Kim Burrell Try Me Again Soundtrack CD

Try Me Again shows how fully formed Burrell's unique gospel style was even at the beginning of her career. Beginning with its soulful opener, "Prayer Changes Things," which has the jazzy, mellow feel of an early Roberta Flack side, Try Me Again is that rarity, a gospel album more dependent on gentle understatement than revival tent fervor. Even on the most impassioned tracks, like the choir-supported "Home," Burrell sings with easy grace, never over-souling her songs with unnecessary melisma or other grating vocal tics, and her production emphasizes rootsy, old-school instrumentation instead of the glossy synths that have crept into so many CCM albums. All in all, Try Me Again is a sensational debut that matches Kim Burrell's better-known later albums and deserves a wider profile. ~ Stewart Mason

A reissue of Kim Burrell's 1997 debut album with a different and better cover photo and a previously unreleased bonus track, "Magnify Him," recorded during the album's sessions, Try Me Again shows how fully formed Burrell's unique gospel style was even at the beginning of her career. Beginning with its soulful opener, "Prayer Changes Things," which has the jazzy, mellow feel of an early Roberta Flack side, Try Me Again is that rarity, a gospel album more dependent on gentle understatement than revival tent fervor. Even on the most impassioned tracks, like the choir-supported "Home," Burrell sings with easy grace, never over-souling her songs with unnecessary melisma or other grating vocal tics, and her production emphasizes rootsy, old-school instrumentation instead of the glossy synths that have crept into so many CCM albums. All in all, Try Me Again is a sensational debut that matches Kim Burrell's better-known later albums and deserves a wider profile. ~ Stewart Mason

Reissue Of Debut W/ 1 Bonus Track.

Photographer: Gary Johnson.

Unknown Contributor Role: Andrew Gouche.

Arrangers: Kim Burrell; Luke Austin; Kelvin McClendon; Chris 'Daddy' Dave.

Personnel: Kim Burrell (piano, Fender Rhodes piano, background vocals); Kim Burrell (vocals); Chris 'Daddy' Dave (guitar, keyboards); Barry Jackson (guitar, bass guitar); Mike Morrison (guitar); Luke Austin (strings, brass, horns, piano, organ, keyboards, bass guitar, background vocals); Kelvin McClendon (piano); Leon Lewis (organ); Michael Neuble, Jeremy Gaddie, Teddy Campbell, Chris Dave (drums); Jimmy Hill, Kathryn Young (background vocals).

Recording information: Houston Sounds, Houston, TX.

Rolling Stone (p.176) - 3 stars out of 5 - "She's a jazz-influenced contortionist....[With] breathtaking improvised petitions to the higher power."