CD Review – Gold City – “Somebody’s Coming”
Somebody's Coming - Gold City
It has been well documented about the numerous personnel changes that have contributed to the delay of this project being released. I’m not going to get into that and to be perfectly frank with you I’d given up blogging about the changes in Gold City. People would probably think I was recycling posts! In good conscience, there’s only so many ways you can write, “Gold City Replaces Tenor Singer”!
Currently, the line-up we have is Tim Riley on Bass, Danny Riley on Baritone, and Jerry Pelfrey on Lead and Dan Keeton on Tenor. Tim Riley’s return to full time SG was welcomed by many fans and peers alike. I highly doubt Gold City would have made it through all the personnel changes without the experience and “road hours” of Tim Riley.
The CD is refreshing yet familiar in its style. A perfect example of this is the country infused sounds of the opening track, “Peter, James and John”. Country music by its own characterisation tends to be familiar and in this is its strength, listeners are comfortable with familiarity. The song also showcases the blend of the new group to good effect. Probably my favourite cut from the album.
Overall the CD is a good project, it was never going to measure up to the iconic Pillars of Faith album of years gone by, but that was never the intention with “Somebody’s Coming”. The fans, me included, were very keen to see some stability and new material recorded, but ultimately, released.
Much has been said about the new lead singer, Jerry Pelfrey and his vocal resemblance to Ivan Parker. I do not really see that connection, Pelfrey has elements of Parker’s voice in his tones, but thankfully, he has his own voice to build upon and hopefully won’t be burdened with a former Gold City sound label. I thoroughly enjoyed his vocals on this project. He has a big range, showcased on songs like, “Lord of Life” and “Showers of Blessings”.
Overall it’s a very solid from Gold City. It gives a firm base from which to build upon from here. Hopefully the current group will be able to stay together and garner a bit of traction as they seek to move forward. Vocally they sound great together; I really did enjoy listening to the project as a whole. As good as it was, it left me thinking about the potential of this group. The current line – up of vocalists have a great deal more to offer. Just think of future projects,which would be tailored for this particular line up, in terms of song selection. The possibilities are endless.
