This morning's lovely program was brought to you by Elder Clifford.
"Subtitled "Favorites From Classic Gospel Groups," and this compiles more great gospel treasures by some of the greatest gospel groups of all time and pulled from the multi-label vaults of MCA Records. Highlights include the Mighty Clouds of Joy's "Pray For Me," the Caravans' "One Of These Old Days," the Dixie Hummingbirds' "Christian's Automobile," the Soul Stirrers' "Jesus Be a Fence Around Me," the Ward Singers' "Didn't It Rain," and the Jackson Southernaires' "Too Late." Selections from the Five Blind Boys ("Save a Seat for Me"), the Williams Brothers ("Jesus Will Never Say No"), the Mighty Clouds of Joy ("Heavy Load"), the Staple Singers ("Pray On My Child"), the Gospel Keynotes ("He'll Make It Right") and the Davis Sisters ("Blessed Quietness") finish out this fine gospel group overview."
"Over in Glory: Favorites From Classic Gospel Groups [MCA, 1998]
All climax, all the time. In a music whose individual proponents make it their business to channel the universal, why not stick to their ecstasies and leave the mundane to their secular counterparts? Not that these impassioned tracks are above detail--one apogee among many is the Jackson Southernaires' painfully protracted tale of a son who reaches his dying mama just hours too late. But whether the glorious singers are getting happy or laying their burdens down, they're all in extremis, opening windows not into their mortal souls but into an idealized gospel experience--the spiritual release nonbelievers prize in a music that will never be their own. Connoisseurs may cry cartoon, but for most of us that's a plus, as are the articulated call-and-response built into the group format and the crassness of Peacock's Don Robey, not a guy who hesitated to besmirch the Lord with rhythm sections. Guitars either." A Robert Christgau
18 comments:
Great stuff KC. And the people said - Amen!
Just got to add - nearly rocked myself out off my seat listening to the Gospel Keynotes He'll Make It Right (totally different from the Nashboro version). Willie Neal Johnson and Paul Beasley! Lord, now let the church say Amen.
Yeah you bet! This one will get you up bouncing around the house doing some cleaning or something - hard to resist this one1
Many thanks for reposting KC. Very kind of you!!
http://www.embedupload.com/?d=7LEUE1LXOR
Dank U Vell!
Artist tag of -Caravans- is missing on One Of These Old Days.
No matter how awful you may feel emotionally or physically, after listening to gospel like this, you will be uplifted before you realize it. You will be grabbing anything resembling a tambourine, banging it, singing at the top of your lungs, and dancing around with joy! What glorious music. Thank you, KingCake, for the generous serving of gospel this Sunday morning. LOLness
Thank you very much. My only complaint is that this comp is too short :-). My other complaint is that MCA has been so stingy regarding reissuing their Peacock label holdings. They're sitting on a ton of exciting music and don't seem too interested in making it available to a new generation of music listeners.
They have allowed pretty free access to the Duke/Peacock R & B tracks to licensees as I have at least 3 different large sets now - it makes one wonder if it is just that no-one has shown interest in the Gospel catalog.
Thanks, KingCake. I'm aware of several R&B titles from Duke [Bobby Blue Bland in particular], but aside from a few scattered Greatest Hits collections [with 10-12 tracks each], I know of very few reissues of Peacock gospel. For better or worse, the task of compiling 45's and long OOP LPs has been left to Opal Nations [to his credit, by the way]. The collected Mighty Clouds of Joy would be most welcome from someone willing to undertake the project.
Good ole timey Gospel.....
Wayne
People - Opal Lee Nations finally released the vast majority of the Peacock gospel catalog on 11 CDs titled "Texas Gospel" volumes 1-11. The title was not chosen by Opal, but by Acrobat records to mask somewhat that the source was 100% Peacock, including not only Texas artists. These CDs are now hard to find, BUT the Twilightzone blog posted all 11 volumes not long ago. Gospel lovers who don't have these CDs should download those discs while they are still available in cyberspace.
KC brought to my attention the fact that there are only 9 volumes, not 11. So don't waste time searching for 10 and 11. :)
No matter how familiar these songs may be, the talent and originality of the performers is always a revelation. They make you do a double take because you did not know such a thing existed. For example, the lead singer of the Gospel Keynotes hits and holds a note more than once that no one has ever heard before or since. You come away thinking, "How did he do that?" These performers are so creative! Plus this particular collection flows very well and is over way too soon. I thoroughly appreciate their glorious voices and their unending innovations. LOLness
Thanks for this KC, but I have it from the previous post. BIG thanks also to Pres for the Texas tip... getting it all now.
From my prior comments on gospel posts, you know that gospel is still a new discovery for me. The only gospel artists I knew before this blog began posting gospel were the Staples singers, the Chambers brothers, the Five Blind Boys From Alabama, Edwin Hawkins singers, Reverend James Cleveland, Mahalia Jackson, and those featured in the movie "Say Amen:, Somebody.'?" Needless to say, great compilations like this serve as a high-quality primer form me and I enjoy them a great deal. Also, thanks, Preslives, for the referral to the Twilight Zone's Texas Gospel posts. I've downloaded them and added them to this week's must-listening schedule.. I hope to be dome listening to it all by next Sunday so I can enjoy that post as well. Many thanks, le Roi.
Also, give my best to Elder Clifford, a living saint if there ever was one. If need be, I can testify to the miracles of his music selections if he hasn't yet been canonized.
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