Believe - Yolanda Adams

...years before her next album. Believe features two collaborations from as follows Karen Clark Sheard and T-Bone and the album was released on Elektra Records.

**Believe**

1 Never Give Up
2 I Gotta Believe
3 Fo' Sho'
4 Thank You
5 Song Of Faith
6 Unconditional
7 Anything
8 Only If God Says Yes
9 Since The Last Time I Saw You
10 I'm Gonna Be Ready
11 Darling ...
...Opening things up is the great ballad "Never Give Up" which was recorded in response to the terror attacks on the World Trade Centre on 11th September 2001. This is an inspiring song about standing strong despite challenging things in your life. "I Gotta Believe" is up next and this is a really impressive track which has an interesting beat which sounds like a mix between an R&B ballad and a dance track with it's stop start motion. ... more

**Introduction**

After reviewing Yolanda Adam's "Day by Day" I took a bit of time to decided which album to review next and I came up with this one as "Believe" was the previous album from Yolanda Adams. Released in 2001 this album was released four years before her next album. Believe features two collaborations from as follows Karen Clark Sheard and T-Bone and the album was released on Elektra Records.

**Believe**

1 Never Give Up
2 I Gotta Believe
3 Fo' Sho'
4 Thank You
5 Song Of Faith
6 Unconditional
7 Anything
8 Only If God Says Yes
9 Since The Last Time I Saw You
10 I'm Gonna Be Ready
11 Darling Girl
12 I'm Thankful

Opening things up is the great ballad "Never Give Up" which was recorded in response to the terror attacks on the World Trade Centre on 11th September 2001. This is an inspiring song about standing strong despite challenging things in your life. "I Gotta Believe" is up next and this is a really impressive track which has an interesting beat which sounds like a mix between an R&B ballad and a dance track with it's stop start motion. This is another very good track indeed which further develops thanks to the nice background orchestral part which adds a nice touch.

Track three "Fo' Sho'" brings the album onto a more upbeat hip hop feel but still keeping the Gospel roots. This is a very catchy duet with Karen Clark Sheard who's also a Gospel singer. This track blends the Gospel vocals with a heavier beat very well. Next up is "Thank You" which is a Jazzy Gospel track which showcases Adams' relaxed vocals to great effect. This is a real indication of her talent for delivery of a song. Vocals are superb, Music is superbly understated and this is just a very good track.

"A Song of Faith" is up next and this is one of the weaker tracks on the album, It starts well but the beat isn't the best and the lyrics don't come across as well as they possibly should. Decent enough but not a great track. Next up we have "Unconditional" which sadly is along the same lines as the previous track. Don't get me wrong it's by no means a bad track but thinking about some of the great material on the album these two tracks sadly fall short of the rest.

"Anything" gets us right back on track with a lovely R&B/Gospel ballad which has a great feel and is along the same lines as the opening track as it's feeling positive that you can reach your goal even when things are against you. Next up we have "Only If God says yes" which is another gentle track which has some very nice string sequences and is a very good track all round with some nice jazzy piano. Good stuff.

"Since the last time I saw you" is up next and this is another very very good track indeed. It opens with beautiful piano and strings with Yolanda's voice, This is a really beautiful track which is brilliantly sung by Yolanda Adams with hints of Whitney Houston about it. Next up is "I'm gonna be ready" which is another very good ballad which again has shades of Whitney about it. This is a really beautifully laid back track which you really need to just relax to listen to as then you'll totally get the beauty of it. Very good indeed.

Now we come to the final two tracks of this album, first up is "Darling Girl" which is a very very good track about her daughter from birth to growing up. Next up is the duet with T-Bone which is a very interesting track with mixes Gospel with Hip Hop and this really works. I particularly like the backing sounds which are very reminiscent of Hip Hop and This is a very enjoyable toe tapper of a song that ends the album brilliantly.

**Overall**

This is a very enjoyable album which fuses Gospel with R&B and Hip Hop seamlessly and is a showcase to Yolanda Adams' amazing voice. Although there is a slight dip in quality this album still deserves high marks so I am awarding this album four stars. There is some great stuff on the album, If you like albums that have several different styles together then you may just enjoy this album so have a listen and see what you think.

Also posted on dooyoo as Lakerfanster 

...less