Portable Sounds (CD - 2007)

Personnel: tobyMac (vocals, programming, background vocals); Christopher Stevens (various instruments, guitars, Hammond b-3 organ, keyboards, bass instrument, drums, programming, background vocals); Justin York (guitars, background vocals); Tim Rosenau, Joe Weber, Michael Ripoll, Paul Moak, Cary Barlowe, Trevor McNevan (guitars); John Catchings, Kristin Wilkinson, David Davidson , David Angell (strings); Mark Douthit, Roy Agee, Mike Haynes (horns); Dave Wyatt (keyboards, programming); Byron Chambers (talk box); Todd Lawton, Rica Wright, Tony Lucido, Brent Milligan (bass instrument); Jeremy Lutito, Brian Haley, Tony Morra, Will Sayles, Ben Phillips (drums); Javier Solís (percussion); Kene "Ghost" Bell, Jamie Moore, Todd Collins (programming); Mike "Maj" Allen, Ric Robbins (turntables); Calvin Nowell, Troma, Alisa Turner, Donnie Lewis-Payne, Chris Bullard, Donald Lee Woods, Jason Eskridge, Morriston Orpheus Choir, Gabriel Patillo, Seth Ready, Ayiesha Woods (background vocals); Randall Crawford, Truett "TruDog" McKeehan.

Additional personnel: Mandisa, Siti Monroe, Kirk Franklin, Nirva Dorsaint (background vocals).

On his highly anticipated studio follow-up to 2004's WELCOME TO DIVERSE CITY, Christian-rock Renaissance man TobyMac (a.k.a. Toby McKeehan, formerly of DC Talk) presents another vibrant, genre-melding set. Bolstered by the buoyant lead single "Made to Love," which recalls the catchy songcraft of pop crooner Rob Thomas, and the reggae/soul-tinged "One World," PORTABLE SOUNDS reinforces TobyMac as a leading light in forward-thinking CCM.

Take this any way you want, but the fact is that Tobymac is pretty much the Justin Timberlake of the Christian pop set. A refugee from a successful boy band, he is jaw-droppingly talented, with a gift for both butt-kickingly funky grooves and irresistible hooks. Like Timberlake, he also knows how to distribute his hooks, doling them out carefully so as to keep your attention focused; he also possesses the admirable ability to work in a wide variety of styles without ever sounding like a panderer or a dilettante. On his third solo album, he opens with the fun and funky "One World," then settles into a pretty neo-soul groove on "Made to Love" before jumping into a rock-ish hip-hop mode on "Boomin'," and then lapsing into straight-up rock & roll on "I'm for You." Every one of those tracks feels perfectly natural -- though he does sound a bit too much like a Sting imitator during the reggae interlude near the end of "Made to Love." "Ignition" and the embarrassingly titled "Feelin' So Fly" both invoke the glory days of '70s soul. Almost everything here rises to an almost amazing level of musical quality and pure pop joy; the only flies in the ointment are the between-song sketches (please, someone pass a law against between-song sketches) and the obligatory track featuring his son, TruDog -- who seems like a genuinely nice and even talented kid, but whose appearances on his dad's records are just too cloying to be enjoyable to anyone outside the family. Highly recommended overall. ~ Rick Anderson minimize