SouthernGospelBlog.com

Rating: 5 (of 5)

Average Song Rating: 4.3 (of 5)

Song List: Give the World a Smile; Moses; Behold the Master Cometh; I’ll Pray For You; Mention the Name; In the Garden; Wicked Path of Sin; Beautiful Star of Bethlehem; What Did He Ever See In Me; First Step; Little is Much; The Son Will Rise.

Available from: Crossroads.

***

Georgia Live, released by the Kingsmen in 1995, has been out of print for several years. It was recently reissued digitally by Crossroads as part of a series of discounted reissues ($7.99 instead of the standard cost of $9.99 for a new digital album).

Like any good Kingsmen live project, Georgia Live kicks off with a convention song, in this case “Give the World a Smile.” After a decent mid-tempo song, “Moses,” Eldridge Fox was featured on the album’s first major highlight, “Behold the Master Cometh.” The song was inspired by a trip Fox took to the Holy Land, specifically when a backwoods Tennessee preacher read from John at Lazarus’ tomb.

After a string of several songs, “I’ll Pray for You” (featuring Jim Hamill), “Mention the Name” (featuring Chris Collins), and “In the Garden” (featuring Randy Miller), the Kingsmen Band sang a bluegrass arrangement of “Wicked Path of Sin.”

“Beautiful Star of Bethlehem” featured a classic Kingsmen slow-it-down and embellish-the-notes encore.

Tim Surrett sang “What did He Ever See in Me,” a song with a soundtrack. When introducing the song, Hamill emphasized how important live accompaniment was to him (and the Kingsmen style). This is somewhat interesting retrospectively, since today’s Kingsmen sing their entire program with soundtracks.

Another project highlight was Chris Collins’ rendition of “Little is Much,” using the same arrangement that Larry Ford (Homecoming Favorites, 1999) and Ernie Haase (Stand By Me Live, 2004) have used. I’m not entirely sure whether this particular arrangement originated with the Kingsmen or even earlier. (Do any of you know the arrangement’s history?)

The project closes with an uptempo convention song, “The Son Will Rise.”

While I have most of the Kingsmen’s classic live albums from the 70s and 80s, I hadn’t been as familiar with their 1990s sound. While this project may not be quite as good as Big & Live, Live…Naturally, or Live at the University of Alabama, it is in the same ballpark, and it comes pretty close.

Legacy Five’s London album was released five years ago, when the group was at the pinnacle of the Southern Gospel field. The project came out in 2003; in the year following its release, the group had its first #1 song (”I Found Grace,” from this project) and swept the Singing News Fan Awards, winning Favorite Male Quartet and three of the five quartet positions (pianist, baritone, and bass).

Looking back on the projects recorded during the seven years Roger Bennett was with the group, this was probably their best. Only Strong in the Strength, their 1999 debut project, comes close in the area of song selection.

Listening to London is more than just listening to a CD. It’s an experience.

Here’s what I mean. The project starts off with a slow song, “Holy is Thy Name,” to give you a feel for the group and its sound. Then it has a string of three excellent songs–”I’ve Got That Old Time Religion” (an old convention song with orchestra), “It’s Good to Know” (a radio single), and “He Forgets” (a big hit ballad).

Then (also like many concerts) the album has a breather. The fifth through the seventh songs (”Meanwhile,” “Mercy Extended,” and “The God Who Comes Through”) compose this  slower middle section.

Then the album builds to a strong finish, where three of the strongest songs Legacy Five ever recorded (”Joy,” “I Found Grace,” and “Home Free”) punctuate the final five songs. Home Free is a quintessential Roger Bennett solo; this recording was one of three songs he recorded that were played at his funeral.

If there was a dictionary of Southern Gospel music, this album’s picture should be placed next to  the definition of “perfect song placement.” Sometimes I wonder if it is possible that this album’s placement could have been determined by the same person who chose the order for the songs on Monuments, their following project, which I’ve maintained since the album’s release would have been a much better project if the songs had been in a different order.

While we all wish we could have had Roger Bennett with us for many more years, at least he had the opportunity to leave us with a recording of this caliber during the years we did have him.

Rating: Highly Recommended. (5 stars of 5)

Rating: ***** (Excellent)

Many of you know that the Cathedrals are my all-time favorite group. I just purchased several more albums in my quest to obtain a complete set of their projects. (I have all but seven: With Strings, I Saw the Light, Seniors in Season, Smooth as Silk, Land of the Living, Camp Meeting, and Worship His Glory–and their two trio projects. If any of you have copies you’re willing to part with at a reasonable price, or even an unreasonable price, post in the comments and I’ll send you an email.)

One of the albums I just purchased, Keep on Singing (1979), arrived in yesterday’s mail.

Compared to most retrospective reviews of classic albums, this is unique since I’m writing it as I listen to the album for the first time. I thought it would be interesting to try to capture my interaction with the music as I hear a classic album for the first time.

The album starts with a rendition of the Rambos’ classic “I’ve Never Been this Homesick Before.” Though I had never perceived this song as a bass solo, George Younce redefined my perception of the song in thirty seconds, putting in one of his career finest solos with his rendition.

Kirk Talley takes the lead on the second song, “Consider the Lilies.” On the chorus, Talley solos on the first and third lines; the harmony is inverted on the even lines, with Younce carrying the melody. This is the smoothest bass / tenor handoff on alternating lines I’ve heard in quite a while, and it’s simply a joy to hear.

Glen Payne leads the third song, “Won’t it Be Worth it My Child.” This uptempo song showcases an energetic Payne at his peak, at his best. Younce has some fairly high echo lines at the end before sliding down into a low ending.

The fourth song, “I Never Shall Forget the Day,” is an uptempo piano instrumental. It’s not immediately clear who is playing the piano, since the group’s lineup was unsettled when this album was produced. It could be any of the group’s 1979 pianists–Lorne Matthews, Steve Lee, or Roger Bennett–or even a studio musician. In some ways it just seems like an early Bennett song, but I don’t want to hazard a guess since I’m not familiar with Lee’s piano style.

Glen Payne sings the first verse on the fifth song, “He Will Row You Over the Tide”; George Younce sings the second. The group sings the second chorus gently before building to a big finish. Unlike many big orchestral finishes in vogue today, this finish is sustained more on their raw vocal power than on the song’s barebones piano/guitar/drums instrumentation.

The second half of the album starts out with an uptempo version of “I Want to Be Like My Lord.” This is so good that I am tempted to say that the Cathedrals were never better than at this moment in history, but then I think of the majesty of their final years, and I forbear. Nonetheless, Younce turns in a splendid performance that should go down as one of his all-time best bass leads. The pianist also turns in a memorably excellent performance.

The seventh song, “I’ve Come Too Far,” features George Younce in one of his lower leads. I’m writing this review as I listen to the album for the first time, so I don’t have a keyboard at hand, but I’d have to guess it’s keyed somewhere around D, with some low As thrown in for good measure.

Glen Payne has the lead on the eighth song on the project, “I’ve Come to Calvary.”

The group’s mystery baritone makes his first appearance on the ninth song, “Thank You Lord for Your Blessing.” It’s certainly not Mark Trammell, who didn’t join until the next year. I don’t think it sounds like George Amon Webster, so that means it was probably Steve Lee. The identity of the group’s baritone is actually one of the mysteries surrounding this particular project; it’s been a topic of discussion on various message boards.

Kirk Talley has the solo on the final song, “Holy is Thy Name.” This rendition was closely followed by Legacy Five on their 2003 London project, so anyone who has heard that project can go in reverse and get a good feel for the vocal arrangement on this song. The accompaniment is a solo piano without any other instrumentation, but it works so well that that–to reverse the analogy once again–the orchestra on Legacy Five’s rendition doesn’t match what the Cathedrals could do with just a piano and four voices.

This album was interesting since it captures the Cathedral’s sound at the roughest point in their history. Just when they thought they had a winning formula, a solid lineup consisting of George Younce, Glen Payne, Lorne Matthews, Roy Tremble, and George Amon Webster, a concert promoter convinced the three younger members to leave and form a trio of their own, “The Brothers.” Glen and George were so devastated by the sudden loss of 3/5 of their group that they considered retiring; Todd Payne once said that his father, Glen, was moved to tears by the blow.

Payne was in the office, working on an upcoming record, when he heard the news of the split. It’s not known for sure which of the group’s 1979 releases he was working on, but it has been mentioned that this particular album may have been the one. This is partly because of the album’s song selection and vocal arrangements. Unlike nearly every other Cathedrals album, where Payne shared lead duties with the baritone and sang baritone harmony parts on several songs, Payne carries the lead almost exclusively on this project. The baritone is given only one solo; Younce and Payne both sing parts that under other circumstances could well have been soloed by the baritone.

Expert ears have listened to the project and said that it sounds as though George Amon Webster may have laid down some of the baritone vocals for the project, while Steve Lee apparently did others. (In fact, as I was listening to a few songs, most notably “I’ve Been to Calvary,” I couldn’t help but wonder if Glen Payne had doubled parts in a few places as well.)

Kirk Talley laid down all the tenor vocals for the project, thus suggesting that he was the first firm replacement the Cathedrals settled on. But on the other hand, since a tenor’s harmony parts are more prominent, all the tenor parts would have to be replaced, while some of the baritone parts could be permitted to slip by.

This is one of only a handful of Cathedrals albums without a group picture on the front cover. Most of the others also came during times of lineup uncertainty. The uncertainty is also reflected in the album title, “Keep on Singing”–which is an affirmation of optimism through the uncertainty.

I say all of this to illustrate a larger point. Except perhaps for a few bargain-basement albums in the early 70s, the Cathedrals probably never produced an album under more difficult circumstances. Yet this album proves that the Cathedrals’ greatness wasn’t limited to win things were going well for them. Even when the polishing process wasn’t complete, the Cathedrals were unmistakably a jewel.

One final thought. This album features some of George Younce’s career best bass solos, ranking with his solos on A Little Bit of Everything (1970), Everything’s Alright (1971), Plain Ole Gospel (1975), I’ve Just Started Living (1989), and a few special appearances toward the end of his life. As I listened to this 1979 album, it occurred to me that a common thread ties each of these performances together. They each came at the toughest points in his career.

In 1970 and 1971, the group was going through personnel as fast as the Dixie Melody Boys and Mercy’s Mark are right now. They had gone from performing to an appreciative TV audience with Rex Humbard to scraping to make ends meet. Then in 1974 and 1975, though they’d assembled a more steady lineup, Canaan threatened to drop them unless they started selling more records. This 1979 project came after a group split that nearly led them to disband the group and cancel this project. His 1988 and 1989 performances came after a heart attack that nearly killed him and took him off the road for months. His final performances in 2002 and 2003 were after his health had declined so far he could barely walk.

Something about this level of stress and pressure caused Younce to turn in his career best performances. This album shows that the same goes for the rest of the group.

It would not be a stretch to say that this album–along with several produced under similarly trying circumstances–holds the secret to the Cathedrals’ greatness. Even when they were faced with challenges that made many lesser quartets throw in the towel, this humble table project proves that Glen Payne and George Younce still gave their audience everything they had.

Both during and after his last years with the Cathedrals, George Younce released several albums. This particular project was released in 1998, when he was still on the road with the Cathedrals, it’s still available from his website.

The project includes one song quite familiar from his Cathedrals repertoire, Jon Mohr’s “Rumormill.” But other than that, all the songs are written by one of three different songwriters / songwriting teams. There are three Albert E. Brumley songs (”You Can Find a Friend in the Lord,” “Led by the Master’s Hand,” and “I Couldn’t Begin to Tell You”), two Mosie Lister songs (”That Says it All” and “Call Home,”) and four songs written by Toni Jolene Clay and Ed Miller (”While There’s Breath in My Body,” “I’m Not Afraid of Shadows Anymore,” “The Hand,” and “He Loves Me.”)

One of the album highlights is Albert Brumley’s “Led By the Hand.” This is the same song the Inspirations recently recorded (on I Know). It’s not often that a soloist pulls off a song with a genuine quartet touch, but that’s what Younce does here.

Probably the standout ballad on this project is “I’m Not Afraid of Shadows Anymore,” a song that would have fit well on a Cathedrals project.

Of all Younce’s solo albums that I have heard to date, this has probably the strongest song selection. It is on par with his other projects in production quality and is overall an enjoyable release.

This CD is a collection of twelve songs Younce recorded, mostly in the 1970s.

“He is the Dearest Friend” was recorded in 1976 for the Easy on the Ears, Heavy on the Heart album. (The album and song, incidentally, were produced by Bill Gaither.) The song is in the key of A, and Younce sings low A at several points throughout the verses; his voice never sounded better in this subwoofer range than it did at this point in his life, before his heart attack.

“He is the Dearest Friend” and the second song, “Row Your Boat,” were both written by Younce. “Row Your Boat” applies naval imagery to the Christian life. It was originally recorded on the Cathedrals’ 1973 release Seniors in Season.

“He Came Back” was recorded in 1975 on the Cathedrals’ album For Keeps. (For Keeps, incidentally, is to the best of my knowledge the album on which the Southern Gospel classic “Shout over Heaven” was introduced.) This song is one of the highlights of the collection.

The fourth song the collection is the Joel Hemphill classic “Jesus Have Mercy on Me,” from the Cathedrals’ 1974 Our Statue of Liberty album. The first three songs on the project showcase Younce’s low singing; this is the first of several songs that features him carrying a lead, though in a lower key than a lead singer might perform the song. Younce carries the melody through the chorus, with the rest of the group joining in inverted harmony.

“Then I Found Jesus,” the fifth song on the project, comes from A Little Bit of Everything (1970). Younce wrote the song, which became a Cathedrals standard throughout the 1970s.

“Keep on the Firing Line” is one of the few songs from the 1980s in this collection. This song, one of the few songs on the project to feature Kirk Talley’s and Mark Trammell’s voices, was recorded on Trammell’s first album with the group, Telling the World About His Love. Even though this song was recorded only a few years after the others on the project, a difference can already be heard in Younce’s voice quality.

“So I Love Him Dearly” comes from the Cathedrals’ 1978 album One at a Time. Younce wrote the song, which has recently been brought back by Gaither Homecoming tour artist Mike Allen.

The eighth song on the project, “Rumormill,” is distinctively a novelty song. (”If it can be twisted, you can be sure that it will / ‘Cause there ain’t nothing sacred at the rumormill.”) Younce recorded the song on the Cathedrals’ 1983 project Individually. Female backup singers sing the harmony parts; the voices of the other Cathedrals cannot be heard on the song.

Younce wrote the ninth song on the project, “Little Deeds.” It was originally recorded on Welcome to Our World (1972). The Cathedrals had quite a bit of tenor turnover that year. Mack Taunton was the tenor at the beginning of the year, and Roy Tremble ended the year with the job, but between the two, Bobby Clark and Roger Horne filled the tenor position. Either Horne or Tremble sings the tenor part on this song.

“The Cross Was His Own” comes from the Cathedrals’ 1977 project Then and Now.

“Seeing Eye Dog” comes from Seniors in Session (1973). Younce sings solo throughout the song, unlike most of the other songs on the project (where the rest of the quartet joins on the chorus).

The final song on the project is one of Younce’s many renditions of “This Old House.” I believe it came from Seniors in Session. (I must admit I reached this conclusion by process of elimination, as I already have Younce’s other renditions of the song.)

When he recorded these songs, he was in peak voice. Though I haven’t always said this, I have always in the back my mind had the 1970s as the point when he was in peak voice. In the earliest years of his career, his voice had not attained its full depth, and in the final years of his career, various health issues including heart attacks and kidney failure took their toll.

On various message boards and in this blog, I have been known to make the case for George Younce being the best Southern Gospel bass of all time. When I say that, I think of the way his voice sounded at its peak. If you want to hear what his voice sounded like at its peak, listen to songs from this era–and if you want to listen to songs from this era, there is no better place to start than with this collection of some of his best songs from the era, digitally cleaned up and on CD for the first time.

The project is still available at www.georgeyounceonline.com.

When the Cathedrals decided to retire, it was primarily due to George Younce’s declining health. Yet it turned out he had a few more years of singing left. Besides the work he did with the Old Friends Quartet, he recorded several solo projects. One of these was Day By Day, recorded in 2000.

The project was produced by Vic Clay, who also played guitar for the project. Clay and Younce had been friends for years; Clay had accompanied the Cathedral Quartet on guitar during their years at the Cathedral of Tomorrow. He apparently toured with the Cathedrals on a semi-regular basis, to the extent that some have called him an unofficial original Cathedrals member. Clay produced several Cathedrals projects throughout the years.

The project starts off with several hymns. The first two, “Send the Light” and “At the Cross,” are arranged with influences from black Gospel.

The third song is the familiar spiritual “I Am Bound for the Promised Land.” The sing is sung with a new melody, which is either original to the project or was taken from a project I haven’t heard yet.

The fourth song is the Ira Stanphill classic “There’s Room at the Cross for You.”

The background vocals and the arrangement on “Take the Name of Jesus With You,” the fifth song, also have just a touch of influence from black Gospel.
“I’ll Put on a Crown,” an Albert E. Brumley song, is one of the more upbeat songs on the CD.

The seventh song, “Take Up Thy Cross,” was written by Rev. Afred H. Ackley and Homer A. Rodheaver. Rev. Ackley also wrote the far more famous hymn “He Lives” (”I serve a risen Savior; He’s in the world today”). While Ackley’s far more famous hymn has been recorded many times, I was delighted to see that someone else had remembered and brought back this forgotten gem. The rendition is hauntingly beautiful, and though I may be biased since this is one of my favorite songs, I consider it one of the highlights of the project.

The eighth song, “Day by Day,” is the title song of the project. Younce’s early training and experience as a lead singer is put to good use in this song, which is keyed somewhat higher than would typically be expected on a bass solo project. But Younce pulls it off well.

The ninth song, “Stand By Me,” is a song Younce would sometimes use to close Cathedrals concerts (such as the concert captured on Alive! Deep in the Heart of Texas). Though he would often sing it a capella in a concert setting, this rendition is with piano accompaniment.

The ninth song, “In the Upper Room,” is one of Bill Gaither’s earliest songs. Though Younce recorded dozens of Gaither compositions through the years, this is to my knowledge the only time he recorded this particular song.

The project concludes with the familiar hymn “Who at my Door is Standing.”

This project is actually one of the few George Younce projects still available; sound clips and ordering information are available at www.georgeyounceonline.com. This project was released by the now-defunct Cathedral Records, so I imagine supply is limited to stock on hand. If you want to purchase a copy while brand-new copies are still available, now is the time.

All right, I admit it. I shouldn’t have said “CD Review.” To my knowledge, this project has never been released on CD, but it should be. But since that is the pattern I have established for all previous reviews, I will maintain it here.

This table project was released in 1975. As a slight digression, what I mean by “table project” is that the Cathedral Quartet recorded without the support of a record company. It was not distributed to stores; it was only available from their record table at concerts.

The record cover is unique in that it was not made with the typical cardboard with a glossy surface. The cardboard used to make this record envelope had a matte finish, almost a canvas feel. It was printed in black and white, or to be more precise, dark brown and white. It short, the cover of Plain Ole Gospel is “plain” and does, indeed, have an “old” feel to it.

The orchestrations are simple but sufficient. Haskell Cooley, the group pianist at the time, played piano. Vic Clay, who played guitar for the Catehdral Quartet in its earliest years, produced the project and played guitars. The only other instrumentation was bass, steel guitar, and drums. Though simple orchestration is a common feature of many artists’ table projects, it was intentional here, for a recording based on the “plain ole Gospel” theme could not well have progressive orchestration.

The project starts out with the classic tenor feature, “Glory Road.” Of course, at the time, it was not yet a classic; the Kingsmen had just recorded the original rendition two years before. This rendition is interesting in that since the song was relatively new, groups did not feel any need to do a note-for-note remake of the Kingsmen classic. As examples, an extra bass line is added for Younce at one point, and Tremble does not slip into falsetto on the line “I can see Him on His throne.” Of course, Tremble rarely employed falsetto (or, for that matter, head voice), but is also true that it had not yet been established that every tenor who would do the song had to slip into falsetto on that line.

The second song, “I’ve Been with Jesus,” is the same song the Cathedrals redid on Radio Days in 1996. Much as I love the final lineup of the Cathedrals, this particular song was a perfect fit for the 1970s lineup.

Baritone George Amon Webster is featured on “One Day at a Time.” This was another song that is now a classic, but was relatively new at the time. The Florida Boys recorded their classic rendition in the same year, on their 1975 project First Class Gospel.

Roy Tremble is featured on “Tears are a Language God Understands” another song that was relatively new at the time (recorded in 1972 by the Stamps and in 1973 by the Florida Boys), but has since become a classic. For me at least, the highlight of the song is when George Younce takes the melody on the lines

God sees the tears of a broken-hearted soul
He sees your tears and hears them when they fall

The timing of inverting the harmonies and featuring his voice on those lines is so perfect that it still sends chills down my spine, even after I’ve listened to the project well over a dozen times.

Younce is also featured on the final song on the first side of the record, “He’ll Hold My Hand.” He was in peak voice at the time of this recording; his voice had not attained its full depth in the 1950s, and this was before his later 1980s heart attack that threatened to completely destroy his ability to sing. Of course, he recovered completely, and spent well over an additional decade on the road, but yet this project project–as well as the song–feature him at his peak.
The second side starts with the classic quartet song “We’ll Soon Be Done with Troubles and Trials.”

“What a Beautiful Day,” the seventh song on the project, is another song that has become a classic. But in 1975, when the Cathedrals recorded their rendition, the song was still new; the Happy Goodmans had just recorded their rendition the year before, on Happy Goodman Family Hour.

Of course, “I’ll See You in the Rapture,” the eighth song on the project, is another song that has since become a classic. But it, too, was introduced earlier in the same year on the Kingsmen Quartet’s 1975 Jubilation! project.

The project closes with “His Name is Wonderful,” another relatively new song at the time, and a George Younce narration entitled “Golden Toys.” The final two songs are ably executed but are not songs that incite me to hit the replay button quite as often as the others do.

This project is not only an enjoyable listen, it is interesting historically. With one or two exceptions, this project is composed entirely of songs that had been introduced within two years of when the project was released. Though looking back, it looks like a project of classic songs, it was actually a project of songs that were current hits at the time. The foresight of the Cathedral Quartet in picking current hits that were destined to be classics is somewhat remarkable; here, on one project, we have over a half-dozen songs that have since become classics.

Just how good is this project?

I’m not about to claim that it is the best project the Cathedrals ever recorded. That honor would probably go to Something Special (1982) or Live in Atlanta (1983), the Cathedrals’ best studio and live projects, respectively. But this project may well be the best table project the Cathedrals ever recorded. It is also perhaps the best example of the tight harmonies of the 1970s lineup.

It is always fascinating to listen to a group on the verge of greatness; examples would be the early 1970s Kingsmen, early 1980s Gold City, or late 1990s Perrys. This is just such an album for the Cathedrals; they had in place many of the elements that would make them great, but fans just hadn’t yet figured it out.

Very few people will attempt to collect every single project that the Cathedrals recorded. But for those who just want to find the ten best projects they put out, this project certainly belongs on that list. For some, it might even deserve to be numbered among their top five.