What is this? Gospel TaeBo?

Yes. With Billy Blanks standing behind it and everything.

TaeBo’s founder and mega-promoter makes no guesswork about where he stands in his faith. His testimony is right there on the CD cover, confessing that even with all his success, he “wasn’t happy as a person until [he] met Jesus Christ”.

Designed to pump up the praise in your TaeBo routine (or simply for use in your regular aerobics time), this ‘inspirational soundtrack’ is chock full of high energy originals from artists on the New Spirit Music label.

“Highest Praise” slams as the opening track, with its fast-paced contemporary rhythm and synth track that’s grooved by Eddie Howard and The St. James Choir. Howard certainly knows how to invigorate. The aural sledgehammer drops again on “I’ve Been Delivered”.

David Dawson is also featured on several cuts, bringing the same combo of smooth and ’sanded-down’ grit that is all over his own solo project, That's The Love.

Debbie Austin steps in on “I’ll Do Your Will”, her familiar voice running over the percolating track, and on “Nobody Like Him”, new artist Chit Chat impresses as well.

David Dawson

David Dawson's debut effort is a studio project that brings a nicely planned mix of urban styles to the table, which are rooted in old school soul (both instrumentally and vocally), but definitely track into the uptempo contemporary. Click on the CD image above to check out the full review.

More than a few cuts bring smiles with their double meanings. The apostle Paul was the first to use analogies such as are peppered all over this CD, comparing our spiritual walk in Jesus Christ to ‘winning the race’ (1 Cor 9:24) and ‘fighting the good fight’ (2 Tim 4:7).

“Future Worth Fighting For” uses such an analogy. Dawson’s gritty old school vocal approach is a great fit alongside the St. James Choir on this inspirational track. “He Can Work It Out” is another, switching up ‘work it out’ to ‘He can work it out’. Howard pounds out vocals on this extra-oomphed cut.

Any workout soundtrack needs energetic beats to keep the pace going, and this certainly fulfills that requirement. But the joy of this album is the quality of vocals that are so much a part of the nine songs. Soulful and power-packed, this stomps out any of that dreaded sterility that can too often plague albums designed for workouts.

So abandon those techno jams and opt for this intense accompaniment that’s made for your moves, and your praise.