Witness Protection
Artist: Dave Hollister

http://www.myspace.com/theofficialdavehollister 
Label: Zomba Gospel
Time: 16 tracks / 76:09
 
I have to admit right off the bat – the electronic percussion effects that are infesting the whole Urban Gospel industry are really starting to get to me. I’ve reached the saturation point for programmed drums, non-human hand-claps, clicks, pops, faux finger-snaps and – please help me – that annoying plopping/dripping sound! I’m really losing it, folks. OK: back to Dave Hollister….
 
Mr. Hollister is a talented singer who seems to have mastered all of the techniques and sounds of the current Urban Gospel scene, which works both for and against his current project, Witness Protection. It’s hard to listen to this project without immediately making comparisons to other artists of the genre. Right from “I’m Here,” the first track, Hollister’s main vocal style evokes J Moss while the back-up vocals call to mind Fred Hammond. And, yes – much of the music has the generic quality that so many genre albums seem to have lately. The electronic vocal processing, the clipped phrasing (from artists capable of much better), and of course the dreaded electronic percussion effects I’ve already lamented about.
 
On songs like “Standing,” a song with excellent lyrics about fear, faith and hope for the day and its creative use of strings in a funky environment, Hollister shows the potential to offer more than the standard-issue contemporary Gospel album.  It’s an interesting experiment that stands pretty much alone amidst a collection of mostly clichéd tracks, such as “Striving,” which immediately follows and is an audio primer on all that’s wrong with current trends.
 
As if the project needed something else to make the clichés complete, we get a children’s choir fighting against some runaway percussion on “I Know I Can,” a well-intentioned song with as generically inspirational a lyric as you’ll ever come across.
 
It’s unfortunate to realize that there’s definitely wasted talent and a good heart at work here. Good intentions and talent can’t overcome a lack of creativity and inspiration, though, and it seems as if this project suffers from an over-abundance of technical and stylistic savvy. Witness Protection has its moments, but they’re just moments. There are no surprises here and, unfortunately, no performances powerful enough to overcome the too-familiar musical territory the artist is made to walk through.
 
In an unusual move, the latter portion of the project gets ballad-heavy, featuring songs with a lush veneer and a more piano-driven approach. It’s as if the producer couldn’t decide what direction to go with these songs, so they were stacked up at the end of the album, almost sounding like a different (and possibly more effective) project of their own. 
 
It would be interesting to hear what Hollister would sound like without the template of J Moss, The Winans, Tonex and the current crop of Urban Gospel and Hip Hop producers’ influence on his sound. I wouldn’t be surprised if Dave Hollister is a powerful performer in a live context with a minimal back-up band. There’s a spark on some of the album’s ballads, but the over-processed, synth-heavy production saps much of the life out of even those tracks. There’s no shortage of talent on this project: as a matter of fact, Hollister seems to have it all – except his own sound. 
 
…and somebody, please – can those electronic percussion effects!
 
-Bert Saraco
http://www.myspace.com/expressimage      
http://expressimagephoto.tripod.com 
 
 
Add a half a tock if a generic, contemporary Urban Gospel hybrid is what you’re looking for.