My first post of this series dealt with one of the classic ballads in SG. Now let’s tackle one of the quintessential uptempo numbers in our genre. Of course this song will be forever associated with The Happy Goodmans, but my choice for the definitive version of this tune goes back to a 1964 Skylite album by the Oak Ridge Boys. Personnel on this album were Willie Wynn – Tenor, Smitty Gatlin – Lead, Jim Hamill – Baritone, Herman Harper – Bass, and Tommy Fairchild – Piano.
The song starts off with an electric guitar playing some lead lines over piano, bass and drums before leading into the chorus. The first verse is performed by Smitty Gatlin, and after the chorus Herman Harper takes the second verse as a bass solo. There’s a little instrumental break with the electric guitar featured again before the key changes and Willie Wynn takes the lead for two final choruses and a high power tag.
To me, this is the feel that the song needs. It’s sped up a bit from the Goodmans version, and becomes a great, male quartet barn burner. Smitty Gatlin and Herman Harper are two of our largely forgotten, but very talented vocalists in the history of Southern Gospel. Both get an opportunity to shine on this song and make the best of it. If you’ve got this LP, spin up track one, and then let the thing play. I’ve always thought this was a great quartet LP, and the title track starts it off in fine fashion. No one has done it better.
Most of you who are long time readers know that I am also a big fan of The Beach Boys. A couple of tidbits have come out in the past couple of days relating to the group and their current 50th anniversary reunion celebration. First, the new album, reportedly titled That’s Why God Made The Radio, is due to be released June 5. Second, the group has released a promo video previewing the first single from the album, the title song. This is the first single from the group as a whole since 1996, and the first of new material in 20 years. Check it out below, I’m (im)patiently awaiting the release of the album!
The Ball Brothers have just announced that Josh Ball is departing the group (hat tip, DM). Here is the press release, written in the Ball Brothers’ own inimitable style:
ANNOUNCEMENT FROM THE BALL BROTHERS
Chickamauga, GA – THE SKY IS FALLING! The previous line was intended to make the following statement less shocking. After 6 years with the Ball Brothers, Joshua Ball has retired . . . at age 26. Josh states, “I was going to resign then it dawned on me that retirement made more sense. The guys will have to pay me until Social Security kicks in. All joking aside, I am leaving the Ball Brothers. I will miss all the friends I have made and I will miss singing and being with the guys, but I am definitely looking forward to spending more time at home. I’ll still be the Ball Brothers “#1 fan” but it won’t be as weird now that I’m no longer in the group.” Daniel Ball said, “Most press releases are boring and void of useful information. I read them . . . then wonder what the “real” story was? In order to avoid unfounded speculation, I will seed speculation with misinformation. We fired Josh because he is our families’ version of “Joseph”. Andrew and I were jealous that he was dad’s favorite so we sold him on ebay and told dad that he was eaten. BAM!!! There’s your story! Seriously . . . We’re saddened that Josh is leaving, but fully support his decision. We are thankful for Josh’s hard work and contributions and look forward to seeing what God has in store for Josh and the Ball Brothers.”
(Our sincere apologies to any blog or news editor that has to edit this release.)
Best wishes to Josh and the rest of the Ball Brothers as they transition to a new singer. Oh, and no editing necessary guys….why mess with a good thing???
This is the start of a new series of posts that I’ve been tossing around for a while. The Definitive series will be taking a classic song from the SG genre and I will give my pick for the best version of the song. First up is one of the most iconic songs in SG history, “The Lighthouse.”
Written by Ronnie Hinson, this song was of course originally performed by the Hinsons, but was covered by a plethora of groups. Popular versions were recorded by the Goodmans, the Oak Ridge Boys, and the Downings among others, but pretty much every major group has covered the song at some point in their career. There are a lot of really good versions, but the version recorded in 1972 by JD Sumner and the Stamps on Something Special rises above all the rest. Donnie Sumner sings the verses on the Stamps’ version of the song, and it may well be the single best recorded vocal of his career. Sumner sings the song with the power and range that really drives the song home, going up to (I think) a sustained A above middle C on the tag. The power harmonies from the rest of the quartet are spot on. If you’ve got a copy of the album, pull it back out and try not to take a shouting fit by the end of the song.
Many artists have covered “The Lighthouse”, and there are truly many fine versions of the song, but no one has ever been able to equal the Stamps and Donnie Sumner.
I realize that the last YouTube clip post we did also featured the Sisters, but this is just too good not to share. Via DBM, here is a clip of Sisters singing what I consider to be one of Dottie Rambo’s greatest songs, “Until He Comes”, from the AbsolutelyGospel.com Awards presentation a couple of nights ago. There’s not much I can say about this other than WOW.
UPDATE: The video has apparently been removed. Hopefully it will find its way back online at some point, but if you missed it, their performance of the Rambo classic with Josh Singletary at the piano was incredible!
In the long, storied history of the Imperials, you can be sure that there are many “hidden gems” just waiting to be rediscovered. One of the more forgotten eras of the group, strangely enough, is the period with Jake Hess. This particular tune comes from 1967′s To Sing Is The Thing, which was Hess’s last as a regular group member. Personnel on this song are Jim Murray – Tenor, Jake Hess – Lead, Gary McSpadden – Baritone, Armond Morales – Bass, and Joe Moscheo – Piano.
While the next album, New Dimensions, went farther in pushing the Imperials toward the contemporary edge of Gospel music, this cut was a nice foreshadowing of what was to come. The preceding cut, “To Be With God” was a soft, smooth ballad featuring McSpadden. What comes from the grooves next is a stinging electric guitar with heavy percussion that sounds like something off a British Invasion group’s LP from a couple years prior. Hess sings a lyric that talks about getting saved and having similar faith to Biblical heroes.
In these later years the thought of Hess singing a pop-ish tune seems far-fetched, but in fact liner notes to an old Statesmen album make the claim that Hess could have had a career in popular music, and this song proves that claim true. There’s some nice harmony from the group on the song, and Jim Murray’s smooth tenor helps sell the tune, along with some nice step in bass lines from Morales. The song ends with Hess repeating “I’ve got it!” with some harmonized “oohs” from the other vocalists while the electric guitar plays some nice licks while the track fades out. If you’ve got this LP, or the CD version that Armond and the Imperials re-released several years ago, pull this track up. It’s very atypical for this era of the group, and it’s a lot of fun!
First let me say this: We are XM subscribers solely because of enLighten. That is the one and only reason we subscribed to the service. A little back story: Back in November, our little family SUV finally gave up the ghost (it WAS 8 years old), and we’d finally outgrown it with 3 kids. So we ended up purchasing a minivan. While I knew the van had XM capability, what I did not know until we got a phone call from Sirius XM in January was that we had a 3 month free preview of their service. We missed out on 2 of the 3 months, but we were able to listen for the month of January. Obviously, I immediately tuned the station to enLighten, and we never changed it for any appreciable amount of time (my wife revolted when I tried to turn on the classic jazz or smooth jazz channels). When our preview ended, we went about 2 weeks without the XM service again. Then one day my wife called me and said “I miss having my enLighten in the car.” So we subscribed. That was mid February. We’ve now had service for 2 or 3 months.
enLighten overall does a good job. They do play a fairly good mix of recent songs and classics, and their classics even go back to the 50s and 60s. That’s a nice plus, it’s good to hear the Blackwood Brothers and the Speers and other great groups from SG’s early days. They play a lot of current hit songs as well, it’s fairly easy to hear Gold City’s “Peter, James, and John” or the Booth Brothers’ “She Still Remembers Jesus’ Name.” I’ve finally gotten to hear songs and artists that due to the lack of SG radio in this area, I’ve only heard about via blogs. Again, we liked the station enough to spend the money to subscribe, and we are very picky about adding on any additional monthly bills. So obviously it has made a good impression on us.
There is one area though that I feel the station can improve on, and that still has to do with airplay selection. Some of the songs we hear on there just aren’t up to snuff in quality. While I’ve heard very little of what I would consider to be poor quality recordings, I’ve heard a significant amount of what would be considered mediocre to average. I’ve heard many songs by artists that we’ve never heard of, and while introducing new artists is a good thing, I’ve frequently cringed at what’s come on the radio. Another blogger shared his thoughts a while back, and I don’t remember for sure who it was (DBM maybe?), but made the point that enLighten, with the explosion of satellite radio, is in a position to be a flagship of sorts for the SG genre, and because of that they should only play the highest quality music. I agree wholeheartedly with this sentiment. Playing up and coming artists is great, and we have a lot of good ones, with groups like Tribute, the Crist Family, the Dills, Freedom, and others. Those groups, while not as widely known or popular, put out recordings that are of sufficient quality as to represent SG well to a wide audience. I’ve heard other groups on the channel that aren’t there yet.
So to Marlin and the enLighten crew, keep up the good work, and please consider the above as the purely constructive criticism that it is. We enjoy our enLighten, and want it to be the best representation of Southern Gospel music that it could possibly be. Thanks for your efforts, and we’ll keep listening!
Thursday night, March 15, my church hosted the Crist Family in concert. It had been two years since we’d had them, so this was the first chance I’ve had to hear the material from their Oasis CD live and my first time to see them since the departure of Tom Joyce. The crowd was incredibly disappointing. I’d estimate at 100, maybe 125 if I were to be generous. Not sure what caused such a low turnout, we did nothing different than normal in promoting the concert. That being said, the Crist Family was very professional and sang just as hard for the 100 as they would have for 1000.
Here is their set list from the night:
When I Get Carried Away
I Believe He’s Coming Back
My Oasis
Joy’s Gonna Come
He Is Amazing
I Love Lovin’ Jesus
His Strength Is Perfect
I’ll Sing A New Song
My Heart Knows
The Rock
Intermission
Jesus Hold My Hand
I Must Tell Jesus
It’s Been A Journey
Great Beyond
The concert started with a couple of well known SG classics, and though the crowd was sparse, it was readily apparent that those who were there were in good spirits and quickly became attuned to the group. One positive of the smaller crowd was that it led to a much more intimate feel that carried on throughout the evening. Breana Crist did a fine job on “My Oasis.” It’s a very soothing, smooth song that seems to be made for Bre’s voice. It has always been one of my favorite cuts on Oasis. Tami Starkel has a big, powerful lead voice, and “Joy’s Gonna Come” really gives her a chance to showcase some powerhouse vocals. It really gets the energy going in the crowd.
Highlight number one followed though, with the mellow, big band harmonies of “He Is Amazing.” The group did something unusual with this song, however, they started the song acappella. The first line is all the ladies unison, then the guys join for the second line, still in unison, then on the third line of the first verse the parts all split into some tight big band jazz harmonies. They muted the track until they hit the chorus. So we got the entire first verse, including the harmonic split and beyond acappella before kicking in the track for the chorus. When all those voices split into the 5 and 6 part harmonies with no accompaniment, it will send chills down your spine. Wow.
Another highlight followed right on the heels of “He Is Amazing”, and that was the next song “I Love Lovin’ Jesus.” To date, this is the highest charting single for the Crist Family, as it climbed all the way to #3. It’s a simple lyric, with a fairly simple (for the Crist Family, anyways) arrangement, but it’s a catchy tune, a memorable message, and a marketable sound. Jackie Crist really shines on it. Tami Starkel shared a powerful testimony of her struggle with epilepsy before singing their cover of Steven Curtis Chapman’s “His Strength Is Perfect.” It’s a moving performance that coincides with a touching testimony. Jackie Crist’s performance of “My Heart Knows” alongside of her dad and sister is also a highlight of their set.
During the intermission, the group introduced Tami and John Starkel’s son, Luke. Luke took his guitar to the front of the stage, sat on a stool and proceeded to sing a couple of songs that he had written. Luke’s style is much more contemporary oriented, but he is VERY talented. I thoroughly enjoyed both of the songs he performed, and his performance added even more variety in style to the Crist’s concert experience. GREAT job, Luke, and be watching out for this young man. He absolutely has a bright future ahead of him in Christian music.
After Luke’s mini-set, the group returned to the stage with “Jesus Hold My Hand.” The next major highlight of the evening came next. The group put their mics down, walked to the center of the auditorium, and sang their arrangement of “I Must Tell Jesus” acappella, and without any amplification. One thing I can brag about my church on is that the acoustics in our sanctuary are great, and this performance was an evidence of that fact. Wow. No stacks, no tracks, not even microphones, just pure, sweet harmony on a timeless hymn. My brother took a video of it. You will have to excuse my son climbing around to get a better look, he was captivated, and I hope mine and my wife’s heads aren’t too in the way.
The mood became quite reflective at this point, and after a testimony of the things that Rich and the group have been through, he pulled out one of their earlier songs, “It’s Been A Journey”, that they hadn’t performed in quite a while. It really fit the atmosphere at that point of the concert, and led wonderfully to an invitation. After the invitation, they closed with the upbeat “Great Beyond.”
It had been a couple of years since we’d had the Crist Family, they’d released two CDs and had the departure of Tom Joyce, but this group continues to grow and develop their niche in the Southern Gospel industry. Their harmony is terrific, their testimonies moving, and their concerts are always enjoyable. The Crist Family is one of the true rising stars in this genre, and for good reason. I hope they continue to push themselves musically, and through many discussions with Rich Crist, I’m confident that they will. He’s the only person I know with a more eclectic collection of music on his iPod than mine! Seriously, don’t miss the Crist Family if they are in your area, they are a great group with a great sound and a powerful message. You will be glad you went. Thanks guys for a terrific concert!
This is the first CD of primarily new material for EHSS since Devin McGlamery and Ian Owens joined. To call this a highly anticipated release would be a bit of an understatement, so let’s just get to the tracks.
Tracks:
Swing Low Sweet Chariot – The track starts with the sound of a movie projecter and and old-timey piano, before the song kicks off with a chorus from the quartet. The retro feel continues throughout the song with the background “ba-ba-ba-ba-da-da” vocals behind the lead vocal on the verse. After the first verse, there’s a “Dixieland” style vamp section before Ian Owens sings another verse. The key changes and Ernie Haase takes the lead on the chorus. This is a fun, light hearted tune that probably goes over well in concert. 8/10
Singing In The Midnight Hour – Doug Anderson is to Ernie Haase what Bill Shivers is to Brian Free: worth every penny he is paid and then some. This a very bluesy tune that really shows Anderson’s strength as a vocalist. He’s got just the right soul to really pull this song off. It’s a great tune and one of the best cuts on the album. 10/10
Here We Are Again – This is a flowing, mid-tempo song with a little country flavor. This song actually sounds like something you’d have heard from the Cathedrals in the early to mid 90s. Ian Owens sings the first verse as a solo and does a magnificent job. After a group vocal on the chorus, Ernie Haase sings the second verse leading into a key change before the chorus. The chorus is then reprised with the harmonies inverted up. This song shows that if you strip away all the showiness and cheesiness from the group, these guys can really sing. Another great cut here. 9.5/10
I Believe – This is Ian Owens’ signature song, beginning with his days in the Imperials. As this is his first mainline release with Signature Sound, this is a great opportunity to showcase his abilities with a song that he is familiar and comfortable singing. It’s a solid rendition and a nice arrangement. 7.5/10
I’ve Been Here Before – Devin McGlamery gets his first mainline feature on this song. It’s a mid-tempo song in 6/8 time with a bit of a soul/pop feel to it. There are some really nice chord progressions in the verse, and a nice arrangement in the chorus. McGlamery really does well with this sound, it really fits him well. After the second verse, there’s a neat transition to a new key with Ernie Haase taking the melody. Another strong song from the guys. 9/10
You Are Welcome Here – Wayne Haun steps up to the plate with this song. It has a bit of a pop ballad feel. It’s a challenging lyric about the church fulfilling it’s purpose as the place for the hurt and downtrodden to find healing and restoration in Christ. It hearkens back to the words of Christ that the healthy don’t need a doctor, the sick do. There’s some nice background harmonies to Haun’s lead vocal in the chorus. I really like this song. 9/10
Love Carried The Cross – This is the lone power ballad on the album, and it’s a great one. Doug Anderson sings the first verse and carries the melody through the chorus, and does a fine job on it. After the chorus , the key changes and Devin McGlamery sings the second verse. Ernie Haase follows with the third verse leading to another chorus. Much like “Here We Are Again”, this song strips away the show and allows the group’s vocals to shine. As others have said, this is much like a power ballad you’d have heard from the Cathedrals during Haase’s tenure with the group. 9.5/10
Stand By Me – This was the first song that the group really pushed hard when they organized, and Tim Duncan’s rendition became a standard for the group. I get that. Ian Owens is given the song to reprise here. While the original was a great arrangement that went over well, this one is given an “over the top” treatment that just doesn’t do much for me. I much prefer the original version. I can see that it’s probably a fun performance in concert, but to me it doesn’t translate well in the studio. 4/10
Everytime – This is a big risk. No, this is a HUGE risk. Let me first go on record as saying I LIKE the arrangement, the overall style of this song. It’s different, it’s Motown/Soul meets Southern Gospel. It sounds like something off of the Blues Brothers. Lyrically it’s a nice message of encouragement. Ernie Haase takes the lead on this song. The backing harmonies from the rest of the guys on the chorus are very well done. Where this song falls a bit short is similar to “Stand By Me.” It’s performed in a way that is probably great fun in a concert setting with people clapping and smiling, but on a studio CD it comes across as a little too much, almost sounding self-indulgent. I get what Ernie was trying for here, and I’m sure it succeeds in concert (I’d LOVE to see/hear it), but not so much on a studio CD. Maybe he should have saved this one for a live concert CD. 6/10
Sometimes I Wonder – After a couple of misses, the album goes back to the hit side with this flowing acoustic flavored song sung beautifully by Doug Anderson. This song talks about losing a loved one, and wondering what life is like in Heaven. One the second verse, there’s some beautiful close harmonies that join with Anderson. Those harmonies continue on the chorus. This is my favorite song on the disc. The vocal arrangement is outstanding, the performance by Anderson is flawless and it is exactly what the disc needed. 10/10
Thankful – This is a soft ballad that is quite reminiscent of the song “We Are So Blessed” both musically and lyrically. Ernie Haase has the melody on this track and it’s a very well performed song that has a bit of an understated arrangement that accentuates the message of the song very well. It’s just a very pretty song that is well done. 8/10
Any Other Man – In 1977, the Imperials released their album Sail On, which was the first to feature Russ Taff and David Will. While the group had blurred the lines of Southern and Contemporary up to that point, the first track of the Sail On album was a rocking, electric guitar driven tune called “Water Grave” that was certainly a shock to fans of the group that had followed them since their days as a Southern Gospel quartet. “Any Other Man” produces the same type of initial reaction. Recorded live in Romania, this song is a total 180 from the quiet reflectiveness of “Thankful.” It features electric guitars, heavy percussion, and I can detect a bit of a rock organ as well. Devin McGlamery and Doug Anderson take the first verse, then Ian Owens and Ernie Haase take the second verse. McGlamery, Anderson, and Haase take the third verse. Haase takes the final verse. There have been comparisons to Third Day, and that’s not too far off. It’s definitely more of a rock type sound. It’s “Water Grave”, Part 2. And for the record, I loved Part 1, and I love Part 2 as well. This song has prompted a lot of discussion to this point, and I don’t see that subsiding any time soon. Count me in the “love it” group. 10/10
Overall: 8.5 As I have been listening to this album, I’ve had several other bloggers ask me my thoughts on it. My response hasn’t really changed much with repeated listens. When this album is good, it is REALLY good. When it’s not, it falls flat. There really isn’t much middle ground here. You can probably see in my individual song ratings that there really aren’t a lot of “middle ground” type ratings. Fortunately, there’s a lot more of the “really good” on this album than the “falls flat.” Doug Anderson and Devin McGlamery in particular really get some chances to shine on this album. “Sometimes I Wonder”, “Here We Are Again”, “I’ve Been Here Before”, and “Singing In The Midnight Hour” are fantastic songs. “Any Other Man” could be a defining point not only in the group’s career, but in the SG genre as a whole. There are moments on this album that are magnificent. When this album does fall, it isn’t for bad singing, or missed notes, or anything like that. It’s fairly obvious that the main focus of Ernie Haase and Signature Sound is their live performances. They are focused on providing concert goers with an uplifting, entertaining evening with songs that have messages pointing toward their Savior. As a result, sometimes songs and arrangements that come across well in concert, especially songs that are meant to be more lighthearted and fun, don’t necessarily translate well to the studio. I made this point in a conversation with another blogger, and I still think it’s a valid one: when you go all out in the studio, like Ernie did with “Everytime”, what is there left to bring to the live performance of the song? My personal preference would be to tone it down just a little on the studio version, then “go crazy” with it live. By doing so, you bring that extra “oomph” to the live concert experience.
So overall, I think this is a fine CD with a lot of great performances, but with a couple that are probably skip worthy. Again, both of those probably come across great in a live performance, but just don’t really translate well to CD. Still, Ernie and the guys, including pianist and producer Wayne Haun, are definitely not afraid to take risks and try something new, and that in and of itself is much to their credit. Nice job, guys.
My first post of this series dealt with one of the classic ballads in SG. Now let’s tackle one of the quintessential uptempo numbers in our genre. Of course this song will be forever associated with The Happy Goodmans, but my choice for the definitive version of this tune goes back to a 1964 Skylite album by the Oak Ridge Boys. Personnel on this album were Willie Wynn – Tenor, Smitty Gatlin – Lead, Jim Hamill – Baritone, Herman Harper – Bass, and Tommy Fairchild – Piano.
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