Tamplin

Item: In the Witness Box
Author: Michael Klein

In the Witness Box

(1995)

Reviewed by Michael Klein

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Label Benson Music GroupThe LighthouseSeptember 1995

aor hard rock melodic rock

Blistering guitar work, solid vocals, sensible lyrics and a feeling of high energy are all things that we have come to expect in a release by Ken Tamplin. His newest album, In The Witness Box, fulfills those expectations, but not in the way that I was expecting. Tamplin is in an enviable position in the Contemporary Christian Music industry; he can pretty much produce and record whatever he wants. That freedom has resulted, in this case, in an album that is almost annoying in its eclecticness.

The album begins with a standard rock power ballad, but then the next song asks the musical question, "What would AC/DC sound like if they sang Christian rock?" As one continues to listen, one will hear strains of Shout (not too surprising since he was 1/2 of that band, but his later music seemed to avoid that sound), Aerosmith ("Sing Hallelujah"), acoustic Led Zeppelin ("Faithfulness Is Hard To Find") and even Guns N' Roses ("Star Chamber"). He also includes a version of "Signed, Sealed And Delivered" that was surprising in that, rather than giving the song a hard rock feel, Tamplin seems to go out of his way to make it sound as much like the original as possible. (Well, he does change the word "baby" to "Savior" to make the lyrics more "Christian"). There are some other songs that sound like vintage Tamplin. When The Beatles released their White Album people argued whether songs like "Back In The USSR" were tributes to or satires of other bands (specifically The Beach Boys in this case.) In my opinion, Tamplin is doing his version of a tribute to a variety of bands, but in a way that's true to his faith.

Tamplin has again surrounded himself with quality musicians and has taken the time to polish the production values. Every instrument sounds good and the final product is very well mixed. My only complaint is that it seems like there was not any rhyme or reason for the placement of the songs. With all of the different song types included, the album would have had more cohesiveness if there weren't as many abrupt transitions between louder and quieter, faster and slower songs.

While there isn't a real theme throughout this release, the songs are all encouraging. The lyrics are non-controversial, theologically sound, and pleasant. If a non-Christian would enjoy the mixture of song types, the lyrics certainly wouldn't bother him.

The sheer variety of styles and the seemingly random song order made this album an initial struggle to enjoy. By the time that I'd listened to it several times, I began to appreciate it more and more. I'd recommend this release, but you may want to take the time to preview it first.