Leap of Faith

Kenny Loggins | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 10, 1991)
• Original Release Date: September 10, 1991
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Columbia/ Sony
• ASIN: B00000273U
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #153,455 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Underrated, spiritually uplifting album, December 19, 2002

By 

Patrick L. Randall (Silver Spring, MD) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Leap of Faith (Audio CD)

Kenny Loggins was best known in the 1980's for such movie soundtrack standards as "Danger Zone (Top Gun)", "Footloose (Footloose)", and "I'm Alright (Caddyshack)" and adult contemporary hits as "This is It" and "Whenever I call you 'Friend". However, it is his 1990 album, "Leap of Faith" where Loggins creates some of the finest music of career. Apparently, Loggins was experiencing a spiritual rebirth during this period, as nearly all of his songs are touched with this spirituality. There are songs of love, understanding, and environmental awareness populating this album. Tribal drums and acoustic guitar play major roles on all of the tracks.

The album's title track, "Leap of Faith", provides a haunting tribal beat that underlies the entire song (and would also seem to be the inspiration for rhythms in the 1997 song "Missing You" by Everything But the Girl). The song, "The Real Thing" pleads for patience from a child who does not understand why her parents are no longer together. It sends the message that someday she will understand and learn what the 'the real thing' (love) really is. "If You Believe" is a song promoting self-empowerment and using that to make a difference, while "Now or Never" tells the tale of a man facing a crossroads in life and knowing the time has come to make a decision on how to live life from that point on.

The true gem of this album, though, is a song Loggins wrote specifically for Earth Day 1990. It is called "Conviction of the Heart". It's debut at Earth Day gives it a peripheral connection to a 'save the environment' message, but the true message is actually a challenge to listener to stand for what they believe in and have the 'conviction of the heart' to make the changes in the world that they know must be done for the benefit of current and future generations. What makes this song so amazing is it's climax. The closing musical arrangement may be one of long and most electrifying in music history. After the last chord fades away, the listener wants to jump to their feet and go out into the world and make that difference that Loggins has challenged them to make. "Leap of Faith" is one album that a listener will be better off for having listened to it.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An artistic leap that pays off, December 14, 1998

By 

John Jones "Musician" (Chicago IL) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Leap of Faith (Audio CD)

Gone are the days that Kenny Loggins performs guitar-driven rock themes to movies. Here now is a gentler, more mature Kenny Loggins, and his listeners are all the richer for it.

Taking a reflective look on life and people that matter to you can result in pretentious navel-gazing for some, but for Loggins it gives him the platform to compose some of his most moving lyrics as well as some of his most beautiful music to complement them. "Leap of Faith" and "The Real Thing" are both intimate, mature reflections on love in an adult world, and "Conviction of the Heart" and "If You Believe" manage to be two of those rare Goodwill-towards-men-let's-help-save-the-world songs that manage not to turn sappy or irrelevant. "I Would Do Anything" is a gorgeous romantic ballad that features a vocal by a pre-"Leaving Las Vegas" Sheryl Crow, and "Sweet Reunion" is a beautiful, jazzy midtempo number whose lush chords are matched by its warm lyrics about finding love all over again.

"Too Early for the Sun" is a ballad so lovely you hardly notice that it clocks in at over eight minutes, and "Cody's Song" is a touching testament from a father to his son. "Now or Never" is an inspiring, charged moment, and "My Father's House" is the only song that tries a little too hard; the instrumentation sounds a bit maudlin and the track comes off as taking itself a bit too seriously.

It's a minor quibble, however, on an album where the production is gorgeous and the instrumentation impeccable; the solo section of the title track in particular, with its African-inspired drums, provides a gorgeous listen. Anyone who thought Kenny Loggins reached his peak going "Footloose" in "The Danger Zone" needs to take a leap of faith and discover one of his finest works to date.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ONE OF KENNY'S BEST, August 20, 2000

By 

Michael Butts (Berkeley Springs, WV USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Leap of Faith (Audio CD)

LEAP OF FAITH is one of my favorite Kenny Loggins' recordings: excellent musical arrangements; the use of Native American rhythms and instrumentation; good songs; and a more mature Loggins, who started using his own life experiences to influence his lyrics. This is evidenced strongly in the sincerity of THE REAL THING; his homage to his son in CODY'S SONG; and the bittersweet MY FATHER's HOUSE.
Both the vocal and reprise of WILL OF THE WIND are beautiful; there is insightful majesty in LEAP OF FAITH and CONVICTION OF THE HEART soaked in superb musical accompaniment; joyful euphoria in SWEET REUNION and IF YOU BELIEVE; intense energy in NOW OR NEVER; tender pleading in I WOULD DO ANYTHING; and strong resolve in TOO EARLY FOR THE SUN.
The pop star of the 70s and 80s entered the 90s as a more introspective musician. Although he would overdo it with his future AN UNIMAGINABLE LIFE, this album is an outstanding showcase of his creative maturity.