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Group Name: Gold Harbor
Website: www.goldharbormusic.com
Album Title: “Music To Live For”
Song Titles:
1. Put God Back In America
2. Farther Along
3. In Christ Alone
4. Child Of The King
5. That Same Jesus
6. Beulah Land
7. My God Is Real
8. Surely The Presence
9. I Just Stopped By
10. I Am Changed
11. Old Time Medley

Gold Harbor is a newly-formed group based out of Hendersonville, TN.  “Music To Live For” is their first album.  Personnel on the album include J.R. Richards (lead/baritone), Scotty Aldridge (lead/baritone), and Jim Peretic (tenor).  From their website, it looks like Noel Fox has replaced Peretic at tenor since the production of this album.

At first glance, the cover design is not well-done at all.  The picture of the 4 guys on the cover looks like a distorted photo-negative shot where nothing is really distinguishable.  Also, the group name is in very faint letters at the bottom, serving as a backdrop to the “Nazareth Music Group” wording.  The guys’ names appear across the front middle of the cover, and a “GH” logo is in the upper left corner.  The back of the cover, where the song titles are listed, is not any better.  There are photos of each group member, but they have been stretched out of proportion.  The song titles are then printed right on top of the pictures in a color that blends in with several of the pictures, making them very difficult to read.  I hate to say it, but this does not look professionally done and does not give a good first impression to prospective purchasers.

Now, let’s take a look at each of the songs on the album.

The first song is called “Put God Back In America”.  This is an up-tempo song with a country flair, and the vocals are pretty good.  However, the music is just a touch too loud, making the listener have to listen just a bit too closely to hear all the words.  Next up is an old favorite, “Farther Along”.  This is a pretty good cut until the tenor solo on the final verse.  He sings very much out of his range, and it just does not sound good at all.  Song #3 taps just a bit into the Praise & Worship arena with the popular “In Christ Alone”.  Again, the mix on this song lacks something to be desired- you can barely hear anyone but the lead vocalist.  The next song is a up-tempo, country-styled song called “Child Of The King”.  This may very well be one of the best cuts on the entire album.

Song #5 is a slower ballad called “That Same Jesus”.   This is a well-done song, but the tenor should have found another note to hit at the very end of the song.  He was obviously screaming on the one that he hit.  Immediately following is another Southern Gospel favorite, “Beulah Land”.  The vocal mix could use some work on this song- throughout the song, one of the vocal parts is always slightly more prominent than the other two.  The seventh song is yet another old favorite for longtime Southern Gospel fans- “My God Is Real”.  The tenor is featured here, and he tries to “jazz up” his solo lines and lead vocals too much.  Also, he yet again attempts high notes that are simply out of his range.  Then comes a slower song that again tries to tap into the Praise & Worship arena.  “Surely The Presence” is a song that is starting to find its way into some more recent church hymnals, and the group does some nice unison work on opening chorus of the song.  However, on the second chorus, they go to an arrangement that has one of the members doing a sort of descant in the background of the main words.  To be honest, this descant distracts from the main lyrics of the song.  Also, the group’s rendition simply consisted of singing the chorus of the song 3 times through- no verses to be found.

The ninth is another medium-tempo Southern Gospel standard, “I Just Stopped By”.  The arrangement seems to consist of only a piano and a guitar until it switches to a bluegrass arrangement in the middle of the song.  The tempo also speeds up a bit at this point.  The tenor takes the lead vocals on the final chorus, and he keeps it within his range and doesn’t try to do too much with it.  This is his cleanest feature of the album.  Song #10 has a more contemporary sound, something similar to the style of the old Imperials.  “I Am Changed” is a medium-tempo song that shows another side of the group than we’ve seen up until now.  However, the mix is once again a bit off- the background vocals often overpower the lead vocals and make the words hard to understand.  The album ends with the up-tempo “Old Time Medley”.  The vocals are pretty good, except for the fact that the tenor once again sings out of his range a few times.

The frustrating thing about this album is that I can tell that the group has the potential for a nice sound.  They have a decent blend in their vocals.  However, this is overshadowed by a few things.  First of all, they need a good sound person to give them a better mix than what is on this album.  If this also translates into finding a better studio in which to record their next album, then so be it.  Secondly, the vocalists need to learn what they can and can’t do with their voices.  In the case of the tenor, this means not shooting for those extremely high notes that they might think people expect tenors to hit.  I’ve often said that singing bass is not all about singing extremely, and the same is true on the tenor’s end of the spectrum.  HIGHER IS NOT ALWAYS BETTER!  Concentrating on smoothness within his range will help him tremendously. (Can you tell that a vocalist singing out of their range is a pet peeve of mine?)  In the case of the other vocalists, this means concentrating on simply singing rather than attempting too many “vocal acrobatics”.  I think that listeners would rather hear a clean, quality sound rather than a “jazzed up” sound that misses the mark in a few places.  Finally, it’s my opinion that the group needs to stick with the Southern Gospel genre.  The contemporary and Praise & Worship styles are not their strengths.  Overall, I would give this album a rating of 4 out of 10 microphones.