The Light Gospel Legacy Series: The Mighty Clouds of Joy (review)

Light Gospel Legacy Series:
The Mighty Clouds of Joy
Light Records 2008
www.lightrecords.com

Released in February, prior to the passing of longtime Clouds member Elmo Franklin, this retrospective – part of the Light Gospel Legacy Series – showcases latter day recordings of the Mighty Clouds of Joy, specifically their projects for Koch (Power, 1995) and Intersound (Live in Charleston, 1996).

Although the retrospective does not include the Peacock hits that established the quartet as a force of reckoning in the early 1960s, it thankfully bypasses the Clouds’ “Mighty High” gospel crossover days of the 1970s and early 1980s. By the 1990s, as the Gospel Legacy project demonstrates, the Clouds were returning (like many musicians after the disco era) to its trademark traditional sound, albeit with fresh, contemporary instrumentation, and the powerful singing of founder Willie Joe Ligon. Ligon is a preaching singer: when he sings it, you know he means it.

The retrospective offers plenty of quartet “drive” songs, some recorded live and some done in the studio, including “Power of the Holy Ghost,” “Meeting Tonight,” and “I Want to Thank You.” “Steal Away” is a superb reading of the spiritual with “Troubled in Mind” interpolated in the lyrics and mood. “Living Testimony” pairs the Clouds with Doug and Melvin Williams of the Williams Brothers for a fine quartet outing. “Nearer My God to Thee” demonstrates the Clouds’ capacity for delivering on slow, moving hymns and showcases Ligon’s convincing preacher style.

Light Records’ Mighty Clouds of Joy retrospective is a chance for some to be reintroduced to Clouds recordings out of rotation for a while, and others to become familiar with tracks that may have eluded them the first time around.

Three of Four Stars