Sandi Patty “The Ultimate Collection Vol. 1: Celebrating 35 Years as the Voice of Christian Music” Album Review

It's by no means fortuitous that Sandi Patty is known as the "Voice."  Over the last 35 years, she has blessed us with her luxurious and open-throated vocals; an asset that has brought her the admiration of fans and the accolades of her peers.  This is evidenced by her forty Dove trophies, five Grammy awards, four Billboard Music Awards, three platinum records, five gold records, and eleven million units sold.  In her career prime, Patty has the prowess to pack out the largest arenas and concert halls where she staged 200 shows a year with a touring entourage of 30 staff members.  And if you want proof of Patty's vocal supremacy:  take a listen to her number one hit "They Could Not." Starting off this epic ballad about Christ's undefeatable victory cautiously and contained, she slowly pours in her soul, slips in some churchy phrasing, holds the notes longer and by the time the crescendo comes she is in her vocal soaring glory.  In our day and age where singers are relying more on the groove and grime to drive their songs, Sandi Patty is a(n) (inter)national treasure.     

Growing up in Phoenix and later San Diego, Patty had the first taste of singing "Jesus Loves Me" in church when she was only two.  And by the tender age of 23, she had already released her debut record "Sandi's Song."  Due to a printer's faux pas, her name was misspelt as "Patti;" and the moniker stuck with her for the next fifteen years until she revert back to her original spelling.  Over the years, Patty has served the church and Christians with slew of hits such as "In Heaven's Eyes," "How Majestic is Your Name," and "Love in Any Language" amongst many others.  "The Ultimate Collection Vol. One" is the first road trip down memory lane where this collection pays a visit to some of Patty's earlier hits from the 80s.  Only two ("Another Time, Another Place" and "Hand on My Shoulder") out of the fifteen cuts appear on albums after the 1980s.  Since the 1980s was the decade of big, curly and bouffant hair styles, the music likewise is heavily orchestrated with lots of open-jawed flaunts of one's sheer vocal muscle. 

To this end, Patty's 1988 "Make His Praise Glorious" is choked full of her virtuosic singing including the Steven Curtis Chapman penned "Love Will Be Our Home." Also from the same record is "In Heaven's Eyes."  Taking the vantage of how God looks at us, here Patty has canonized some of the most memorable words about God's grace as she sings:  "In heaven's eyes, there are no losers, in heaven's eyes no hopeless cause/Only people like you with feelings like me amazed by the grace we can find/In heaven's eyes." Easily classified as the definitive Sandi Patty album is 1986's "Morning Like This."  Three songs are included here including the worshipful ballad "In the Name of the Lord" and the choir-led Gospel influenced "Let There Be Praise."  But the cynosure (and arguably Patty's best song career wise) is "Love in Any Language."  While many songs today struggle to trigger any hint of remembrance after the song is repeated ten times, "Love in Any Language" instantaneously etches to the memory in a way that never lets go.  And the lyrics which speaks of how love transcends language, race and culture resounds with so much Biblical truths.

If you have been raised in church, you would somehow have heard the Michael W. Smith penned "How Majestic is Your Name," Dottie Rambo's "We Shall Behold Him" and the hymn "It is Well with My Soul."  Patty showcases what a deft interpreter of songs she is.  Her ability to take these paeans and injects in them life, passion and heart leaves a tantalizing joy in our souls.  However, some of her older songs such as "The Day He Wore My Crown" age not as well with its dated production and its muffled sounds.  During the 1980s and into the early 90s, Patty could do no wrong.  And this collection is a testimony of what a talented artist she is in drawing us closer to Jesus via these songs.  This leaves us in bated breath as we eager for the advent of the second volume.

 

 

 

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