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  Nineteen  The nineteen-year-old shows vast promise on his self-released praise and worship project, Nineteen. Lovingly assembled, from album art and packaging though to song choice and delivery, Lam shows himself effective in putting his heart on disc.The emphasis throughout is on the soulful ballad, with Lam working his rich tenor pipes in a color and style reminiscent of noted worship psalmist, Gary Oliver. Lam writes much of the material on the project, and collaborates with musicians who show a kinship to the tenderness of his expression. From the choir-backed "I Choose To Sing" and "One More Reason" (with choir arrangements from Chicago's Dr. Rollo A. Dilworth), to the jazz-inflected , funky and strongly percussive "Back On My Knees", Lam is comfortable in diverse settings. On "Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow" (written together with Susie Lam), he sings of God's constant love over his own rippling piano accompaniment. Fast-paced lyricism and nice vocal phrasing mark the song. Straight up worship songs such as "You Give Me Hope" and "I Want To Come Home" are singer/songwriter gems.  "I Come To You" is a good example of the variety of expressions and tones that Lam has at his disposal. Equally at home in an easy falsetto as he is in his rich, lower register, Lam consistently uses his voice to convey the depth of the message in his lyrics. Give him credit for resisting the temptation (which must be great) to veer off into showboat vocals, because he's got the pipes to do that.Lam nicely handles "The Prayer", bringing in Tiffany Thurston on this remake of the David Foster ballad recently made popular by Donnie McClurkin and Yolanda Adams (and before that, by Andrea Bocelli and Celine Dion). Lam doesn't stray too far from the familiar arrangement, and it's nice to hear the song with some varied voices. With music like this, no wonder that John Paul Lam was recently honored with a first place award in the Gospel Music Association's 2004 Spotlight Vocal Solo 1 Competition.
Email This To A Friend independent — reviewed by Stan North —
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