The Bottom Line
Brother's Keeper is a good band. They are one of the few groups out there that can nail it a cappella and they don't sound bad with music either. But they need to pick a style and stick to it. This release started out with an A/C sound that worked, but they ran out of gas about mid-way through and, with the exception of "Cross of Christ," it went downhill from there. The problem, it seems, is that they started trying to sound like someone else. BK as BK works ... don't fix what ain't broken!
Pros
- Guest vocals by Mark Harris, Rick Heil, Todd Agnew, Scott Krippayne, Russ Lee and others
- Extremely tight harmonies
Cons
- "Soap" - while the psuedo-hip-hop thing may be different - it's not a Brother's Keeper's thing.
- "Noah" - The lyrics sound like something straight out of Sunday school class when I was six.
Description
- Style: AC/Pop
- 10 songs
- Released: January 2006
Guide Review - Brother's Keeper - 'Beyond Beautiful'
I've liked Brother's Keeper since their first album came out, so I was eagerly anticipating this release. The men of BK have an incredible ability to pull harmonies that most other bands only dream about. Lyrically, they make sure that their music is truly their ministry. They nailed the harmonies on Beyond Beautiful, as they usually do and lyrically, had some impressive "I can relate" moments. Take "He Took the Scars" ...
- "Sometimes I think about the cross that He endured. Laying down His life unselfishly. And how His suffering, means I can rest assured. In His saving grace, when He took our place ... He took the scars, felt the pain, suffered loss so we could gain.
Sure, it's stating the obvious, but since it's easy to overlook the bottom line sometimes, the song served as a gentle reminder of what we should never forget.
"Walk With Me," a song about Christian accountability and brotherhood that featured Scott Krippayne, Newsong's Michael O'Brien, Sonicflood's Rick Heil, Bob Carlisle, 4HIM's Mark Harris, Todd Agnew, Russ Lee and David Phelps lending their considerable talents hit the mark lyrically and vocally. So what happened toward the end of the album? "Noah" goes a little far in oversimplifying "feel good" music.
- They said he's crazy building a boat. They said 'Hey Noah is this some kind of joke?' But he obeyed God's command and built that ark with his own hands.
Little kids may adore it, but, like the "we're going to do hip-hop" song "Soap," it didn't work for me.
