Tribute albums are tricky things. When they succeed, they can say new things with their material and even stand on their own, appealing to fans and newcomers alike.
It is no easy task that the creators of Strong Hand Of Love, a tribute to the songwriting genius of the late Mark Heard, have set for themselves. That the task is a difficult one even by the standards of the genre is a tribute to the quality of Heard's work; that it mostly succeeds is a testimony to the talents of the producers and performers. Strong Hand Of Love eschews the single-band approach in favor of tracks contributed by a variety of the most talented performers in Christian music. Unlike the recent I Predict A Clone, full of pale imitations or arrangements so different from the originals, this remains closer to the original recordings.
Several tracks were taken from other albums, while many make their debut here. The tone and quality of the album should leave anyone unfamiliar with Heard's material with a good sense of Heard's style, rather than of the performers. In one sense this is a missed opportunity for the performers to say something new with the songs, but the presence of artists like DC Talk's Kevin Smith, The Call's Michael Been, The Vigilantes of Love, and Chagall Guevara means few dull moments.
The tone of the album is, perhaps, too even. Musically, most of the songs represent Heard's mellower side and some of Heard's most incisive lyrics are missing. The absence of songs from Mosaics or Victims Of The Age, for example, is unfortunate. So many performers wanted to contribute to this project, however, that a second tribute album is slated for this fall, so it's possible that such a judgment is premature. It's doubtful any one album could do Heard justice in any case, and I hope that this tribute will mean a belated surge of interest in Heard's work.
