Comments on: Liner Notes

By: Daniel J. Mount

Daniel J. Mount — Fri, 08 May 2009 03:39:52 +0000

FJW – check out the discography page at http://www.cathedralstribute.com

By: FJW

FJW — Fri, 08 May 2009 03:02:24 +0000

It has become my passion to try and identify the members at time of the recording, of the Cathedrals. I fianlly have all the members ordered by year,…now I am try to match who was on what CD. It is especially difficult since many songs that were recorded previously are included with the new stuff. Martin Cook is right up front about saying that he does that with the Inspirations too.

By: Quaid

Quaid — Fri, 08 May 2009 01:36:02 +0000

Speaking of recordings and credits, has anyone ever seen online or elsewhere a complete and accurate discography / membership list for Perfect Heart?

By: John C

John C — Wed, 06 May 2009 15:14:44 +0000

Speaking of the Weatherfords . . . I recently did a project accumulating all of their singles, remastering them, and recording them on CD. If you think LPs are difficult to catagorize, then try to make some sense out of 45s and 78s!

By: John C

John C — Wed, 06 May 2009 15:11:14 +0000

. . . and another thing . . . .

When JD Sumner reorganized the Stamps Quartet in the late 1980s, they went into the studio and re-released three Masters V projects with the vocals of the current personnel of the Stamps Quartet.

Things like that will also get you mighty confused!

By: Daniel J. Mount

Daniel J. Mount — Wed, 06 May 2009 15:10:27 +0000

Yes – we had a discussion on that a while back and we concluded it was probably 1959, but I think we thought there was a decent chance it might have been later 1958, too.

By: John C

John C — Wed, 06 May 2009 15:09:09 +0000

By the way, I think that Weatherfords LP in question was released in 1959.

By: John C

John C — Wed, 06 May 2009 15:08:27 +0000

It is quite frustrating to try to date an LP that was released fifty years ago. I have spent many hours in the quest to accurately date the releases by all of the major quartets (and even mixed groups!) that have impacted gospel music in a major way.

In the 1950s and 1960s, RCA was about the only company that listed the year of release on their recordings.

I have managed to come within a year on most of the major releases by using personnel changes and record numbering to zero in on the release dates.

Group pictures were not included on many releases in the 1960s due to personnel turnover in the quartet. Often too, the pictures on the album covers don’t match the vocalists on the recordings. The groups feel that product doesn’t sell with old personnel listed on the LP.

It takes a good ear and a good command of the history of gospel groups to accurately identify release dates of those recordings.

Occasionaly, you’ll also find a recording that has been reissued with different personnel. Case in point are the projects “Keep On Singing” by the Cathedral Quartet and “You Can’t Stop God From Blessing Me” by the Dove Brothers.

Recordings were also issued with different covers depicting personnel changes in the group although they were not changed on the recording. Case in point are “When I Stand with God” by the Rebels and “Garden of Melody” by the Speer Family.

Frankly, I’d rather have no personnel listed than to have inaccuracy on recordings.

These issues may not concern the casual fan, but they do irriate me!

By: Ellen

Ellen — Wed, 06 May 2009 01:29:46 +0000

Great post, Daniel–I have often lamented the glaring absence on project liners of many of the very same things you have listed!

By: Matt Baker

Matt Baker — Tue, 05 May 2009 21:37:33 +0000

#10 and #11- I think both of you are correct…I have seen plenty of McKameys albums that have Scripture on them…I have the Kingsmen ‘Shelter’ album somewhere…I’ll try to find it and get back with that… I also enjoy seeing testimonies on albums…call me old fashioned, but if I’m going to record a song, I want it to touch me before I can relate it to someone else.