Beyond The Blue

Item: Beyond The Blue
Author: Tim Sharpe

(1996)

Reviewed by Tim Sharpe

Discogs Apple Music Spotify YouTube Music

Label Word RecordsThe LighthouseJune 1996

ccm r&b soul

Beyond the Blue is a true "overnight success story" if I've ever heard one. Practically no sooner had Marty Funderburk, Richard Kelly, and Steve Smith joined forces and moved to Nashville, they were giving a living room concert for one of Word Records' top A&R men, Lynn Keesecker. The next day, Keesecker brought this newly formed trio into Word's offices and had them sing. There was so much excitement in the offices that day that people were sitting on the floor and crowding the halls to hear this new prospect. After that, it didn't take long for them to be offered a record deal and to secure the opening slot in Mark Lowry's Mouth in Motion Tour.

Unfortunately, Beyond the Blue is bursting into an industry that is quickly filling with hyper-talented new artists. A new artist has to be something really special to grab a buyer's attention.

Beyond the Blue is loaded with talent. Their intricate harmonies are the best that could come out of only three voices. The problem is that the quality of the songs offered does not match up with the quality of this group. Part of the problem is that the songs are over-produced. R&B is a very simple style, but it seems like Nelson wanted to graft too much pop into this project. The best example of this is the project's opener, "What A World." This song toggles between R&B and pop too often, making it sound a bit disjointed.

One of the highlights of the album is a remake of The O'Jay's classic "Love Train." I hesitate to use the word "remake," however, because this version sounds almost exactly like the original. It also would have helped if this song hadn't recently been used in a Diet Mug Root Beer ad campaign. Another highlight is the first radio single off this project, "For The Sake Of My Heart." There's almost no R&B to speak of in this song, but it's an enjoyable power ballad nonetheless.

This group has a lot of potential. I would like to see them match up with a more established R&B producer. I enjoyed this project, but I think that it could have been better. It has a lot of appeal, especially to fans of harmony-based music like Take 6.