The latest project from The Anointed Pace Sisters, titled Access Granted, is a collection of music that has utterly snatched my attention from among the other recent releases in my collection.  And I’d be remiss in my duties here if I didn’t urge you to check it out.

With more than masterful production from Alex Asaph Ward, the sisters provide tight and intricate vocal harmonies with powerful lead vocals on every track.  Recorded live recently in Atlanta, Access Granted captures an energy-packed experience well worth a purchase.

After opening with a brief musical overture of some of The Anointed Pace Sisters’ hits over the years (i.e., “Jesus Be A Fence” and “Safety Zone”), the album launches into the melodic “A Friend,” before settling at the beautiful worship ballad “Daily.”

The project moves seamlessly into “Finally,” a jazzy groove with a driving churchy vamp that transitions well into the next track, “Praise And Worship” (one of my personal favorites because of the complex harmonies and intense band hits).

Proving that the ladies can dominate in any genre, they lay their vocals to “Jesus Will (Do It Again),” a track prepped and primed for a traditional Sunday morning worship service, before sweetly finessing the inspiring “It’s My Time To Blessed.”  The album continues to impress through the end, with tracks like “Get In His Presence” and the hit single “If I Be Lifted Up.”

The greatest hurdle that I see the sisters having is one that has less to do with their music and more to do with their artistry– it’s one of branding.  With eight sisters in the group, consumers may have a difficult time connecting with any one of them and, as a result, with the sum of them.  It would be nice to know more about them as individuals, rather than simply as one group.  But as far as the music is concerned (and that’s what I’m actually reviewing here), you won’t want for much more than The Anointed Pace Sisters have given.

As a final note, I want to point out an obvious, but oft-undiscussed trend in our industry.  Gospel consumers don’t always seem willing to make room in the industry for multiple types of similar artists.  Such is the case as it relates to the concept of a group of sisters, with similar tones, who sing in unison, then split into harmony.  The average consumer might say “like the Clark Sisters do?”  But the reality is that we can’t allow any artist to have the corner market on a certain style of artistry, especially when God doesn’t dole out grace in limited portions.  As evidenced by the Clark Sisters, the Pace Sisters, the Nevels Sisters, and others, excellence abounds in our industry, in this particular style.  Let’s support all of ‘em.

*steps off of soapbox*

Buy the album.  You will adore it.  Click here to check it out.

Major congrats to Byron Cage, whose new album, Faithful To Believe, debuted at #3 on Billboard’s Gospel Albums chart!

The latest albums from BeBe & CeCe Winans and Fred Hammond remain at their #1 and #2 spots, respectively.  Likewise, Mary Mary’s The Sound holds its #4 position.

The Whispers’ debut gospel project, Thankful, drops from #3 to #5, while The Anointed Pace Sisters (#5 last week) drop to the #11 spot.

Though BeBe & CeCe Winans remain at the top spot with their reunion project, Still, a couple of new projects debuted in the top 5 of Billboard’s Gospel Albums chart this week.

The Whispers debut gospel project, Thankful, enters the marketplace at the #3 position, moving Mary Mary’s album, The Sound, to the #4 slot.

Finally, the newest project from The Anointed Pace Sisters, Access Granted, debuted at #5 on the sales chart, bumping Hezekiah Walker’s Souled Out to the #6 position.

Love Unstoppable, the newest project from Fred Hammond, remains at the #2 spot.  Vickie Winans’ How I Got Over drops from #4 to #12.

I do not have the new project from The Whispers, but with production from Fred Hammond, it’s probably got some good tracks on there.

What I DO have, however, is this Pace Sisters project and it’s got some reeeaaaaallly awesome production (Asaph Ward), good songwriting, and tight vocals and harmonies.  Hadn’t planned to review it, but they’ve swayed me.  Stay tuned for it…

Anybody pick up The Whispers’ or The Anointed Pace Sisters’ projects?

Yesterday, a new video was posted on TyscotTV, the YouTube channel for Tyscot Records.  It’s the concept video for the Anointed Pace Sisters’ new song, “If I Be Lifted Up.”

The track is the first single from their upcoming album, Access Granted, which is due in stores this fall.  I’m LOVIN’ the song cuz these sisters are SINGING (as usual).

Lemme know what you think!

It’s no secret that the women of Zie’l are vocal powerhouses.  They have great voices and use intricate harmonies, which explains why they’re so frequently compared to the Clark Sisters and the Pace Sisters.  But I think those comparisons can also serve to limit them.

I don’t think they’ve really received the recognition that they deserve (yet), and I may have to feature their album as part of the Slept On series…

In the meantime, check out what happens when Larry Robinson (GospelSingingOnTheSpot.com) gets the ladies of Zie’l (minus one in this particular video) to give an impromptu performance… niiiiiiiiiice!

What do you think???

Here’s my recap for you kind people– ‘ppreciate your patience.  If you’d rather NOT wait, though, don’t forget that you can always follow me on Twitter for my live recap every Sunday night: http://www.twitter.com/gospelpundit.

I think last night’s show was a bit more mellow than previous shows.  Everyone kinda had slower, building arrangements of songs made famous by gospel FAMILIES, which was a nice lil’ concept.  Don’t get me wrong– they still brought it, but it wasn’t as flashy and high-energy as previous episodes have been.

The show opened with The Williams Brothers singing “Living Testimony.”  These gentlemen have some of the sweetest voices in the game– I loved it.  Wished they had done a little bit of “Cooling Water,” but I can’t have it all.  Or can I?

Up next came the contestants, one-by-one, and I was kinda shocked to see that they didn’t do a joint performance this go ’round– the show featured songs from families that were gospel groups (i.e., Clark Sisters, Pace Sisters, Williams Brothers, Winans, Mary Mary)… seemed like this was THE WEEK to do a group song together.  But whateva…

Each contestant sang two songs, throughout the night, but I’ma recap both songs as I chat about each contestant.  Got it?

Jessica Reedy opened the show with “The Question Is” by The Winans.  It’s a classic song which she, of course, put her own little smooth and jazzified spin on it.  She was clearly a bit hoarse, as was evident by a couple of cracks in her vocal performance, but (as was noted by Tina Campbell), she was SUCH a pro, turning those cracks into intricate riffs that just WORKED.  Great job.

Her second song was “Still Here” by The Williams Brothers.  Before she performed, we got a chance to see footage of her prep time with Donald Lawrence and the singers.  THAT YOUNG WOMAN was arranging the background vocalists, changing stuff up, and did a DERN good job, you hear me?!  The performance was SOOO in the pocket– she’s just got it.  She’s my fave, no doubt.

Latice Crawford started with “Is My Living In Vain” and did a great job, also, putting her own spin on it.  She revved up like a pro towards the end of it and definitely left me wanting a bit more.  Her second song was “I’ll Take You There” and she really sang on that thing, as always, but it just didn’t quite CLICK for me.

I enjoy her, always, but I have to admit that I zoned out a little for some portions of her performances.  Tina Campbell said it best– there was a disconnect that made us uncomfortable cuz SHE didn’t seem as confident.

Y’Anna Crawley (another fave of mine) started with “Heaven” by Mary Mary.  I thought she did it well, though a lot of the ad libs sounded just like the stuff that the Marys did at first.  Toward the second part of the song, she flipped it sho’ nuff, though, and I was like “THAT’S what Y’Anna brings!”

Her second song was the classic “Ain’t No Need To Worry” by The Winans and Anita Baker.  I immediately thought “noo… y’all shoulda given this to Jessica” because her voice is so right for the Anita Baker deal.  BUT LEMME TELL YA, this was a perfect song for Y’Anna and here’s why:  it finally gave us the opportunity to see that she can also do the smooth, jazzy thing.  We’ve always seen her CLOBBER a song, but we’ve not really had the opportunity to see her work it from a quiet place.  She delivered in a BIG way for me.  Great job, ma’am!!!

At the end, NONE OF ‘EM got sent home.  We’ll see ‘em all next week for some “Sing Off” they’re gonna have.  I feel some kinda way about that cuz I don’t think the “sing off” should be the criteria for whether someone should be a gospel artist or not.  We already have too much of that in the industry (but that’s for ANOTHER post… showboatin’ and what not).

Folks, at the end of the day, EACH of these three women are phenomenal vocalists who just HAVE it.  They are all artists.  Any one of them will be on my iPod for a good month and, if given the right songs/producers, could have award-winning albums.

The Anointed Pace Sisters wrapped up the performances by rippin’ into “Already Done.”  I was already jammin’ (”already done done… already done done done done done”), but when Lashun Pace came onto stage… Loved it!!!!  She looks great (they all did, really) and they killed.  Glad that they got some BET exposure, too… long overdue.

Soooooooooooooo??? What did y’all think???

Word has it that The Anointed Pace Sisters are doing another live CD/DVD recording on April 25th in Decatur, GA.  This project, titled Access Granted, will be produced by Asaph Ward and should be in stores in 2010.

I think it’ll be good, but am I the only one hoping that LaShun will make a guest apperance on this album???