Prime Cuts: His Record, Turning Around for You, Greatest Man (with Israel Houghton)

Mitchell has set the bar sky high with his last release Triumphant. With last year's mega hit "Nobody Greater" garnering him 11 Stellar Award nominations (the most ever received by an artist in a single year) and a Grammy nomination, Mitchell has become the newest patent in Gospel music.  Not only that, Billboard magazine has also declared "Nobody Greater" the #1 Most Played Song of 2011.  And the accolades avalanched when Mitchell was heralded as Billboard #1 Gospel Radio Artist of 2011 and Triumphant was crowned the Top 5 Gospel Albums of 2011. 

How does Mitchell follow-up such a stratosphere of popularity?  Instead of coveting the more lucrative hip-hop trail as most Gospel artists would do, Mitchell has decided to stick with what he does best: Gospel music heavily influenced by R&B of the70s and 80s.  Recorded live in Harvey, IL, Created 4 This has everything you would expect from a stellar Gospel live recording.  This includes a heavenly backing choir, a call-and response between Mitchell and the congregation, reciting the lyrics just before they are sung and exhorting the crowd with little homiletic snippets.  Most importantly Mitchell takes the time to worship, interact and minister to his congregation in each song; so listening to this disc is more like being in church rather that just sitting in front of the stereo pallidly. 

Most appealing about Mitchell is that he has a gorgeous and strident tenor that sounds gorgeously worshipful on the ballads.  Thankfully there are spades of ballads here.  With great pastoral sensitivity wan of any pretense lead single "Turning Around for You" is a faith-filled exhortation about the transcendent nature of suffering.  Here Mitchell takes his time (with the song going for over 8 minutes) to interact with the pain of his congregation; vicariously you can't help but feel ministered to.  Contrast this with the sermonic "His Record" where Mitchell litanies a record of God's faithful acts in the Bible over a garish piano-based ballad.  One can't help but hear echoes of Israel Houghton's "Jesus at the Center" on the assertive and confident ballad "Greatest Man."  And such familiarity is understandable considering that Houghton not only has a hand in penning the song but he also adds his sturdy vocals augmenting to the song's surging message.   "Status," on the other hand, has an R Kelly-esque polished touch to it giving it a contemporary feel to it that ought to ignite radio waves if it were released as a single.

One gets nervous when artists start re-visiting their past hits.  This is because often many of them could not re-create the aura of magic associated with the originals.  Thankfully, when Mitchell strings together his big hits "Nobody Greater" and "Name Above All Names" with Chris Tomlins' "Our God" he not only sounded fresh but he has a way of inviting us to sing-a-long with gusto especially when we come to Tomlins' "Our God."  While many gospel albums are often criticized for their lack of restrain making the whole listening experience devoid of any reflection and contemplation, Mitchell avoids such a pitfall. With "Awesome God"-here he harkens back to his former role as choir director as he leads a heavenly sounding choir in contemplative worship.  American alum Fantasia Barrino and her mother Diane join Mitchell add their vocals on a re-make of Tramine Hawkins'  "The Potter's House."  Sounding like a young Patti LaBelle Fantasia and her Cece Winan-sounding alike mom really brought down the house on this brooding gospel number based on Jeremiah 18.   

As for the perky numbers "Psalm 150" is a great praise starter:  Scripturally informed, assertive and inviting, this ought to be a future church favorite.   While the title cut "Created 4 This" and "Faithful" are listenable without being that much of a standout. On the whole, Created 4 This is testimonial that Mitchell is not a one big album fluke.  With such a plethora of worshipful ballads crafted with astute Scripturally-driven insights sung with passion, these songs provide the podium for Mitchell to invite us into church to worship our awesome God!