Barnes and Noble Loves Prism!

PRISM: THE HUMAN FAMILY SONGBOOK
Beth Neilsen Chapman
BNC Records

Inspired by Archbishop Desmond Tutu's concept of a common humanity, Beth Neilsen Chapman continues a spiritual journey that began even before her celebrated 2004 collection of Catholic hymns, Hymns, with the moving meditations on life and death she penned in the wake of her husband's passing and unveiled on her powerful 1997 CD, Sand and Water. Exploring the universal spiritual light infusing diverse religions, Chapman here presents two discs of music. Disc 1 is comprised of original and traditional songs that examine the common ground shared by all faiths, sometimes within the same song (the propulsive, percussive "The Mystery"); each in its own way demonstrates as well a common humanity informing the different styles of music on this disc--pop-country on "God Is In (Goddess In)," hip-hop on "My Religion," a stately, stirring reading of the Protestant hymn "For the Beauty," and so forth, all rendered seamlessly, with conviction as profoundly deep as it is lovingly understated. Disc 2 takes the same tack, but with a critical difference: the yearnings expressed are similar to those on Disc 1, but on Disc 2 Chapman goes global, singing songs centered on the spiritual quest in nine different languages, including English (the stark, a cappella rendering of "The Flame"), Zulu, Welsh (her voice an ethereal near-whisper in a tender old Gaelic hymn, "Durrow"), Farsi, and others. She concludes her ambitious journey with a solemn "Navajo Chant" to summon the Great Spirit, as Bobby Klein adds a rumbling, commanding baritone vocal, accompanied only by John Ragusa's airy flute lines carrying these souls' humble appeal aloft, as if on an eagle's wings, born ceaselessy to a place where there'll be no distinction, but rather an embrace of all as one. Remarkable and challenging, Prism is the stuff of life, and Beth Neilsen Chapman's finest hour. -David McGee