Title: "Faith Hope Love"
Description: Faith3
Chadley - June 18, 2007 11:18 PM (GMT)
Group Name: Faith3
Website: www.faith3ministries.com
Album Title: “Faith Hope Love”
Song Titles:
1. The One Who Led Me Out
2. God’s Authority
3. I Believe
4. Battle Scar
5. Run To The Savior
6. Going Home
7. Gospel Ship
8. My Beloved
9. Touch The Hem
10. Love
11. Gospel Ship (Reprise)
Faith3 is an all-female trio consisting of April Grist, Lora Poore, and Janine Rigstad. The group was formed in 2005, but these ladies have known each other for much longer than that. Their sound is very much on the progressive side of Southern Gospel.
“Faith Hope Love” is the group’s second album to date. The album mostly consists of original material. In fact, many of the songs were written by Janine and Lora. The cover of the album is very clean, consisting of a photo of each lady along the right side with the album name and group name on the left side. The song lyrics are included inside the cover, which is a definite plus in my book.
Now, let’s take a look at each of the songs on the album.
“The One Who Led Me Out” is the first song. It was written by Lora, and she is featured on the verses as well. It is an up-tempo song with a “driving” beat. The group’s blend is pretty good, although there were a couple of spots where Lora’s lead vocals overpowered the others just a bit. The tempo slows down a bit for Song #2, a medium-tempo number entitled “God’s Authority”. Janine and Lora co-wrote this song, Janine is featured on the verses. Again, the lead vocals at times are more prevalent than the harmony.
Janine wrote the third song, a ballad entitled “I Believe”. This song gives April a chance to be featured on the verses and on the lead vocals. She has a clear soprano voice that is powerful and well-suited for lead vocals. The tempo speeds back up again for “Battle Scar”, written by Lora. She also has the solos on this song, and her voice has a rich quality to it that is pleasant to listen to. I especially like how they incorporate a chorus of the Three Bridges song “I’m A Soldier” into this song.
Song #5 is a medium-tempo number entitled “Run To the Savior”. Janine takes the lead and solos here, and she sings with a confidence that I’m sure contributes to her vocal strength and clear tones. I must say that I think that this song showcases the group’s blend very well. This is actually a perfect lead-in to the sixth song, a slower ballad entitled “Going Home”. April Grist takes the lead and solo parts here, but she seems to be just a bit hot in the mix at times.
The seventh song is a different twist on the Mylon LeFevre classic, “Gospel Ship”. While I think that the ladies do very well on their version of this song, I admittedly am much more partial to the original version. Faith3’s version is more of a “hard-driving” contemporary version that I’m sure will appeal to many younger listeners, and their vocal blend is almost perfect. It’s just difficult for me to wrap my mind around this particular arrangement of one of my favorite songs. Song #8, “My Beloved”, is a medium-tempo ballad written by Lora. Janine sings the verses on this song, and her voice seems perfectly suited for it. I also especially like the message of this song.
Lora also wrote the ninth song, another medium-tempo number called “Touch The Hem”. She is also featured on this song, and it seems to be the style that best fits her voice. It’s got sort of a “Sunday morning church” feel to it with a nice organ sound as part of the arrangement. The album ends with a slow, smooth ballad simply entitled “Love”. Janine wrote this song, and each of the ladies has a bit of a feature here. It’s a good choice to finish out the album. (Note that there technically is another song after this one on the album. However, it’s a reprise of “Gospel Ship”, so I won’t go into detail about it again.)
Of all the different types of groups in Southern Gospel, the one that has to be the scarcest is all-female groups. Be they ladies’ trios or the occasional ladies’ quartet, you just don’t see very many of them. In fact, only two immediately come to mind- The Johnson Sisters and The Ruppes. For this reason, I think that Faith3 has a definite open door into the Southern Gospel industry. This is a niche that is waiting to be filled, and they have the talent and they the contemporary sound that will appeal to many people. They have a good sound for a group that’s only been together for 2 years. They still need just a bit of “fine tuning”, but nothing major at all. It’s a blessing- and an advantage- to have songwriters within the group who can turn out quality original material, and this is definitely one of Faith3’s strengths. The voices just need to be evened out in the mix a bit better on a few songs so that the blend comes through more clearly. I’m looking forward to hearing what this group sounds like 6 months to a year from now if they keep heading in the same direction they are now. Overall, I would give this album a rating of 7 ˝ out of a possible 10 microphones!
Personal Favorites: “I Believe”, “Battle Scar”, “My Beloved”, and “Touch The Hem”