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"Sarah Kelly"? The casual listener who's never heard this name may glance at Kelly's solo project and see the following ingredients: Gotee Records, girl with guitar, and praise and worship music artist. Tempting to think: "Another Jennifer Knapp" who's "jumpin' on the praise and worship bandwagon"? Ditch these stereotypical ideas and go to the heart of this artist, who has been nurtured in praise and worship music long before this genre was an industry standard. Kelly may actually be one of the first rock and roll artists who's put together a very solid guitars-keyboard-drums-bass textured project fills a solid-rock praise and worship void. The only comparison between Knapp and Kelly is that they both have incredibly strong, career-building solo projects released on Gotee which will impact audiences. I'm not surprised that I can't get Kelly's Take Me Away out of my CD player. Why?

Kelly has a background in composing and recording from the Rockford Masters Commission and is simply moving forward, adding more guitars and keyboards (erasing the "girl with guitar" stereotype, Kelly plays guitar and keyboards), and has written or co-written every song from her debut solo project. Her voice has always had a strong quality, and listeners may note an intriguing similarity to vocal inflections of Janis Joplin (skip straight to "Please Forgive Me" for perhaps some Big Brother and the Holding Company flashbacks). Kelly's producer, Jeremy Hunter, certainly exercised her strong vocal talents to the max on this project, allowing her to let it go all-out where absolute intensity demands it, as well as holding back just slightly as intimate worship moments occur in this project. While there is good variety on _Take Me Away,_ the pacing of the sound on Take Me Away is incredibly well-planned.

There's an excellent intensity in each song from Take Me Away, beginning with a solid undergirding of guitar-texture of the title track, merging into "With You," settling slightly with an introspective "Living Hallelujah," and a slightly Buddy Holly-esque "Forever." The flow of this entire project is simply brilliant, with a climax of "Matter of Time" (inspired by Paul and Silas' plight in prison, when they sang praises to God) and a denouement of a seemingly calm "All I See." Simply, Take Me Away rocks!

This idea leads me to a word of warning to those who enjoy rock praise music: do not drive or operate heavy machinery while listening to this recording. Not only does the music rock, but the lyrics demand the listener's attention. Backing up to the aforementioned "Matter of Time," in explaining God's faithfulness, Kelly sings, "I choose to trust you / even through the fire / even when my eyes can't see / I know you're right beside me / I will always praise you Lord / No matter what may come / You're always faithful to me." These lyrics are all full of substance. Kelly doesn't praise God for His faithfulness; she explains how He has been faithful, and that ingredient alone makes these songs very satisfying for the audience in either sheer listening or thoughtful worshipping mode. These lyrics will grab the audience's attention in either mode.

Take Me Away is a near-flawless debut project, and there is only one deficiency that makes this project less than perfect. At just under 41 minutes long, another song of a different variety (such as "Please Forgive Me")--or another heart-stopper such as the title track or "Matter of Time"--would complete the fruition of Take Me Away. It flies away too fast for me. After all, I am certain that this project is just a mere prelude for things we'll hear in the future from this artist.

"Sarah Kelly." That name's going to stick like glue, and Take Me Away is one of the best debut projects from any artist I have ever heard.

Olin Jenkins   October 31, 2004