David Bruce Murray
Mar 04, 2010
CD Review
CD Review: Guy Penrod – Breathe Deep
RATING: 4 Stars
Producers: Brent Rowan
Label: Servant Records
Website: www.guypenrod.com
Song Titles: “Even When We Do,” “Pray About Everything,” “Are You The One,” “Every Saint,” “The World Goes ‘Round,” “Young Enough To Know Better,” “Breathe Deep,” “More Power To Ya,” “Nothin’ More Beautiful Than That,” “The Maker Of Them All,” “The Broken Ones,” “The People That Matter,” and “Knowing What I Know About Heaven”
Breathe Deep has been available for several months via Guy Penrod’s website, but was only recently distributed to retail stores. Kyle reviewed the CD last August, so it’s been around awhile. I haven’t seen the direct version, but the packaging for the retail version is quite impressive. The two may be identical. The copy I received came in a six-page digipack with a sixteen-page booklet including a number of steel gray tinged photographs, all the song lyrics and credits.
Several songs on Breathe Deep are too similar in terms of instrumentation and tempo. Although the CD isn’t overly compressed, Penrod’s vocals are so steady in intensity that there’s a lack of climactic moments to distinguish one song from another.
Fortunately, there are several notable exceptions where tempo, lyrics or both come to the rescue. “Pray About Everything” moves at a quicker pace. The message to pray often is crystal clear. “Are You The One” contains the most controversial lyric: “Somebody’s gonna teach him ’bout the birds and bees, drinkin’ beer and smokin’ things. Are you the one?” Later, the song goes on to ask: “Are you the one to teach ‘em how to pray and who to give their souls to take, or will you leave it to some stranger?” The point of the lyric is to prepare your children to face the world and eternity. It’s not about encouraging your son to drink beer.
“The World Goes ‘Round” has the potential to be a showcase for Penrod to cut loose vocally or for a really sizzling instrumental solo, but the approach here is very reserved compared to, say, “I Catch ‘Em, God Cleans ‘Em.” This track is one of the few uptempo choices on Breathe Deep, but also has the distinction of being the longest cut on the CD. “Young Enough To Know Better” drops back to raw instrumentation for the first verse, which is refreshing. The lyric is a thought provoking twist on the “old enough to know better” adage. When faced with a decision you’ve never faced before and the choice between wrong and right is clear, you’re still young enough to know better.
“More Power To Ya” is a song with potential to do well on Country radio, and it wouldn’t be out of place on Southern Gospel radio either. I hope it will be released as a single. Penrod’s vocal has a stronger twang and the lyric has a distinctive hook. On the fade, Penrod shows off his upper vocal register.
My personal favorite on Breathe Deep is “The Maker Of Them All.” The lyric is a reminder that the Lord made all of us, and while the tempo isn’t exactly a romp, it moves with a strong back-beat rhythm that can get your toes tapping. Penrod also turns in a classy performance of “The Broken Ones,” which was a number one hit for the Talley Trio in 2008.
Breathe Deep includes a total of thirteen tracks. Three songs run just a few seconds over four minutes in length and one is just under three minutes. The other nine are between three and four minutes in length. This may mean the producer was shooting for an ideal radio song length, or it may just be a coincidence. There are no extended ballads or quick energetic tracks. That being said, Breathe Deep is still a quality recording and an interesting introduction to what Guy Penrod has to say as a soloist when it comes to family friendly music influenced by both Country and Gospel.
It isn’t at all what I expected…I expected more impassioned vocals, and I thought the tracks would have been more distinctive. The area where Breathe Deep really surpasses my expectations is song selection. It’s unusual to have such a consistency of message and vignettes of every day life throughout an entire selection of thirteen songs when there’s such a variety of songwriters and the artist himself didn’t write any of the songs.
Look for an edited version of this review in an upcoming issue of Singing News. Click HERE to subscribe.
