Title: "Here There Or In The Air" Description:Torchmen Quartet
Chadley - May 31, 2007 09:32 PM (GMT)
Group Name: Torchmen Quartet Website: www.torchqt.com Album Title: “Here, There, Or In The Air” Song Titles: 1. He Took It Upon Himself 2. He’ll Do It Again 3. This Side Of The Cross 4. There’s A Testimony 5. I’m Gonna Keep Telling 6. Here, There, Or In The Air 7. Who Touched Me 8. I’ve Made It Home 9. No Longer A Stranger 10. I’ll Live In Glory 11. Just One More Song 12. In My Father’s House
In 1969, a journey started that continues on today. In the course of that journey, the Torchmen Quartet has become one of Canada’s premier Southern Gospel Groups. In fact, many would call them the premier Southern Gospel group north of the border. The group is currently made up of Mike Moran (baritone), Dave Randall (lead), Jon Hisey (bass), and Sandy MacGregor (tenor). One thing that I must note about this album is that the tenor vocals are done by the previous tenor, Jeff Triton. I will be interested to hear what the group currently sounds like with Sandy singing tenor.
“Here, There, Or In The Air” is the latest in a long line of Torchmen albums. In fact, this particular album won “Southern Gospel Album Of The Year” at the Canadian GMA awards in 2006. The album cover is simple and uncluttered- a picture of the group, the group logo, and the album title.
Now, let’s take a look at each of the songs on the album.
I love it when albums start out with a “barn burner”, and this album does just that. “He Took It Upon Himself” is a very up-tempo number with a great message. The first thing that strikes you is the good blend this group has. This song contains no solos, which enables you to take a good, long listen to the group as a whole. I think that this song would make a great radio release, and it’s become a favorite of mine.
Song #2 is a medium-tempo number entitled “He’ll Do It Again”. The vocal blend isn’t as tight on this song as on the previous one, but it’s still pretty good. Lead singer Dave Randall has the solo on the verses, and he has a good range to his voice. The tempo slows down considerably for the third song. “This Side Of The Cross” is a power ballad that gives Randall an opportunity to solo on the verses. He has a depth (not necessarily “lowness”, but a “fullness”) to his voice that is pleasant to listen to, and his range allows him to “fill out” their sound very well.
The fourth song is another medium-tempo number called “There’s A Testimony”. Bass singer Jon Hisey solos on the first verse, and he has good low range and seems comfortable there. However, there was one word- “story”- where he was just a bit sharp. Other than that, his vocals were good. The tempo stays pretty much the same for the next song, “I’m Gonna Keep Telling”. This song has a traditional-style Southern Gospel arrangement that will appeal to “quartet purists”.
Song #6 speeds the tempo back up again. The up-tempo “Here, There, Or In The Air” is the album’s title track, and it just sounds like a fun song to sing. As is often the case with fast songs that have a lot of words for the vocalists to sing, there ended up being a few small spots where their phrasing wasn’t quite in sync. However, this doesn’t take away from the enjoyment of the song. Next up is a slow, smooth ballad entitled “Who Touched Me”. Dave Randall's voice is perfect for the verse solos on this song, and the message helps to make it another of my favorites from the album.
“I’ve Made It Home”, the eighth song, is a song that I first heard the Anchormen do on their “Nothing Less Than All” album. Consequently, I unconsciously found myself comparing the Torchmen’s version to that one. No offense to the Torchmen, but I think the Anchormen’s version was a bit better. Again, the blend wasn’t as tight on this song as on previous songs, and Jon Hisey seemed to once again be a bit weak on his solo part. Overall, this song didn’t have the “explosiveness” that I expected. The tempo slows down for Song #9, a ballad entitled “No Longer A Stranger”. This song gives us our first real listen to former tenor Jeff Triton, and he does very well taking the lead. I like the fact that he is a full-voice tenor with both softness and power to his voice- a necessity for a song such as this one.
“I’ll Live In Glory” was done by the Carolina Boys (Kingsmen) on their “Good News” album, and the Torchmen try their hand at it on this album. This is an instance where I like each group’s version equally. The reason for this is that each group tailored the arrangement of the song to their personnel. When the Carolina Boys recorded it, they still had Jerry Martin in the group. Martin has the range to sing “up in the stratosphere”, so to speak, and they were able to use that to their advantage. Jeff Triton doesn’t have Martin’s extreme upper range, so it was a good move to not copy the Carolina Boys’ arrangement. Their arrangement fits the voices in the group, and it is very well done. Jon Hisey opens the song solo on the first verse, and he nails it- his best solo of the album. And speaking of the Carolina Boys/Kingsmen, I have finally figured out who Hisey sounds like. He compares favorably to none other than Ray Dean Reese.
The eleventh song is another up-tempo song entitled, “Just One More Song”. This song has a bit more of a progressive feel to it, and Jeff Triton once again has the lead. The album closes with a medium-tempo song. “In My Father’s House” has a bit of a bluegrass feel as well as a wonderful message- a good choice to end the album.
The Torchmen are a group that really has a nice sound. I like their song selection and the way the songs flow from one to the other on this album. I also like the fact that each singer seems to know his range and is content to stay within that range. Fans of good quartet music will find a solid group here to give them hours of enjoyable listening. This is a group that is not afraid to tackle some varying styles of Southern Gospel, which means that they’re bound to have a little “something for everyone”. There are only a couple of things for them to improve upon. First of all, at times on the album, the mix of voices wasn’t quite what it should have been. One or two of the voices would stand out just a bit too much. The other thing has to do with the bass singer. He is flawless when singing with the group, and I really enjoy the fact that he is willing to sing a higher harmony part when needed. Many basses think that “lower is always better”, and that’s just not true. However, a bit more time polishing up his solo work would strengthen the group’s sound even more.
I would like to thank The Torchmen for the privilege of reviewing this album. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to it, and I look forward to hearing more from them in the years to come. I’d say the future for Southern Gospel in Canada is bright with groups like this out there singing. Overall, I would give this album a rating of 7 ½ out of a possible 10 microphones!
Personal Favorites: “He Took It Upon Himself”, “This Side Of The Cross”, “I’m Gonna Keep Telling”, and “Who Touched Me”