Gospel – Page 3 – Rock Salted

The Swan Silvertones – It’s a Miracle

The Swan Silvertones – It’s a Miracle HOB HBX-2123 (1970)

The sound of the The Swan Silvertones continued to change with It’s a Miracle. Longtime member Paul Owens had left the group, and that represented a major loss. Owens was a truly great gospel singer, and a real innovator — being responsible for introducing elements of modern vocal jazz into the vocabulary of gospel singing. Carl Davis, a lead singer who typically imitated departed group founder Claude Jeter, seems to also have quit the group. This left Louis Johnson as the only great singer left, and left almost all the lead vocal duties to him.

Nonetheless, the group’s long-serving manager and arranger John Myles makes this album a success. He wrote all the songs on side one, and arranged everything on side two. Like Duke Ellington, he could match the group’s material to the individual strengths of the performers. So he turns a song like the opener “I Can Dream” into a magnificent vehicle for Louis Johnson’s vocals, cradling the nostalgic lyrics in a loping beat perfect for Johnson’s sing/speak crooning. Setting the pattern for the group’s next few albums, there is a mix of up-tempo numbers like “What Ya Gonna Do” and mellower fare, giving time to all the facets of Johnson’s vocal abilities.

In the final analysis, It’s a Miracle is among the group’s best albums for HOB Records. It’s not quite as good as Great Camp Meeting or even Walk With Me Lord, but is very comparable to Only Believe. This might not match the very best of the group’s recordings, but it’s among their most successful and even-handed album-length statements conceived in a rock/soul style.

As an aside, by my count this was The Swan Silvertones’ ninth or tenth full-length album, but the first to feature a photograph of the band on the album jacket. The only other photos of the group members were compilations that tended to recycle two promotional photos from the 1950s (sometimes even slapped on recordings made by completely different lineups than pictured).

[This album was, confusingly, reissued on CD in its entirety, with song titles changed and two bonus tracks added, as The Very Best of The Swan Silvertones: Do You Believe, though the CD reissue seems to have remixed or remastered the sound in such a way that the original vinyl sounds quite different.]

The Swan Silvertones – The Very Best of The Swan Silvertones: Do You Believe

The Swan Silvertones – The Very Best of The Swan Silvertones: Do You Believe Collectables 6111 (1998)

An inappropriately titled collection, given that this is by no means even meant to be a selection of the “very best” material recorded by The Swan Silvertones. It actually is a reissue of It’s a Miracle (tracks 1-10) with two bonus tracks (11 and 12) from another (live) album added. In that sense, people unfamiliar with the group looking for an broad introduction should steer clear of this. Though there is no indication in the liner notes as to where any of this material originated, so naturally approaching this properly would be confusing. Most confusingly, songs are renamed here compared to their original names, for no good reason. The liner notes provide a history of the group, discussing the great Claude Jeter while failing to mention that he’s not featured here at all. As for the music itself, things lean toward soul and even blues-rock in sound at times. The last two tracks are live recordings from Walk With Me Lord. Of those live tracks, “I Gave My Heart to the Lord” (better known to Swan Silvertones fans as “What About You”) is a bit too muddy in the recording to get excited about it, while “Walk With Jesus” is interesting in how its crazy, out of step guitar and piano pull you in and push you away at the same time.

The Swan Silvertones – Let Us All Go Back to the Old Landmark

The Swan Silvertones – Let Us All Go Back to the Old Landmark Savoy SL-14524 (1979)

An album with a funky R&B sound. To my ears, some of this is reminiscent of Luther Vandross or other popular R&B and contemporary gospel of the day. Some decent songs on side one, particularly “God Has Smiled on Me”, “Trying to Get Home” and the title track, but generally nothing else too memorable. On the whole, unessential, but relatively speaking one of the group’s better albums for Savoy.

The Swan Silvertones – At the Cross

The Swan Silvertones – At the Cross Savoy 14440 (1977)

The Swan Silvertones’ debut album for Savoy Records At the Cross marked a transition to their autumn years. The music carries forward elements of the sound of their tenure on HOB Records from a few years earlier, but also pushes to modernize the group’s sound at the same time. This makes the group’s style troublesome, often tending toward the cartoonish. It’s all too obvious they are trying hard to sound relevant to contemporary tastes, rather than just following their own muse. One of the lesser Swan Silvertones albums.

When Gospel Was Gospel

Various Artists – When Gospel Was Gospel Shanachie SH 6064 (2005)

A nice collection of gospel from 1946-1969 produced by Anthony Heilbut, the author of The Gospel Sound: Good News and Bad Times. Eight of the selections are previously unreleased live recordings, which may make this interesting to those already well familiar with the artists represented here but also less interesting to those looking for just a general introduction to gospel music. There are plenty of great female gospel singers and groups on display here. If this set does have a theme, it is a focus on the kinds of acts that emphasized very disciplined singing and very traditional lyrics with generally biblical tones. That is to say, this collection steers clear of more modern gospel with more emotional, unhinged vocals. So the title “When Gospel Was Gospel” seems to reflect a context of a lecture by an old timer to a younger “kid” about days gone by when things were good, serious, dependable, meaningful, and, from the point of view of the “kid” being lectured, entirely boring and out of date. Well, I’m being harsh. All the music here is really good, even the obscure live recordings. The thing is, this set has a tendency toward the kind of dour, serious material that threatens to take all the fun out of listening to the whole thing front to back. It would have gone a long way if different artists, or even different songs by the artists already represented here, were selected to place a few more up tempo, lively numbers here and there. Fans of gospel music won’t be bothered by the dour seriousness, of course. There are so many great performances, from Mahalia Jackson‘s soaring “Power of the Holy Ghost” to Marion Williams‘ “Traveling Shoes”, that there is bound to be at least something for everyone to love. But, this set might be a little too disciplined and straight to win over many new fans of the genre. I hesitate to add this, but felt like I should: the sound quality of this disc is a bit muffled, so you don’t hear all the great voices as clearly and crisply as you might like.

Paul Robeson – Paul Robeson [Pearl]

Paul Robeson – Paul Robeson Pearl GEMM CD 9356 (1993)

An excellent collection of early Robeson recordings for His Master’s Voice. There are a large and confusing number of Robeson compilations available. This one focuses exclusively on recordings from the 1920s and 1930s (and then mostly from the 30s). The bulk of this consists of showtunes/pop, but there are some spirituals as well. Though these recordings are so old as to have nowhere near the fidelity of Robeson’s 1940s recordings for Columbia Records, they, along with associated stage and screen appearances, are what helped first make him famous. The songs included here are well selected. It’s important to note that at this early stage Robeson was forced to record racist, condescending material in order to make a living in Jim Crow America. So the version of “Ol’ Man River” from the musical “Show Boat” that is so closely associated with Robeson opens with the lyrics “Niggers all work on the Mississippi / Niggers all work while the white folks play.” It is crucial that these bigoted lyrics not be excised from history and forgotten, as if it all never happened, but remembered for what burdens an artist like Robeson had to deal with. Yet, this compilation does a huge service by sequencing “Ol’ Man River” (possibly the reason some might pick up this album) as the last song. It’s worth noting that in later years when Robeson’s stature was assured, he changed the words of “Ol’ Man River” to be more dignified when he performed and recorded it.

Sweet Honey in the Rock – The Other Side

Sweet Honey in the Rock – The Other Side Flying Fish Records FF 70366 (1985)

Good vocals. I can’t help but think this music feels a bit sterile though. There is no doubt that this is the kind of group that performs primarily to cultural centers, civic centers, and other venues that have certain unstated rules of decorum and a presupposed deference in regard to artistic merit. What I mean is that it’s the performers who are largely deciding what is meritorious and challenging rather than the audience, which is probably not very familiar with or critical when it comes to the type of music presented. In other words, this is for musical tourists. The format for this album seems similar to other albums by the group: about 1/3 gospel music, about 1/2 political/protest music, and the rest sort-of “world”, indigenous music adaptations. The highlight for me is their version of Woody Guthrie‘s “Deportees”. The rest had no effect on me.

The Swan Silvertones – The Swan Silvertones

The Swan Silvertones – The Swan Silvertones Vee-Jay LP 5003 (1959)

The Swan Silvertones had been around for over two decades before they released their first album of new material. Their previous new recordings had been released as singles, first for King Records and then Specialty. In the late 1950s, they switched to Vee-Jay Records, the label that released The Swan Silvertones.

The group’s first full-length album marked a new approach for the group. Having already developed their own style by the end of their tenure at King and perfected their musical ideas at Specialty, they transitioned to a phase where they were now expanding upon the elements of their music that were already in place. The Swan Silvertones really set the tone for all the albums the group would release through the 1960s, with an increased use of instrumental accompaniment and more ornate arrangements. Often the use of instrumental accompanists went hand in hand with allowing more layers in the song arrangements. There was also a more liberal use of space. These trends combined to give everything a softer edge than the “hard gospel” recorded for Specialty. The LP format also allowed them to record a lot of slower songs to break up the more familiar up-tempo numbers in the album sequencing. This works well, and the group would only improve on those kinds of subtleties of the album format on subsequent releases.

Songs like “Mary Don’t You Weep” and “Jesus Remembers” demonstrate the full power of what The Swans were capable of in their Vee-Jay era. Elsewhere on the album particularly in the middle, the results aren’t quite as exciting. Some songs with a rather conventional doo-wop feel tend to come across as filler. And at times the arrangements, as on the version of “How I Got Over” included here, feel a bit forced and claustrophobic. The group’s ambitions seem to get ahead of themselves in piling too much into a single song. This isn’t a condemnation of the album though. In fact, there really isn’t a bad track here.

As a bit of trivia, note that some of the lyrics sung by Claude Jeter or possibly Paul Owens (“I’ll be your bridge over deep water if you trust in my name”) from the opener “Mary Don’t You Weep” inspired Paul Simon to write “Bridge Over Troubled Water”. Jeter later was a guest vocalist on one of Simon’s solo albums.

The Swan Silvertones – Since I Laid My Burdens Down

The Swan Silvertones – Since I Laid My Burdens Down Savoy MG 14468 (1978)

There a number of observations I can make about The Swan Silvertones’ material for the Savoy label from the late 1970s and early 1980s. The group was in its autumn years, and this was most evident in the song arrangements. Once a hallmark that placed the group above their peers, in the Savoy years the song arrangements tended to be more utilitarian. The backing vocals use rather boilerplate harmonies that add almost no rhythmic embellishment. This makes the backing vocals sound almost the same for every song, and the points of interest are almost never the backing vocals. Louis Johnson was the only recognizable member from the group’s heyday, and he handled essentially all of the lead vocal duties. That isn’t to say the songs are always dull. They tend to be mellow, but are often heartfelt enough to be enjoyable. The instrumental accompaniment is generally quite respectable, and often is the factor that makes certain songs stand out. The instrumental performances may not innovate, but are skillful enough to match a typical 1970s soul outfit. The last point I will make about the Swan Silvertones’ Savoy albums is that they tend to be quite short, typically including only eight rather compact songs — this particular album tops out at just over 25 minutes of music. About half the material is also usually filler.

Regarding this album in particular, it probably falls somewhere between At the Cross and Day By Day in both style and quality. Side one might be a little stronger than side two. But the filler tends toward the tedious more often than not. The new version of “Mary Don’t You Weep” here pales in comparison to the group’s classic version from the late 1950s, instead being vaguely comparable to the earlier re-make on Only Believe. The bass line on “Trying to Reach Perfection” is lifted straight from “Chameleon” on Herbie Hancock‘s Head Hunters. Still, the smooth and mellow “The Lord Will Make a Way” and “It’s Hell” are among the group’s best recordings of the late 70s, those and “Lord I Thank You” being probably the only reasons for fans to bother with the album.

The Bells of Joy – The Collection: 1951-1954

The Bells of Joy – The Collection: 1951-1954 Acrobat ACMCD4207 (2005)

Rough around the edges, surely, but the original lineup of The Bells of Joy had talent and an immense amount of potential. They were semi-pros, holding down regular jobs and choosing not to travel the country on the “gospel highway”. Touring probably would have done them a lot of good, polishing off some of the rough edges heard on some of these early recordings for the Peacock label. It was actually just one of the original members, A.C. Littlefield, who went on a national tour, taking with him the group The Southern Tones, who performed as The Bells of Joy while the rest of the original Bells of Joy waited back home in Austin, Texas. The group was reformed numerous times in later years, mixing new and original members.

The group’s sole hit of the 1951-1954 period was “Let’s Talk About Jesus”. Many people only know them through that one song. But the group had more good music in them. Indeed, this particular album closes with eight songs that were originally unreleased–released much later on Let’s Talk About Jesus. Some of those unreleased songs, like the very syncopated “Fare Ye Well” and the super smooth “The Lord and I”, are superior to many of the tracks that saw proper release, including some particularly weak B-sides, proving yet again that gospel labels of the 1950s often did not do a very good job recognizing what they had on their hands.

In their early days, The Bells of Joy sometimes aped the styles of other groups. “Since Jesus Changed This Heart of Mine” sounds a lot like The Soul Stirrers with Sam Cooke. Yet The Bells of Joy had a somewhat warmer, down-home appeal. They did not have singers of quite the caliber of the very top gospel groups of the day. But songs like 1953’s “Leak in This Old Building”, with a style similar to The Blind Boys of Mississippi with the great Archie Brownlee, are superb anyway. There is a vulnerability in the early Bells of Joy material that is quite unique, and something that would become a staple of R&B, doo-wop and soul more so than gospel. Those new to gospel might not immediately appreciate this sometimes uneven set, but fans of the genre may be pleasantly surprised by what this relatively obscure group had to offer.

A final note: this set has good sound quality, something not always found on these Acrobat gospel collections.