Dave's Review

Label: Daywind
Producer: Greater Vision
Website: www.greatervisionmusic.com and www.daywindrecords.com
Song Titles: "He Is To Me" (with Glen Dustin), "We Seek Your Face" (with Jeff Chapman), "Just Ask" (with Gene McDonald), "When He Washed My Sins Away" (with Jeff Pearles), "He's My Savior" (with Tracy Stuffle), "I Didn't Know" (with Rod Mays), "God's Grace Reaches Farther" (with Gene McDonald), "Rocked On The Deep" (with Mike Holcomb), "He Loves Me" (with Eric Bennett), "Crown Of Bright Glory" (with Christian Davis), and "The Longer I Serve Him" (with Ed O'Neal)

Most Greater Vision fans already own a copy of Quartets on CD (Read Deon's review here). It's my job to tell you why you may or may not want to own a copy of the live video by the same title as well. For those unfamiliar with either product, a different bass singer is used on each track. The CD that released last year contained 15 songs in all, including four where they took a bass vocal from a previously recorded song and added their voices to it. In this fashion, CD owners are treated to Greater Vision singing with deceased bass legends JD Sumner, Rex Nelon, and Brock Speer. A George Younce vocal was used for the fourth song of this type. The remaining 11 tracks used current popular bass singers like Tim Riley, Tim Duncan, Gene McDonald, and Eric Bennett. The DVD consists of those same 11 songs, captured in a performance at the National Quartet Convention in 2003.

Different bass singers are used on two of the songs for the DVD. Favorite Bass Singer Fan Award winner Gene McDonald pulls double duty, filling in for Tim Duncan on "Just Ask" as well as the song he originally recorded on the CD. Rod Mays, winner of the Greater Vision Bass Singing Contest, sings "I Didn't Know" in place of Tim Riley.

So why should you buy a video when you already have the CD? Well obviously, you can see them in addition to hearing them on a video. The camera work is good and the sound quality is decent for the most part. Another reason to buy the video is the emcee work by Gerald Wolfe. He gives background information on each song and each singer as he makes his introductions. Wolfe has a good sense of humor that compliments the performance.

As this video progresses, it becomes bigger than the individuals on the stage. Midway through "He Loves Me," what had been a concert suddenly becomes a worship service for all the men on stage. That sense of worship is maintained thru the end of the video, concluding with Ed O'Neal joining Greater Vision for "The Longer I Serve Him."

Quartets: Live At NQC connects on a number of different levels . . . fans of Greater Vision, quartet fans, new songs, old songs, entertainment, worship, etc. There's something here for everyone. It would be nice if the DVD had menus so you could jump directly to your favorite song, but that's my only real complaint about this video. It's good to have both the CD and the DVD to compare and contrast. Both are top notch overall.