Between Two Worlds

Description

Between Two Worlds is the sophomore and final album by the British gospel singer and songwriter Lavine Hudson, released in the UK on 10 ‎Records in 1991, an imprint of Virgin ‎Records active from the mid 1980s to the mid 1990s. Also released on Sparrow Records in the US. Half of the songs were produced and arranged by Rhett Lawrence, a couple of tracks were produced by Lemel Humes, and Carl McIntosh and Nicki Brown produced one track each as well.

The gospel laid down by Lavine Hudson, the sweet British songstress too-long absent from Yank music racks, is soft and stylized, in tune with folks for whom Michael Bolton and Mariah Carey make perfect aural wallpaper.

But background is not where Hudson should be relegated. Here is a more pliant, vocal tone than most of her “light hits radio” competition. Her lyrical conception of the Divine is one not given to the flights of narcissism nor desperate love-pleading rampant among those whose work Hudson’s would complement.

Hudson in ‘Between Two Worlds’ sees God as love’s provider at a humanity that isn’t managing peaceably on its own. She tells the prodigal that «You’re Still Loved», though this is still a «Heartless Generation» that is wont to leave the homeless «Turned Away».

Her heart for the homeless is shared by Phil “Another Day in Paradise” Collins, writer of the album’s first single, and affirmation of God’s nurturing truth in «All I Need». Her own gift for metaphor is more oblique; the self-penned «Nature» could as easily be taken as a paean to creation’s beauty as it could be for the Creator’s intention for us to get along (minus the predatory instinct, one surmises).

There is sand mixed in with this sugar. Girlfriend gets a li’l raw generally when the tempo heats up to danceably warm. Most club-minded is «A Little Sensitivity», though «Keep Your Mind» could penetrate light into the thicket of the neon jungle, too.

Within the confines of making an adult-aimed black pop album, Lavine Hudson and producer Rhett Lawrence – with vocal support from Philip Bailey, Sabrina Johnston, the Andrae Crouch Choir, et al – have largely suceeded in meshing timeless verities to music verily deserving the attention of the mellow generation. [Jamie Lee Rake, CCM June 1992]

The all-important second album for Lavine and Virgin have wheeled out the guns. Phil Collins has written a song, Phil Bailey and BeBe Winans sing backups, Rhett Laurence (Maria Carey) produces most of the tracks. The Collins song «All I Need» lets her make use of her lower register where she sounds well soulful. Lavine has an impressive range but too many stratospheric high notes can be a bit wearing. The strength of «All I Need» is that it’s got a built-in solid chorus – a real pop song in fact. But you can see why Collins left it off the ‘But Seriously’ album. Lyrically, it’s not really saying much – there’s no lyrical hooks to go with the musical hooks. This is a weakness of the album as a whole. It’s difficult for gospel trying to move into “inspirational” mould. When you take out the admittedly often banal lyrical content of traditional style gospel you’re left with warmed-over-soul of the let’s-all-join-hands-and-save-the-world variety. About half the tracks come into this category while the others are mostly about L-O-V-E (a generalised Cosmic Love that could emanate from Heaven, Boyfriend or Brothers and Sisters). The production throughout is safe and clean in a very Los Angeles kind of way. There’s no doubt Lavine’s got a voice that could melt vinyl given the right song to sing. But like a lot of great singers she feels under pressure to be a songwriter as well as an interpreter of other people’s material. On the evidence of this album she hasn’t yet got the chops to come up with an album’s worth of songs. Sadly, not so much between two worlds as between two stools. [James Attlee, Cross Rhythms, October 1991]

CD tracklist:

01. Keep Your Mind
02. All I Need
03. Let’s Build A World
04. Nature
05. Tell Me Why
06. You’re Still Loved
07. Turned Away
08. A Little Sensitivity
09. Hold On Thru The Night
10. Heartless Generation
11. Bring Back The Love
12. You’re Still Loved (Reprise)
13. Stand

Note: Simultaneously released on cassette, 12-inch vinyl LP, and CD by 10 Records, with the cassette and CD versions featuring an extra track, “Turned Away”.