Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Phil Stacey
“Into the Light”

1. Inside Out
2. It’s Gotta Be Love
3. You’re Not Shaken
4. Sanctuary
5. One
6. With All My Heart
7. Into the Light
8. Some Kind of Love
9. Glorious
10. Hard to Get
11. Old Glory

On American Idol, Phil Stacey was something of a performer without a genre.

After placing in the top six in season six, he released a country album with very modest success.

And, pretty soon, he was a performer without a record contract.

That changed when he signed with Reunion Records and released his first Christian album, “Into the Light,” back in August.

Christian music was a natural place for Phil to wind up to hear him tell it. Both his grandfathers were pastors; so was his father.

“I always wanted to sing Christian music,” Phil says in his Reunion Records Web site bio.

Not only did Phil change genres for album number two, he changed sounds. “Into the Light” is filled with Christian pop music. In fact, a quite catchy collection of 10 new Christian pop songs, four of which Phil co-wrote.

A couple of the songs — most notably “Glorious” and “Sanctuary” — fall flat because they seem to extend Phil’s vocal range too far. On the other hand, if you want to hear a great vocal from Phil, check out “One.”

All in all, album number two makes for very pleasing listening.

The 11th track on the album is “Old Glory,” a reworking of a patriotic tune Phil wrote and released as a single prior to joining Reunion Records, a song no doubt influenced by the time he spent in the Navy after 9/11. It doesn’t really fit the rest of the album, but it’s delivered with a heartfelt vocal.

So far, “Into the Light” hasn’t climbed higher than 27 on Billboard’s Christian album chart. But the first single, “You’re Not Shaken,” has shown remarkable resilency on the Christian singles chart, hanging in between 17 and 22 since August. That’s three months, folks.

Right now, Phil is working on the video for “Old Glory,” incorporating submitted fan photos. And he’s still on the New Hallelujah World Tour with Michael W. Smith, Meredith Andrews and Matt Maher. That tour lands in Johnston, Pa., Thursday night.

In fact, Sunday’s concert will be streamed live over the Internet at 10 p.m. You can go here to learn more about that.

Meanwhile, if you’d like to sample Phil’s album before downloading or purchasing it, just head to his Web site.

Grade: C+

Download worthy: “Inside Out,” “You’re Not Shaken, “Into the Light.”

Other reviews:
AllMusic.com: Gives Phil 3.5 stars out of 5