I'm going to re-run this marvelous post from Preslives that appeared around a year ago; I imagine the are a number of you that missed this rareity.
The Gospelaires of Dayton, Ohio were one of the most dynamic quartets that took the 1950s sound of Julius Cheeks and the Sensational Nightingales forward into the 1960s. As Gospel supplied the elements that fueled the evolution of R&B into Soul in the 1950s and 1960s, Gospel also wasted no time in borrowing back what it could from R&B to modernize the spiritual sound. This cross-pollination was so intense that, by the mid-1970s, much of R&B and gospel became virtually indistinguishable except for the lyrics. Like other quartets that came to prominence in the 1960s like the Violinaires and the Mighty Clouds of Joy, the Gospelaires made use of a full R&B-type band accompaniment and vocal innovations of secular groups like the Five Royals to carry on the rich hard gospel tradition.
The Gospelaires of Dayton, Ohio were one of the most dynamic quartets that took the 1950s sound of Julius Cheeks and the Sensational Nightingales forward into the 1960s. As Gospel supplied the elements that fueled the evolution of R&B into Soul in the 1950s and 1960s, Gospel also wasted no time in borrowing back what it could from R&B to modernize the spiritual sound. This cross-pollination was so intense that, by the mid-1970s, much of R&B and gospel became virtually indistinguishable except for the lyrics. Like other quartets that came to prominence in the 1960s like the Violinaires and the Mighty Clouds of Joy, the Gospelaires made use of a full R&B-type band accompaniment and vocal innovations of secular groups like the Five Royals to carry on the rich hard gospel tradition.
The Gospelaires were formed in the mid-1950s in Dayton,
Ohio, and steadily built a strong reputation that led to a contract for Peacock
records in 1957. The two
records on this compilation come from their mid-1960s prime, when the group was
fronted by the one-two punch of Bob Washington and Paul “Easy” Arnold. The Gospelaires trademark was the use of repeated
hypnotic riffs, over which Washington and Arnold would steadily turn up the heat
with the aim of driving the Congregation into a frenzy There exist some good video tapes of this unit doing
exactly that. You might find
a few on Youtube.
This CD that combines The LPs Can I Get a Witness and Bones in the Valley is another of the precious few short-lived Peacock Spiritual Series releases from late 1980s, after which time the reissue of the Peacock gospel catalog was abandoned indefinitely by MCA.
May this music help infuse your Soul with the
spirit on this Sunday morning!
