THE STEELES - HEAVEN HELP US ALL

The Steeles are a gospel quartet consisting of four siblings from Minneapolis, Minnesota. They gained national exposure through their work with Prince. They've gone on to release solo and group albums. I've never found them interesting enough to follow; so I'm sure you're not surprised to learn my interest in this disc revolves around the track, 'Well Done' written by Prince.

For the most part; barring the Prince track, the disc is rather generic and uneventful. The music is standard gospel fare without any unique or compelling ideas. The bulk of the material features songwriting by J.D. Steele, who proves to be adept at writing praise songs; however, they are fairly basic and uninspired. Not even small choir vocal tricks can make a boring song interesting. Doesn't mean they don't try.

The Prince track, though not an actual praise/gospel song, is a reflective piece with a staggered but driving rhythm. It concerns itself with the theme faith without effort is wasted. "Well done is much better than well said". It espouses the idea if you really want to see changes in your life, get off your butt and do something rather than praying and waiting for god to change it for you. I quite like the message and find it somewhat out of place with the rest of the material and yet appropriate at the same time.

The only other noteworthy track on this disc is 'Big God'. This track isn't written by J.D. or Prince. It features a lot of ambient sounds and is rather eclectic. It's a stunning vocal arrangement. I'm taken with the off-beat quality of the song. It is, in a word, "well done." My final words: HARDLY NOTEWORTHY.

THE STEELES - HEAVEN HELP US ALL
01. Heart In My Hand
02. Tide Keep Lifting Me
03. Never Get Over You
04. Well Done
05. I Don't Wanna Be Without U
06. Heaven Help Us All
07. It'll Be Alright
08. Oh What A Gift
09. Those Were The Days
10. Big God