s songs.
Now, let’s take a look at each of those songs.
Starting things off is, if I am correct, the album’s first single. “He Is Risen” is a medium-tempo song that would be perfect to sing around the Easter season. Mike has a baritone voice that is very smooth and easy to listen to. The tempo speeds up just a little bit with the second song, “The Only Fire”. A few of the words on the chorus are kind of hard to understand, but you can figure them out after listening to them a couple of times. Otherwise, this is a very good song.
Song #3 is the first really “upbeat” song you come to. “Narrow-Minded” is one of my favorite songs from this album, both for its arrangement and its message. This is followed by Song #4, a classic “storytelling ballad entitled “The Visit”. The tempo of this song is similar to that of the second song. This leads into the medium-tempo song, “I Have Not Forgotten”, another of my favorites from this album.
The sixth song is called “Promised Land”. The tempo remains pretty much the same as the previous songs, and the arrangement has slightly more of a bluegrass feel than the previous songs. This is followed by Song #7, the slightly slower “When The Sun Comes Up Tomorrow”. This song speaks of the faith that we all should have in our Savior. Next in the lineup is another medium-tempo song, “It’s Bound To Be The Lord”. The arrangement of this song contains more piano than the other songs, incorporating some Floyd Cramer-style licks that make it fun to listen to.
“Too Much Time” is the ninth song on the album. The tempo doesn’t vary much from the other songs on the album, but it does set the stage rather well for the tenth and final song. “What A Prayer Can Do” is a familiar song to many people, and it has always been one of my favorites as well. Mike’s rendition of it does nothing to disappoint me.
If you like just plain, traditional-style singing, then this is the album for you. The background vocals don’t overpower Mike’s lead vocals, and the arrangements complement everything very nicely. Mike has a good tone to his voice, and he doesn’t try to do anything fancy or sing out of his range.
The only thing that the album really needs is more of a variety of song tempos. All of the songs could be classified as medium-tempo, with a couple just slightly faster or slower. At least one truly up-tempo song and one slow ballad would have broken the monotony (for lack of a better word) in this area. However, all things considered, it was a very good album that it was definitely my pleasure to review. Overall, I think that it deserves a solid rating of 4 out of a possible 5 microphones!
Personal Favorites: “The Only Fire”, “Narrow Minded”, “It’s Bound To Be The Lord”, and “What A Prayer Can Do”