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26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Outward Bound, March 28, 2006
Randy Travis recorded this terrific album of old-time Gospel songs with a respect that can be felt as well as heard. There is a feel of yesterday here. Travis and his friend and producer Kyle Lehning gave this wonderful compilation of Christian songs from days past excellent yet restrained productions, keeping the focus on the songs themselves and their message.
The effect is a feeling that the listener is outside an old church during the depression where these songs were sung all across small towns in the country. Randy Travis is a legend in country music who found his brand of real country given little or no play on so-called country stations anymore. Rather than change his style and sell out, Travis and his producer actually went deeper into country music's origins than ever before, tracing it back to the old Gospel tunes still etched in many memories. The results have been an entirely new audience hungering for something just like this.
1) This Train - This song is just fantastic and starts this effort off with a bang. This Train is a clean train and a great sounding one too.
2) Swing Down Chariot (with The Blind Boys of Alabama) - This is pure guitar swing, waitin' for the home on the other side.
3) Precious Memories - Just beautiful. There's nothing more to say.
4) Shout to the Lord - The melody and arrangement of this sound like a pretty country love song. One of the best on an album full of great songs.
5) Down By the Riverside - A great song of war and loss with an uplifting ambiance nonetheless.
6) Nothing But the Blood - A slower version than the one Amy Grant and Vince Gill recorded. Different but very pretty.
7) Were You There? - A very sobering song sung perfectly.
8) Up Above My Head (I Hear Music) withThe Blind Boys of Alabama - This is an inspirational happy Christian song.
9) He's Got the Whole World In His Hands - Just what you'd expect and just the way it should be sung.
10) Heart of Worship - A song of coming back into focus when we lose sight. Regret and revelation in one breath.
11) Jesus On the Main Line - A bouncy song of using prayer af if it were a direct phone line to the heavens. Just a great song.
12) Through the Fire (with The Crabb Family) - A Christian song of understanding just how hard it can be to believe and keep faith when times are hard.
13) Here I Am to Worship - Just offering our time and heart to God in song.
14) Oh Death - A short but sweet song of tradition pondering the life which never ends.
15) Nobody Knows, Nobody Cares - What a marvelous song. Travis is great here singing about lonely and the one person who's always there when no one else cares.
16) Since Jesus Came Into My Heart - A fun song of what happens when we make room in our lives for something more.
17) O How I Love Jesus - The title tells all.
18) Are You Washed In the Blood of Jesus? - A traditional Christian song which is more than just food for thought in the hands of Randy Travis.
19) Precious Lord, Take My Hand - The album ends on a mournful plea for someone higher to take our hand so we don't fall, and help us back up when we do. A plea to lead us home and a fine way to conclude this wonderful album.
Glory Train is one of the finest Gospel albums to come out in a long long time. Even those who would not normally pick up an album considered Christian will enjoy the sheer beauty of some of these songs. You'll also be sorry Travis doesn't get the same country radio play as some of the "hip" young pretend cowboys whose big claim to fame is a pair of tight jeans and a new cowboy hat.
Randy Travis burst on the scene with Storms of Life and those who love his music haven't gone away and Travis hasn't either. Hopefully he will continue to release a country album once in a blue moon also just to remind us what real country sounds like.
This is something really special. If you doubt just how great this 19 song CD is, just take a listen to track 4, Shout to the Lord. It is one of the prettiest Christian songs ever written, and it has never been sung more beautifully than Randy Travis does here. It easily stands beside any of the love songs Travis took to the top of the charts. Grab your ticket and get onboard the Glory Train and take a trip with Travis into our Christian past.
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22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A powerful and beautiful record, December 16, 2005
Rarely do I describe a record as "beautiful." But then, I don't listen to much gospel. Nor, really, do I consider this album a "gospel" album. You can if you want to--it has all the usual fixin's. I simply consider it a Randy Travis album--which is reason enough to rejoice, even without the presence of the Almighty.
I've always said that Randy Travis was meant to sing country...and I still say that now. His voice is like none other. It just so happens that, when he turns his growly baritone to songs of faith, he can melt an atheist's heart. These songs--most of them classics--deal with every aspect of faith, and Travis's delivery, and Kyle Lehning's production, never misses the mark. GOSPEL TRAIN is a record to be reckoned with, and not just because it has God and an entire faith backing it. Call it gospel, call it acoustic, call it country...call it another great Randy Travis record.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
CountryInterviewsOnline.net, November 3, 2005
By: Michael Coyle
How do you give an objective review to a CD of prayer and devotion for God? Before listening to Randy Travis's new CD, Glory Train: Songs of Faith, Worship, and Praise, I had to cross myself in the hopes that I wouldn't dislike it and be struck down by lightning for my honest opinion. Luckily, Mr. Travis, who is a "country god" in his own right, can do no wrong. On this CD of classic Christian and gospel standards, this reformed "bad boy" sings the praises of the Lord with a cross between the piety of a servile preacher and the baritone of a well-trained choirmaster. In fact, it is the beautiful contrast of his deep Southern drawl with the angelic sounds of his background choir that give songs such as "Were You There" and "Heart of Worship" such majesty. Then there are other number like "Swing Down Chariot" and "Up Above Me," both with the Blind Boys of Alabama, that blend together to create the perfect harmony. Many of these songs have a history way beyond that of even Mr. Travis's extensive career, but he manages to reform them into countrified rejoices of faith like as if you had just entered some up creek Alabama Baptist Church in the 1960's. All 19 tracks tend to be perfectly crafted with subtle melodic production making this CD truly a unique religious experience.
CountryInterviewsOnline.net
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