Cindy Lavonne Morgan was born on June 4, 1968. In 1992 she released her debut album, REAL LIFE. It garnered her six Dove Award nominations! Fast forward to 1998 and she released her fifth studio album, THE LOVING KIND (Word/Epic). It was produced by Brent Bourgeois and co-produced by Craig Hansen. This concept album is based on the last eight days of Jesus' life on earth. Cindy writes: "As I traced the footsteps of Jesus, I found a Man who reached out to the rejected, the needy, the harlot, and the murderer".
Starting things off is 'In the Garden', one of eight selections solely written by Cindy. This eclectic pop song uses clarinet, violin, and accordion. It's about Jesus: "From boy to a man/The carpenter's hands/Healed all the sick and diseased/Gave hope to the bleak, strength to the weak/And gave us a song to sing.../This is my body and this is my blood/Cover you like in the days of the flood/Come walk the road up to Gethsemane". Cindy and Brent Lenthall wrote 'The March'. It's one of two they co-wrote on this album. This lively pop song uses horns and invites us to join in Christ's suffering: "Oh, it was a march for the sweet and gruesome/To bring a light to their darkened place/It was a march for the thirst of freedom/And it was beauty battered and bleeding/And it was a march, yeah, yeah/When it all comes down to me and you, yeah/Will we walk away or march on with/The One who made the march, oh yeah?" The title track, 'The Loving Kind', follows. It's an easy listening song of gratitude that features The Nashville String Machine. Here's the chorus: "I don't know why You love me/Oh Lord, it's such a mystery/All I can say, all I can find/You're the loving kind, the loving kind/When I fall and when I stray/Your love it captures me always/All I can see, all I can find/You're the loving kind, the loving kind".
Wes King co-wrote 'The Last Supper' with Cindy. They sing the easy listening song together. It's appropriate for communion: "This is the body that was broken/Take and eat/This is the blood shed for many/Take and drink/Amen/And it will cover you/And make you new/Oh Jerusalem". Jerry McPherson and Matt Slocum play guitars on 'Devil Man'. It's a rock song about Jesus' betrayer, Judas: "Give me the money, give me the gold/Dirty little palms/And a heart that's cold, yeah.../Hanging from my neck/From a dirty piece of wood/I'm known as the betrayer/Buried in a field of blood, in a field of blood, hey".
Cindy plays piano on 'Can You Hear Me', a ballad that includes these powerful words: "The scars that You bear/Will one day make the whole world free/Satan is a liar down in the mire". Larry Tagg plays bass and Aaron Smith drums on 'The Only Way', a bouncy pop song which finds Christ speaking: "I am the Light, I am the Truth/I am the Voice/That will lead you/I am the Peace/I am the Love, I am the Way/I am the Way, I'm the only Way, oh".
Cindy co-wrote 'Hard Heart' with Brent Bourgeois. John Elefante is a backing vocalist. Cindy sings this one with passion! Included are these words of indictment: "Snake in the grass, crack in the glass/You beat down the head of the poor and hungry/Whatever you do to the least of these/You do it unto Me, unto Me". 'The Whipping' is a short number about the torture Jesus endured before being crucified: "Oh, they mocked Him and they beat Him/They pressed a crown of thorns upon His head/And He was bleeding/As He was pleading/For the lives of those who spit on Him".
Next up is 'Higher', an inspirational ballad that finds Jesus speaking to God the Father, on the cross: "Higher, higher than the pain that I feel/Take me higher, higher/Let Your holy love reveal/And plunge me deeper, deeper/Than these nails can drive me/Take me higher, higher Father". 'Take My Life' is a sincere prayer: "Take my life/Take away all the shattered dreams in me/Give me love that will last forever/Take my life/Give me the love that makes me free/Cause I believe that Your love can save even a wretch like me".
Cindy, Andrew Ramsey, and Michael W. Smith co-wrote 'Alive and Well'. Smith plays piano and two choirs are used to good effect on this Christian pop song. It includes these wonderful words about the resurrection: "I've touched the wounds in His side/And He dried the tears in my eyes/And He's alive". Last up is 'Praise the King', a lovely praise and worship song: "And praise Him for the blood that fell and bloomed a rose that day/And praise Him that He suffered through the guilt, the grief, the shame/Oh and praise Him that His tender love will still forgive today/Oh praise Him all ye people, praise the King!"
THE LOVING KIND is a good concept album focused on Jesus Christ. It runs 49 minutes and 18 seconds. Pop and adult contemporary really are the main musical genres here. There are almost an equal number of slow and fast songs. On this album you'll hear about the fall of man, the Last Supper, Judas' betrayal of Jesus, and the torture and agony Christ endured for us and our sins. God's love for us is made clear, as is Christ's victory over death, which gives us life everlasting if we make Christ our personal Lord and Saviour. Fans of Nichole Nordeman and Cheri Keaggy should enjoy this album which is full of emotion. I'm rating THE LOVING KIND 89%. For more info visit www.cindymorganmusic.com and connect with her on social media.