Thin-voiced, girlish female singers with very limited ranges were quite popular in the urban contemporary world of the late 1980s and early 1990s, which also had its share of big-voiced divas who flew in the face of this trend, including
Vesta Williams,
Meli'sa Morgan,
Regina Belle and
Angela Winbush. Like them,
Shirley Murdock was an emotional, passionate belter who believed in wailing and letting it rip.
Let There Be Love! was produced by
Roger Troutman, the funkster and
George Clinton associate who was known for his extensive use of the vocoder with his band
Zapp. But there are few hints of P-funk on this decent, ballad-oriented release. While
Let There Be Love! isn't the soul extravaganza
Murdock is quite capable of delivering, R&B/pop ballads and slow jams like "The Last Hurrah," "Say It, Mean It" and the
Anita Baker-ish "Anywhere" aren't anything to be embarrassed by either. Meanwhile,
Murdock increases the tempo with likable results on the house-influenced title song and the slightly jazzy "We Should Be Together." ~ Alex Henderson