CD Review: Out On a Limb, by Wes Hampton

Last updated on: October 24, 2014 at 1:31 am by Esther O’Reilly

CD Review: Out On a Limb, by Wes Hampton 2014-10-24T01:31:19-04:00 Esther O’Reilly

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Out on a Limb (CD) Out On a Limb is a wide-release re-packaging of Gaither Vocal Band tenor Wes Hampton’s former table project Reality. It is his second solo effort, following 2011’s A Man Like Me, which I first reviewed at Southern Gospel Journal here. Blending Wes’s fresh, confident vocals with a batch of new songs from CCM hit-maker Sam Mizell and friends, it’s sure to satisfy most die-hard Hampton fans. But will it satisfy fans of great music and songwriting? Does it satisfy me as a fan of all of the above? And does anyone else think the cover looks like someone dropped a Land’s End photo shoot in the middle of a Gustav Dore engraving?

Likes

*Let’s get this out of the way first: I heart Wes Hampton’s voice. Sorry I don’t have anything more profound to add here, it’s just a fact. Okay, maybe I’ll say a bit more: Wes can take a run-of-the-mill song and lift it up a couple notches, because even if I’m uninterested in the song, I am interested in hearing the places his voice goes with it. It’s more powerful, more substantial, and has a much bigger range than your average CCM radio voice. At the same time, it’s pure, youthful, and easy to listen to.
* “Need Him the Most” features some guest vocals from the Martins, and it offers a welcome break from the samey, glossy pop sound that pervades most of the album with more of a countrified, Little Big Town feel. It sounds like the kind of thing Karen Peck & New River might have recorded. It’s also a good lyric.
* “Echo of You” is an elaborate worship affair featuring special guest vocals from Steve Green and David Phelps. All three vocalists get a chance to show off some glory notes with a pleasingly soaring melody. Granted, they’re very nearly drowned out by the track as the song reaches its climax, then keeps ringing the changes on said climax for another couple minutes until I’m going, “Gee, that’s one loud echo.” But no matter. It’s just so good to hear Steve’s voice, and he definitely holds his own here with the two young’uns. David who?
* “Nothing Can Take You From Me” is a tender, earnest ballad, spoken from the perspective of God to his child. In general, I shy away from tender, earnest ballads spoken in the voice of God, but Wes successfully melts my heart of stone.
* “My Father’s House” is a thoughtful lyric that pulls back a little bit and lets Wes paint a simple picture of heaven for us.

In my father’s house
There are rooms and rooms forever down the hall [
And in my father’s house
There’s a lot of family pictures on the walls…

* The closing “He is Here” is an exclusive live recording of one of Wes’s sugar sticks, plus a great harmony vocal from Marshall Hall. Finally, we actually get to hear Wes’s voice, and it sounds like it could have been a studio vocal.

Dislikes

*As I’ve already mentioned, there is way too much compressed sameness in the tracks. Most of them are full-blast from note one. (“Wrestling the Wind” cruelly offers my eardrums some hope with a promising piano-only intro, only to commence the attack after a few peaceful seconds.) While Hampton manfully rises above the noise with some soaring vocals, I believe he shines best with more restrained production, and I rarely felt like I was simply getting to hear him sing.
*The writing: Some of these songs fall into one of two categories: earworms, or songs that try to say something, but say it clunkily. As an example of the latter, “Eternal” is much too wordy, has an overly on-the-nose hook (“Who we are really matters. It makes a difference”), and sits awkwardly with the meandering melody. “You Can’t Hold Me Back” tries to be original but only winds up reminding the listener of how much more memorable Dallas Holm’s “Rise Again” was along the same lines.
* “Out On a Limb” (formerly titled “Me and God”) is a cute, catchy little tune dedicated to Wes’s boys, featuring some background vocals from them. The title of the album comes from the “Awww”-inducing chorus. But one piece of the lyric has me scratching my head. The verses have a series of “I’m not saying you can’t […], but you can’t […].” Example, “I’m not saying you can’t break my heart, but you can’t break my heart.” Well, that’s not true! For any parent, that’s obviously not true. How many parents’ hearts have indeed been broken by their children? Obviously, we pray that our children won’t break our hearts, but the song seems to be saying that it’s an impossibility. So that seems like a flaw.
* “Cross On a Hill”: This hot mess of a lyric deserves its own bullet point. It’s doubly frustrating because it’s one of the most musically interesting numbers on the album. I’m not sure who the female guest vocalist is, but she has a great voice. The track is a tasty bit of gospop. And divorced from context, the hook seems solid: “The only place to go to find the Father’s will is that cross on a hill.” Too bad it’s littered with cringe-worthy verses like this:

Will the war ever stop, will the fire cease?
Will we lay our weapons down?
Will the hands that we’re using to throw these stones
Ever open and re-focus their power?
[snip] Will the arguments fade into words of love?
Will we lay our egos down?
‘Cuz the lost don’t need to hear another opinion
They’d rather see what Jesus’ love is about

Okay, to start with, the line about “opening our hands to re-focus their power” is just silly. I couldn’t figure out whether the writer meant this:

…or maybe, this:

I’m personally going with this:

But I digress. The main problem is that this is badly-written, cliched stuff overall. And it’s not-so-subtly aimed at the valuable work of the Church’s culture warriors–people who happen to think our “opinions” on certain hot topics of the day actually do matter. Sorry if the writers get all bent out of shape over the word “warrior,” but I got a flash for them: Sometimes, saying “peace, peace” when there is no peace is worse than useless.
Conclusion: The entire album may not be worth the investment, but there are some cherries to be picked on iTunes. If you love Wes’s voice, you might be pleased like I was to hear him get another chance to step into the solo spotlight. But also like me, you might wish you could hear it a little better. Listen to some samples and draw your own conclusions. I give it 3.5 stars.
[Update: 5/6/15: The link is broken and has been removed.]

3.5 star

CD Reviews

Previous Post

October 22, 2014

Marriage in the Movies: Mrs. Doubtfire

Next Post

October 28, 2014 Hudson Taylor on Weeping For the Lost

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 3 star 3.5 star 4 star 4.5 star Anatomy of a Song Behind the Songs Blog Stuff Book Reviews CCM CCM vs. SG CD Reviews Christians in Entertainment Christmas Essential 12 Christmas Favorites Christmas Top Fives Concert Reviews Concerts Culture Devotional Thoughts Faith and Culture From the Vault Fun Gospel Singers Gospel Songs Great Music Guest Posts Harmony Master Classes History Holidays Humor Hymns Interviews Marriage in the Movies Monday Morning Humor Movie Reviews Movies Music NQC Odds and Ends Old Movies, New Eyes Old Southern Gospel News Old Stuff Open Threads Other Genres Perfect Tenor Performances Polls Questions and Answers Recently Added SG vs. The Rest of the World Sing It Again Songs Songwriting Southern Gospel Surprise Sunday The Definitive Hymns Theology Toe-to-Toe Top 10 Lists Top 5 Top 5 Lists Two Sisters Review Uncategorized Video Posts Youtube Finds

Select a Month August 2026 February 2025 August 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 October 2023 March 2023 February 2023 December 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 June 2020 March 2020 February 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 April 2018 September 2017 August 2017 May 2017 February 2017 December 2016 November 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What is the first commandment in the Ten Commandments?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Do not steal No other gods Do not murder Honor parents