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 Post subject: The Blind Boys of Alabama and other gospel music
PostPosted: Fri Jul 10, 2009 6:15 pm 
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1966 and all that

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I saw The Blind Boys of Alabama tonight. The Blind Boys of Alabama brought down the house, I had a good balcony seat close to the stage. They sang, among other things:

Down by the Riverside
People get Ready (I shouted, "Curtis Mayfield!" and "Impressions!", when I cheered)
Spirit in the sky (I shouted, "Norman Greenbaum"!)
Uncloudy day (I shouted, "Pops Staples!")
Amazing Grace (to the tune of "House of the Rising sun"!)

This was only my second gospel concert ever, the first being Etta Cameron. The Blind Boys of Alabama were founded in 1939 and first recorded in 1944. So that makes them a thirties, or at least a forties act. The only other thirties act that I have seen is Frank Sinatra (who debuted in '39). I have also seen Dizzy Gillespie, but I think he debuted in '40 or '41.

The only gospel music that I have in my collection is:

Elvis Presley
Edwin Hawkins Singers, "Oh Happy day" on a comp
Oh Happy day OST
Staple Singers

I need to get:

The Blind Boys of Alabama
Swan Silvertones
Dixie Hummingbirds
Sam Cooke & the Soul Stirrers
Dorothy Love Coates & the Original Gospel Harmonettes
Mahalia Jackson
Paul Robeson

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 Post subject: The Blind Boys of Alabama and other gospel music
PostPosted: Fri Jul 10, 2009 6:17 pm 
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1966 and all that

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Location: San Diego Zoo
I should add that it was a most uplifting, exhilerating experience! I'm glad I have seen one of the greatest acts.

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 Post subject: The Blind Boys of Alabama and other gospel music
PostPosted: Sat Jul 11, 2009 6:33 am 
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Sounds great, Googa. I like Elvis' Crying In The Chapel. I don't have any of his cd's, but I would like to hear more Gospel music. Thanks for sharing. :-D

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 Post subject: The Blind Boys of Alabama and other gospel music
PostPosted: Sat Jul 11, 2009 7:06 am 
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Five Blind Boys of Mississippi with Archie Brownlee is awesome. The 50's was the peak of the hard gospel quartets. Speciality/Fantasy has done a very nice series with their gospel all recommended.


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 Post subject: The Blind Boys of Alabama and other gospel music
PostPosted: Sat Jul 11, 2009 1:38 pm 
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Location: Wilson, NC
I would suggest that you might possibly try the Holmes Brothers. I like all their albums, but they do have a few that are strictly gospel.

http://www.theholmesbrothers.com/discography.html

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yAyFLN9GOo[/youtube]

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 Post subject: The Blind Boys of Alabama and other gospel music
PostPosted: Sat Jul 11, 2009 2:43 pm 
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Hey-ho-a-lina

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One of the best musical experiences I ever had was the Blind Boys of Alabama. Jimmy came down and walked around the dance floor amongst us, singing his heart out. His stage manager finally got pissed at him, 'cause he showed no interest in ever stopping, and literally forced him back up on stage.

This was about the time of "I Brought Him With Me," an album I still most thoroughly enjoy.

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 Post subject: The Blind Boys of Alabama and other gospel music
PostPosted: Sat Jul 11, 2009 10:58 pm 
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1966 and all that

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Location: San Diego Zoo
Francine wrote:
Sounds great, Googa. I like Elvis' Crying In The Chapel. I don't have any of his cd's, but I would like to hear more Gospel music. Thanks for sharing. :-D


You're welcome, Francine. :) Yes, Elvis is a good place to start, you can either get the separate albums, of which I recommend "How Great Thou art" and "His Hand in Mine", or you can get one of the gospel collections. I think there's even an Elvis gospel box set. From there you can go on to the other recommendations in this thread. Mahalia Jackson was called "voice of the century" by Martin Luther King.

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Last edited by GoogaMooga on Sat Jul 11, 2009 11:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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 Post subject: The Blind Boys of Alabama and other gospel music
PostPosted: Sat Jul 11, 2009 11:00 pm 
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1966 and all that

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Location: San Diego Zoo
Z phage wrote:
Five Blind Boys of Mississippi with Archie Brownlee is awesome. The 50's was the peak of the hard gospel quartets. Speciality/Fantasy has done a very nice series with their gospel all recommended.


I think I saw their CD's in my early days of CD shopping. I'd forgotten about them, thanks for reminding me, Z phage! :)

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Last edited by GoogaMooga on Sun Jul 12, 2009 6:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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 Post subject: The Blind Boys of Alabama and other gospel music
PostPosted: Sat Jul 11, 2009 11:05 pm 
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1966 and all that

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And Zane, thanks for the tip about the Holmes brothers, I remember that song from the old Gary Cooper movie, "Sergeant York". :)

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 Post subject: The Blind Boys of Alabama and other gospel music
PostPosted: Sun Jul 12, 2009 3:15 am 
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Joined: 30 Oct 2006
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Location: Tampa to Tennessee
I've just recently started discovering this music thanks to my wife, who grew up on Southern gospel and can rattle off performer names and song titles like us ICErs know our Beatles and Stones. We don't have a lot in our collection but I did recently pick up the Elvis Ultimate Gospel CD, which is still on my "to be played" shelf. I'll have to give it a spin real soon.


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 Post subject: The Blind Boys of Alabama and other gospel music
PostPosted: Sun Jul 12, 2009 12:16 pm 
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Joined: 22 Jun 2007
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Location: Massachusetts
I highly recommend the Blind Boys' collaboration with Ben Harper, There Will Be Light. It's excellent!

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 Post subject: The Blind Boys of Alabama and other gospel music
PostPosted: Sun Jul 12, 2009 5:54 pm 
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You might try Al Green's gospel records as well as the new gospel-funk cd by Naomi Shelton & The Gospel Queens, "What Have You Done, My Brother?"


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 Post subject: The Blind Boys of Alabama and other gospel music
PostPosted: Sun Jul 12, 2009 6:49 pm 
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1966 and all that

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Location: San Diego Zoo
Momo wrote:
I highly recommend the Blind Boys' collaboration with Ben Harper, There Will Be Light. It's excellent!


They did sing a song by Ben Harper at the concert.

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 Post subject: The Blind Boys of Alabama and other gospel music
PostPosted: Sun Jul 12, 2009 6:50 pm 
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1966 and all that

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Posts: 11834
Location: San Diego Zoo
Lawrence Talbot wrote:
You might try Al Green's gospel records as well as the new gospel-funk cd by Naomi Shelton & The Gospel Queens, "What Have You Done, My Brother?"


Oh yes, I'd forgotten about Al's run of gospel albums. But first I must complete my run of his secular albums, I've only got a couple of those.

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 Post subject: The Blind Boys of Alabama and other gospel music
PostPosted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 5:41 am 
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Joined: 07 Oct 2006
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I think the 2nd cd in Johnny Cash's Personal File set from 2006 is wonderful with nearly every song on there being a winner in my book, but my personal favorite choice would have to be 2004's Songs Inspired by The Passion of the Christ cd. This collection is just perfect in my opinion with songs by Holly Williams, Bob Dylan, Nick Cave, Leonard Cohen, Elvis, even The Blind Boys of Alabama's rendition of Precious Lord is on there, along with other equally worthy songs as well. I'm honestly not a big fan of Gospel music in general, preferring to listen to regular Contemporary Christian music instead most of the time, but when I'm in the mood to listen to some Gospel music those do nicely.


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 Post subject: The Blind Boys of Alabama and other gospel music
PostPosted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 8:19 pm 
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1966 and all that

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Location: San Diego Zoo
Michael, is that the Johnny Cash "Love, God, Murder" box set?

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 Post subject: The Blind Boys of Alabama and other gospel music
PostPosted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 11:18 pm 
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GoogaMooga wrote:
Michael, is that the Johnny Cash "Love, God, Murder" box set?



No, there was a set called Personal File. Basically it consists of homemade recordings he did in the early 70s and weren't discovered until after his death. I like it very much.

Image

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We watched him at 4:53.
And I'm glad you chose to spend the night with me.


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 Post subject: The Blind Boys of Alabama and other gospel music
PostPosted: Wed Jul 15, 2009 7:36 am 
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I am indeed talking about his 2-disc Personal File set that came out in May of 2006. The first disc has your typical country songs with a few twists on it like his reading of the classic poem The Cremation of Sam McGee, while the second disc is devoted to nothing but Gospel songs. Both have a raw intimacy to them performed in a stripped-down acoustic way similar to his American Recordings cd's, but with spoken intros to many of the songs. I personally love them both about the same and recommend the whole Personal File set without hesitation. In my opinion noone sings stripped-down acoustic country or Gospel music quite like Johnny Cash does, and his performances on these two cd's are some of his very best. He also has a few Gospel songs on the two American cd's I own by him (The Man Comes Around and A Hundred Highways) but in general I wouldn't exactly call those two cd's of his Gospel through and through. They're as beautiful to listen to as Personal File, but between them there's really only maybe 5 or 6 Gospel songs on there I think.


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