VARIOUS ARTISTS
Gospel Music
Hyena
Records
Gospel Music is like a soundtrack
to a documentary film that doesn’t exist, creating
a listening experience that producer Joel Dorn has used
frequently, much to the confusion and criticism of those
who don’t ‘get it.’ On such releases as
the Rhassan Roland Kirk CD The Man Who Cried Fire,
Dorn wasn’t afraid to include only partial performances
of some tunes, faded into another performance for maximum
effect. This approach is frustrating if one doesn’t
know it’s coming, but it can really provide a new
perspective on an artist’s work. Here Dorn and his
collaborator, photographer Lee Friedlander, only include
two such excerpts, the first and last track. Otherwise there
are sixteen other tracks that are presented in their complete
and original forms. These tracks range from the most classic
gospel tracks ever to more obscure items that only those
who truly love the genre (as Dorn and Friedlander most certainly
do) would know. In short, it’s an excellent primer
on the music for anyone, and you don’t have to be
in a particularly religious frame of mind to enjoy the energy
that burns off this disc as it plays.
Why, you may ask, should we care about a collection
of classic gospel music? After all, gospel is a pretty small
percentage of record industry sales. That’s true,
but this collection demonstrates as clearly as anything
I’ve ever encountered that every single style of popular
music evolved from gospel and the blues, musical styles
whose development is so intimately entwined that they can’t
really be separated. It’s all here, the impetus for
jazz, R&B, soul, funk, rock & roll—all of
it. There would very likely be no black popular music in
America were it not for the development of gospel music
and the musical education and performance opportunities
afforded by the church in black communities.
Now. Some folks are put off by Joel Dorn’s
absolute refusal to do proper liner notes for this release.
Dorn hates liner notes that attempt to describe the music.
What’s the point, he reasons, when you have the actual
music in your hands, at your disposal to listen to whenever
and however often you like. What many people would like
on a compilation like this is a listing of who played or
sang on the various recordings (backing singers, or groups,
for example). But that information is available elsewhere.
If your interest is piqued by this sampler and you seek
out other recordings or further information on these performers,
Dorn will be all the happier. But if you simply groove on
this compilation and realize that gospel music is one of
the cornerstones of all American popular music, he’ll
be just as happy.
So, on to the music. What can you say about
a compilation that includes The Swan Silvertones, Dorothy
Love Coates, Sam Cooke and the Soul Stirrers, the Violinaires,
the Staple Singers, the Original Five Bline Boyes of Alabama,
the Dixie Hummingbirds, the Reverend James Cleveland, and
Mahalia Jackson? There’s lots here I’d not heard
before that really rocks me, examples being the high-energy
attack of the Violinaires’ “What He Done for
Me” and the rock shuffle of the Swan Silvertones’
“Oh Mary, Don’t You Weep.” The Staple
Singers send shivers down my spine with “This May
Be the Last Time,” one of two versions of that song
included here (the other is by the Original Five Blind Boys
of Alabama).
Gospel Music is a great introduction
to classic gospel music, but it is also a great disc to
put on whenever you need a little lift, spiritually or energetically.
Great music is always great, no matter when it is heard
or in what context, as Gospel Music ably proves.
