Search - Rance Allen :: Up Above My Head

One of the world's seven vocal wonders!

Tholly Rosmundsdottir | Reykjavik, Iceland | 03/25/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It is rare that I give five stars but this guy is just too much, man! When I gave him airplay on my radioshow here in Iceland the telephone lines wouldn't stop. "Who's that you're playing"? Well, his name is Rance Allen.When Rance signed up in Memphis 1971 with Truth, a sublabel of Stax Records, not only the world of gospel music was taken by surprise. Who had ever heard a singer do something like that? It sounds totally effortless how Rance Allen falls from a whining falsetto into a deep, growling bass, employing powerful scats all the way. Born in 1950, in Michigan, he started to appear on stage as a five year old. "Little Rance Allen - The boy preacher" the posters proclaimed. As a seven year old, the wonder boy was taught how to play the piano and the guitar. Whether Ray Charles or the Temptations, "I took everything that I've heard along with me...", Rance Allen comments on his practise of covering secular hits. "And I changed them in a way that I could play them in Church".So what you have on this cd is gospel soul music even with some funk flavour at times. A good mixture of upbeat, hotbuttered soul and beautifully moving ballads. My favourite of the slower tunes is Allen's wonderful rendition of the song "For once in my life" which he turns into a testimonial of God's love for him. Beautifully done!My final words are: If you ain't never heard of Rance Allen, YOU NEED TO CHECK THIS GUY OUT!!!"