Title: "Headin' Home"
Description: Eighth Day
Chadley - October 15, 2006 12:32 AM (GMT)
Group Name: Eighth Day
Website: www.eighthdaymusic.com
Album Title: “Headin’ Home”
Song Titles:
1. I Wanna Go Home
2. Even Then
3. He Would Have Done It Anyway
4. Let Go And Hold On
5. Gonna Get Left
6. Work In Progress
7. Living Water
8. Rolled Away Stone
9. Safe In His Loving Arms
10. When You Know Where They Are
Eighth Day is a relatively new group that has come upon the Southern Gospel
scene. Based out of Spartanburg, SC, this mixed trio consists of lead vocalist Joni Robinson, tenor Scott Robinson (Joni’s husband), and baritone Derek Parker. They have quickly made a name for themselves in the world of Southern Gospel, and I can see why after listening to this album.
“Headin’ Home” is the second major album for Eighth Day. To accurately describe their sound, one need only look at their website. It says, “Their fresh and progressive new sound has been described as a little bit country, a touch of bluegrass, and a whole lot of gospel!”
I really like the cover art of the album. You get 6 pictures that, put together, show a road going through a tunnel. This is a good representation of the album title. There is a nice, clear picture of the group on the front inside cover, and Eighth Day made me very happy by including the song lyrics inside the cover as well.
Now, let’s take a look at each of the songs on the album.
The first song, “I Wanna Go Home”, is the first single from this album to be released to radio, and it is getting a great deal of airplay. This upbeat song is an excellent beginning to the album. Joni Robinson takes the lead, and the blend is very tight with this arrangement of voices. The only suggestion that I would make is to increase the volume of the guys in the background so that they match up with Joni’s volume a bit better.
Song #2 is called “Even Then”. This is a beautiful, slower ballad which again has Joni taking the lead. The blend is still tight, and Joni’s lead voice fits this song perfectly. She also takes the lead on Song #3, “He Would Have Done It Anyway”. I personally love the message in this song, and the group delivers it with quality.
The fourth song is the medium-tempo “Let Go And Hold On”. Here we get our first taste of a different arrangement of voices as Derek Parker takes the lead. Derek has a very pleasant voice that is easy to listen to, and the others complement him very well with their harmony. Again, the blend is still as tight as ever.
The fifth song speeds the tempo back up again as Joni once again takes the lead on “Gonna Get Left”. This is another song with excellent lyrics that convey an excellent message. It’s obvious that this group has chosen quality songs for this album, and that is impressive. However, I must mention one thing about this song that was a drawback, at least to me. I have mentioned in past CD reviews that I’m not a fan of songs on a studio recording sounding like they’re on a live recording. At the very end of this song, you can hear one of the vocalists laughing just a bit and saying, “Is that good?” Again, it’s probably just me being a bit picky, but I just think it would sound better without that at the end.
The tempo slows down again for the 6th song, a ballad entitled “Work In Progress”. We get another taste of Derek Parker on lead, and his smooth voice is a nice fit for the lyrics of this song. Derek also has the lead on the next song, “Living Water”. It’s a medium-tempo song that is flawlessly done by the group.
Song #8 is a slow, powerful ballad entitled “Rolled Away Stone”. Joni has the lead on this song, and she delivers it beautifully. This leads into the 9th song, the medium-tempo “Safe In His Loving Arms”. There are no solos in this song- everything is sung together as a group. (Personally, I think every group should do at least one song like this on every album.) Also, we get a taste of the third possible vocal arrangement for Eighth Day- Scott Robinson on lead and Joni and Derek providing the harmony. This is an arrangement that they should utilize more often, as the blend is top-notch on this song. Scott has an excellent voice, and I personally think he was a bit under-used on this album.
The album ends with Song #10, “When You Know Where They Are”. A slow ballad is always a nice ending to an album, and this one is no exception. Joni finishes out the album by taking the lead on this song, with Scott and Derek providing the harmony.
This group is distinctively “Southern”, and that is literally music to this writer’s ears. It’s easy to see why their popularity is steadily growing. I think we’ll be hearing good things from this group for a long time to come. They don’t try to show off too much- they just sing and sing solidly. They also have an ear for good material. I didn’t want to repeat this too many times in the preceding paragraphs, so I’ll make the point here: each song on this album had a clear and powerful message. I hope that Eighth Day is always this careful when picking material. It is definitely one of the strengths of this album.
I know that I pointed out some small little things here and there throughout this review that I thought could have been done differently. However, those things aren’t enough to affect my overall rating. I don’t often do this, but I feel that this album deserves 5 out of a possible 5 microphones!
Personal Favorites: “I Wanna Go Home”, “Work In Progress”, “Living Water”, and “Save In His Loving Arms”