Group Name: The Isaacs Website: theisaacs.musiccitynetworks.com Album Title: “Big Sky” Song Titles: 1. Big Sky 2. Through The Valley 3. The One I’m Dying For 4. I Bring It To You 5. Barbie Bandaids 6. Love Is A Cross You Bear 7. Walk On 8. That’s Alright By Me 9. When A Broken Heart Heals 10. Umbrella
The Isaacs are one of Southern Gospel’s best-known family groups. They have been singing together for over 20 years. They have managed to meld Southern Gospel, Country, and Bluegrass into a unique style that is truly all their own.
“Big Sky” is the family’s second album for the Gaither Music Group, and it is also their 30th overall album. According to their website, the family was looking to “shake up the status quo” and “break new ground musically”. Well, I would definitely say that those goals were achieved. As an avid fan of bluegrass music of any kind, I am very surprised that this is the first album that I have heard from the Isaacs. I will say here at the outset that this is an oversight that I need to correct.
The album cover definitely illustrates the album title. There is a picture of the family in front of a wooded background, and you can see a large portion of the sky above and behind them. Inside the cover, I found that they had included the lyrics to the songs on the album. This is always a plus in my book, but the Isaacs went a step farther. At the end of each song’s lyrics, they also included who sang the lead and harmony vocals as well as who played what instrument. This makes it easy for a reviewer such as myself to give credit where credit is due.
Now, let’s take a look at each of the songs on the album.
The album starts off in strong fashion with the title cut, “Big Sky”. Sonya Isaacs sings the lead vocals on this song, which is also the album’s first single. It’s a medium-tempo song with some soaring melodies and great harmony. The instrumental accompaniment was very nice as well. This is a very catchy song that will do well as a radio single.
Song #2 is another one of my favorites. The tempo of “Through The Valley” is just slightly slower than the previous song, and the lead vocals feature Becky Isaacs Bowman. The chorus has somewhat of a hard-driving feel, and I think that this song would be a nice choice for the next radio single. This leads into the third song, “The One I’m Dying For”. The tempo stays pretty much the same, but the overall arrangement is smoother than the previous two songs. Becky and Sonya share the lead vocals on this song.
Sonya takes the lead once again on the fourth song, “I Bring It To You”. This is a slower, ballad-style song that the group performs beautifully. Sonya stays on the lead part for the slower, softer, sentimental ballad- “Barbie Bandaids”. The arrangement gets stronger near the end of the song, only to soften back up again at the very end. This very much adds to the sentimental feel of the song.
“Love Is A Cross You Bear”, the sixth song on the album, gives us our only chance to hear Ben Isaacs take the lead vocals on this album. Ben has a very nice voice, and I would like to hear him on the lead vocals a bit more often. Next in the lineup is “Walk On”. This song begins- and ends- with a few measures of cleanly-done a cappella before breaking into an upbeat arrangement that is very much traditional bluegrass. Sonya has the lead vocals once again, and Bill Gaither also makes a guest appearance on the bass part during this song.
Song #8 is another medium-tempo song entitled “That’s Alright By Me”. Becky takes the lead vocals here, and this song has a smooth, pleasant arrangement. The ninth song is called “When A Broken Heart Heals”, and it is another medium-tempo song with Sonya on the lead. The arrangement has a bit of a hard-driving beat to it, which I enjoyed.
Lily Isaacs takes the lead on the album’s closing song, “Umbrella”. This is a slow song with many minor chords that give it somewhat of a “haunting” feel. This is, in my opinion, one of the prettiest songs on the album and a fitting choice to end it with.
The Isaacs have definitely carried on the family tradition of fine musicianship. The vocals were flawless, as was the instrumentation. I particularly enjoyed the variety of styles in the arrangements. I do have a couple things of a “negative” (for lack of a better word) nature to comment on, though. First of all, I would have liked to see a bit more variety in the song tempos. The variety of songs styles admittedly made up for much of this, but the majority of the songs were of that “medium-tempo” description. Also, while I realize that this album was meant to highlight the joy and wonder of a life lived according to God’s plan, I kind of felt that many of the lyrics conveyed somewhat of a vague message. Maybe it’s a personal preference with me, but I prefer a more “overt” Gospel message in the lyrics of a song. Please understand that this is not to say that any of the songs contained anything unbiblical or otherwise wrong. It’s just the impression I got as I listened to the album.
I had a great time reviewing this album. Like I said in the beginning of this review, not having heard any of the Isaacs’ music before now is an oversight that I will most certainly be correcting. I have no doubt that “Big Sky” will be one of the top albums to come out this year in Southern Gospel/Bluegrass Gospel, and with good reason. Overall, I think that this album deserves a rating of 4 ˝ out of a possible 5 microphones!
Personal Favorites: “Big Sky”, “Through The Valley”, “Love Is A Cross You Bear”, and “Umbrella”
lee65 - May 10, 2007 02:53 AM (GMT)
I picked Big Sky up this past weekend and have been listening to it all week. Love It !!!!!!!my favs: