CD Review: NewWorldSon “Rebel Transmission” fabulous

Are you in need of uplift­ing both lyri­cal­ly and musi­cal­ly? With its lat­est CD, “Rebel Trans­mis­sion,” New­World­Son inter­twines the two into a bril­liant trip down numer­ous musi­cal lanes while jog­ging the mind with a poignant view of the world and a mes­sage of hope.

I hear influ­ences of The Beach Boys, The Supremes, The Temp­ta­tions, Smokey Robin­son and the Mir­a­cles and then there’s this lit­tle song — Selah — that places you right at a table in smoke-filled New Orleans juke joint. Deep on Track 8, “Selah” is a fun sur­prise start­ing with a snare drum beat, add in some keys and you can just see the patrons danc­ing a jit­ter­bug. The song’s about how God works in mys­te­ri­ous ways.

Once upon a time there was a mean old man
Used to fall asleep beside a garbage can
Then some­body said he met the Holy Dove
Now you nev­er met some­one so filled with love

Lead vocal­ist Joel Parisien takes on numer­ous forms — from the bal­lads of the cur­rent radio hit, “Learn­ing To Be the Light” and “Today” to a taste of Motown on “Home­less Child” and “Son of Man,” and even a bit of coun­try with “Sweet Grace,” com­plete with ped­al gui­tar. The Cana­di­an band that got its start in a jazz club keeps the lis­ten­er inter­est­ed with a diverse tone and beat through­out the CD.

“5,6, 7, 8” is a fast-paced dance num­ber with hints of Rare Earth and The Temp­ta­tions, includ­ing “funky” drum and bass solos and a few “na na na’s and di di di’s thrown in with these lyrics:

I live on 5678 Get Down Street
I’ve got the music to move your feet
Peo­ple come knock­ing from miles around
Just to get a sam­ple of the beat
The sign on the lawn says: God is love
And the Spir­it lives in my song

There is no way you are sit­ting still when this one is play­ing.

“Old Time Reli­gion” fea­tures a doo-wop sound that incor­po­rates deep back­ground vocals and asks how you can call Chris­tian­i­ty old-time reli­gion?

Ain’t noth­ing old about God’s Holy Spir­it
He’s the same today as yes­ter­day
And ever­more shall He be

Call my crazy, but I’m a suck­er for the Motown sound and I just can’t get enough of this CD. When I’m in need of block­ing out this world and gain­ing a mes­sage of Christ’s promis­es this is the CD that I have been pop­ping in.