Moving to Heaven

To folks in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, Tommy McLain spent most of his career as a regional star, a legend among swamp pop devotees after his 1966 recording of "Sweet Dreams" hit the Top 20. To the rest of the world, McLain was a one-hit wonder who was largely forgotten before friend and fan C.C. Adcock helped him make a superb comeback album, 2022s I Ran Down Every Dream. Having proved he was still a vital talent who can write and sing with passion and abundant skill, McLain has followed that triumph with Moving to Heaven, a revamped version of a gospel album that was first issued on a small regional label in 2003. Given the strength of craft of I Ran Down Every Dream, reviving Moving to Heaven as his follow-up seems like a curious choice. McLains vocals are excellent, full of passion and sincerity as he sings of how his Catholic faith saved him at the lowest point of his life, and his lyrics are powerful, the testimony of a true believer who speaks from the heart without treacle or showboating. As with the best gospel music, McLain makes his message eloquent enough that you dont have to be a fellow believer to accept the sincerity of his statement. That said, this album was clearly recorded on a tiny budget, and it sounds like it -- the arrangements are dominated by thrift store synthesizers and clunky drum machines, and McLains decision to play nearly all the instruments himself unfortunately reveals that hes not nearly as good an instrumentalist as he is a vocalist (especially on the horn overdubs). Adding insult to injury, the engineering is faulty, with McLains vocals often sounding distorted and the keyboards feeling harsh and shrill; this is lo-fi not as a creative choice but as an unfortunate product of skill and resources. Given the excellence of I Ran Down Every Dream, one cant help but wish McLain had teamed up with Adcock again to recut these songs with simple, stronger recording and a sympathetic studio band; instead, Moving to Heaven reveals that while Tommy McLain was still singing and writing as well as ever during his long hiatus away from the national spotlight, his studio skills were shaky at best. The artist and his material deserve better than this. ~ Mark Deming