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Vince Score – The Vince score consists of scoring based on the topics below.
Total points attainable: (100 pts)
- What’s the genre – The album is a mix of gospel and jazz, with some songs also having an emphasis on strings.
- Are the arrangements interesting? – While the songs are good, and very pretty, several are very slow. While there is absolutely nothing wrong with slower tempos, the length of some of the songs combined with the slow tempos can very easily cause them to fall into the territory of background music. Some also sound very reminiscent of jazz standards. That being said, the slower songs are absolutely beautiful and should not be overlooked. Some songs feel somewhat familiar as well, but not to a horrible extent. (14/20)
- Is the lyrical content compelling? – Gregory Porter is an incredible lyricist and it once again shows on this album. I have no complaints in terms of the lyrics, however some songs do feel a little like his other songs, but there isn’t anything wrong with that necessarily. (19/20)
- Vocal performance? – If there’s one thing that’s consistent throughout Gregory Porter’s albums, it’s his incredible singing. This album is of course no exception and he even experiments with some falsetto type sounds.(20/20)
- Musicality? – Musically, the album is very strong. The music stays tasteful, and the musicians show an incredible amount of skill in the songs. As much as I can complain about some of the music being a little slow for me, it’s almost impossible to say that the music isn’t good. In a world where the mainstream music is so incredibly mindless, slower, longer songs are often overlooked as being “boring” it’s nice to see that they still use such beautiful compositions, disregarding what many would consider to be “mainstream”. (19/20)
- Standout tracks? – Dear Mister Holland and Real Truth are definitely some of my favorites on the album and I’ll be listening to them again.
- Album low points? – As I said, some of the songs are very slow, and in a way difficult for me to focus on without allowing my mind to wander. I would say the main culprit of that is If Love is Overrated. It’s an absolutely beautiful song and I don’t necessarily want to say that it’s a low point, but it’s a song that you have to focus on or you’ll easily drift from it. (16/20)
- Bonus – Would I add it to my playlist? definitely the standout tracks, and although I do like the composition work of several of the songs, I wouldn’t necessarily add them to my playlist.
Additional notes – Real Truth strangely reminds me of Snarky Puppy and Animals as Leaders. Revival Song feels rooted in classic negro spirituals and church. In fact, many of the songs on the album are heavily related to gospel. Merry Go Round sounds like a waltz, but also slightly reminds me of the jazz standard Bluesette, although that could also be attributed to the 3/4 time signature.
Vince Score: 88
