Having idolized Janet from the time I was a small girl and saw her sing with the LeFevres, I can probably make a pretty fair assessment once I hear the entire project. As a general rule, I personally don’t think remakes of songs are nearly as good as the originals for the most part. There are a few exceptions. I’d like to hear the entire project before passing judgement totally, but from what I heard this morning, Janet’s remake of “Hide Me” is well done and close to feel of the original song, which is a good thing.

Janet’s vocal style today as compared with her early days with the Nelons has changed somewhat. She sings lower than she used to and with more feeling and less “let ‘er fly,” if that makes any sense–the changes in her style began during her days with Jimmy Swaggart Ministrie after she’d left the Nelons. But any time Janet opens her mouth, you just know it’s going to be good because her music comes straight from the heart and she’s a wonderful communicator with her audiences. Janet always will be one of my favorites and certainly one of the best female singers and finest people in our industry. As a true fan of hers, I’m thrilled she’s gone back to do the older songs and hope the remakes remakes of the other songs on “Treasures” remain as close to their originals as “Hide Me” does.

I absoultely can’t wait to get this project, partly because I just enjoy Janet’s singing but mostly because I can’t wait to take a trip down memory lane. The music off this project was originally done during a wonderful time of my life, when I was really beginning to become a serious gospel music fan and discovering all the great groups out there, Singing News Magazine, the Gospel Greats. All of it came together for me at about the same time, and it will be so fun to revisit that time through these songs.