The Essential Albums column highlights the albums every Southern Gospel fan should add to their collections. This list is in chronological, not ranked, order.

• 1999: Strong in the Strength. Southern Gospel fans tend to give newly launched groups a few years to prove themselves. But due to the unique circumstances surrounding their launch, Legacy Five had to prove they could carry their portion of the Cathedrals legacy without missing a beat. This debut project had to be a home run—and it was. Suppose you measure a project with two five-star songs as a double, three as a triple, and so fourth. Strong in the Strength could have taken Legacy Five around the bases twice. To this day, it’s still the strongest collection of songs they’ve put on one project.
• 2003: London. This project kicked off the group’s still-running association with Daywind in style. Members Roger Bennett and Scott Fowler were, of course, Cathedrals alumni. In 1987, the Cathedrals made a trip to London to record their landmark project Symphony of Praise. London was a similarly epochal moment for Legacy Five. It produced what to this day is still their only #1 hit, “I Found Grace,” as well as concert favorites like “Joy” and “He Forgets.” And then there’s the unforgettable closing track, Roger Bennett’s re-interpretation of Wayne Watson’s CCM hit “Home Free.” It was immeasurably superior to the original from day one, and only took on added poignancy four years later.
• 2006: Live in Music City. This recording would be a landmark project even if it weren’t Roger Bennett’s last recording. “I Have Been Changed” became Glenn Dustin’s signature song, and there is likely consensus that it’s the project’s strongest track. But the project is full of strong songs and vocal performances, and, for all too many of us, our final dose of Roger Bennett’s unforgettable wit and powerful tenor voice. This recording was the fifth ever reviewed on SouthernGospelBlog.com, here.
• 2009: Just Stand. This site’s five-star review described the project as “simply one of the best CDs released this decade.” Rather than repeating all the reasons why, here’s the review.

Do you agree or disagree with this list? If you could only choose four albums to introduce a friend to this group, which would you pick?

The Essential Albums column highlights the albums every Southern Gospel fan should add to their collections. This list is in chronological, not ranked, order.

1. 1992: It’s Just Like Heaven. Greater Vision’s acclaimed original lineup—Chris Allman, Gerald Wolfe, and Mark Trammell—made several recordings which demonstrated their versatility and vocal power. With songs like “It’s Just Like Heaven,” “He is Mine,” and “There is a River,” this is the strongest album from that era.
2. 2002: Live at First Baptist Atlanta. There was a time when Southern Gospel studio recordings consisted of a piano player, a drummer, a bass guitarist, and a utility musician who played steel guitar, harmonica, and a few other instruments. In that era, groups like Gold City, the Happy Goodmans, and the Kingsmen made live recordings with bands that could replicate that sound. In an era where Southern Gospel’s sound is often more orchestrated, this album joins the Bishops’ Chapter X Live and the Collingworth Family’s Fear Not Tomorrow as one of an incredibly small number to do justice to the orchestrated Southern Gospel sound in a live setting.
3. 2003: Quartets. Quartet harmony fans aren’t the only ones to acclaim this projects as Greater Vision’s all-time greatest. Let’s tie an arm behind its back, so to speak, and even the playing field by setting aside the dimension of the rich textures that voices like Glenn Dustin, Gene McDonald, and Tracy Stuffle brought to their ensemble sound. Just judge the album by its songs; “He is to Me,” “We Seek Your Face,” “Just Ask,” “God’s Grace Reaches Farther,” and “Crown of Bright Glory” alone make this a must-have recording.
4. 2006: Hymns of the Ages. The magnificent orchestrations and vocal arrangements make this one of the finest hymns projects ever recorded. The group recently announced that they will re-issuing the project with tenor Chris Allman’s vocals. This is quite likely to refute the aphorism “you can’t improve on perfection.” 

Do you agree or disagree with this list? If you could only choose four albums to introduce a friend to this group, which would you pick?

The Essential Albums column highlights the albums every Southern Gospel fan should add to their collections.

1. 2008: Always Have a Song. In my October 2008 review, I explained why it “sets the standard by which other Mark Trammell Trio projects [will be] measured for years to come.” It still does. Rather than revisiting the same ground covered in the review, here’s a more personal recollection: To this day, I cannot think of this album without thinking of the group’s late bus driver, Walter Bohannon. Many Southern Gospel bus drivers are every bit as delightful to talk with as the artists, and Walter was certainly near the top of that list. This album came out at the 2008 National Quartet Convention. On my first day in Freedom Hall, I stopped by their booth and started talking with him. Excitement lit his face as he tried to find the words to capture just how good “Loving the Lamb” was. He said it was the best project the group had ever released. He was right. 
2. 2004: Beside Still Waters. Like the mellow sounds of a mountain spring, Beside Still Waters is one of those albums you don’t fully appreciate on first listen. In fact, it was probably three or four years before I realized how strong this album really was. Yes, it was the current album from the headlining group at my first live Southern Gospel concert, but I think I spent several years trying to over-compensate for any bias that may have caused. Original lead singer Joseph Smith wrote and was featured on the bluegrass-influenced “The Love of Christ.” The title track is so strong that the Nelons revisited it five years later—and made it that album’s title track, too! Ballads like “I am Free” to “When I Stand in the Presence” and convention songs like “When They Ring the Bells of Heaven” and “According to the Scriptures” make this the strongest all-around project from the group’s original lineup. 
3. 2011: Treasures. This tribute to the Cathedrals doesn’t claim or aspire to be more than it is. But it doesn’t need to be. The songs are performed so flawlessly that any attempts to “put their own unique spin” on them would have been touching up a da Vinci with a paint sprayer. (Reviewed here.)
4. (bonus) 2008: Peace On Earth. I came close to saying this when I reviewed it in December 2009. I’ll say it now. This Christmas album, a Mark Trammell solo project, is the greatest Southern Gospel Christmas project ever recorded. 

Do you agree or disagree with this list? If you could only choose three albums to introduce a friend to this group, which would you pick?

The Essential Albums column highlights the albums every Southern Gospel fan should add to their collections.

• 2005: Live in New York City. Yes, this album gave us “Long As I Got King Jesus.” But it’s about far more than just that hit. It’s the pinnacle of the group’s run as a traditional Southern Gospel quartet. In recent years, they have moved to a progressive Southern Gospel sound. Live in New York City proves that they moved because they wanted to, not because they had to. This album is easily among the top three or five live albums released in the 2000s, and it may head the list. Radio singles “Healed” and “Long as I Got King Jesus” deserved all the attention they got. But “Goodness and Mercy” is every bit the power ballad “Healed” is, while “Foundation Medley” is as spine-chillingly riveting, in its own way, as “Long as I Got King Jesus.” Top it off with the definitive live rendition of Brian Free’s signature song, “For God So Loved,” and you have the group’s strongest album to date.
• 2010: Never Walk Alone. The group’s fourth progressive album solved the over-compression issues that had plagued the first three. Add that to the strong roster of songs they picked, and you have their strongest studio album. For more on the album, check out our November 2010 review.
• 1998: Doing This For You. Brian Free & Assurance launched in 1993 and disbanded five years later, in 1998. (Brian put together a new group with the same name two years later.) Granted, Doing This For You doesn’t have one particular song that is as huge as their 1996 hit “For God So Loved.” But the album is stronger as a whole, and the best pick to represent the group’s first run. It opens and closes with acapella tracks. Though the first half of the album is fairly average, the second half has what may be the strongest five-song sequence on any Brian Free & Assurance album. “Who is This King” was later memorably covered by “Mercy’s Mark,” and “What a Difference a Day Makes” was covered by both Ernie Haase and HisSong. “Gone at Last” and “So We Could Become Like Him” are two forgotten gems that deserve to be brought back.
• 2009: Worth It. The top three picks were the most obvious. Worth It is less obvious, but with songs like “There is a Kingdom Coming,” “Die Another Day,” “Worth It,” and “I Am Redeemed,” it’s deserving. For more about the album, check out our May 2009 review.

Do you agree with the list? If you could only own—or only introduce a friend to the group with—four Brian Free & Assurance albums, which would they be?