Reviewed by Mike Rimmer

Signed to Word after their vice president saw them sing in the intimate surroundings of their own living room, Beyond The Blue's self-titled debut album combines the vocal talents of Marty Funderburk, Richard Kelly and Steve Smith. This is polished and exciting American pop music, a funky blue-eyed soul with the boys' harmonies very much to the fore. Horns are punchy, bass lines bobble, huge melodies pour forth so you can almost hear the dollars in this production. It opens with the irrepressibly up tunes "What A World" and "One Love" before the calm after the storm of "Reason For The Rain". Occasionally this has a Boys II Men feel about it and a very assured sound for a debut album. The other classy ballad is "I Know You Know" ends any doubt about this trio's vocal versatility. At the other extreme they revive the old O'Jay's classic "Love Train" in a respectable fashion. In America, these boys will definitely go the distance but over here, despite the excellence of production, singing, songwriting, I am left wondering whether us Brits can tell them apart from 4Him, Phillips, Craig And Dean, East To West and a host of other well produced talented CCM groups.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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