CD Review: Evening Light Brothers – Jesus I’ll Never Forget

Jesus I’ll Never Forget
Evening Light Brothers
Church of God
2006

Frequent live, in-studio performers on WLUW’s “Gospel Memories” radio program, the Evening Light Brothers a cappella quartet now have a CD available that captures their superb renditions of classic recordings from gospel’s Golden Age.

All members of the Church of God at 46th and Drexel in Chicago – an area that once provided quarter to the pioneer gospel song publishing firms and still does to the iconic First Church of Deliverance – the Evening Light Brothers seem to have studied the songbooks of classic quartets such as the Soul Stirrers, Pilgrim Travelers, Fairfield Four, and the Skylarks. Gospel music collector and church member Jason Rosenberg has played no small role in developing the quartet’s rich repertory. The ELB offer up smooth, close-knit gospel harmonies with confident leads as proof of their scholarship.

Standout performances on Jesus I’ll Never Forget include the title track, based on Sam Cooke’s 1954 gospel hit with the Soul Stirrers; “Let’s Go Back to God,” another 1950’s-era Stirrers hit for Specialty Records; and the sacred chestnut “I’ll Fly Away,” featuring a lovely high tenor lead vocal.

Listening to the Evening Light Brothers recalls a time when one could turn on a transistor radio Sunday morning and hear one a cappella quartet after another crooning and shouting spiritual and gospel songs in fifteen minute increments.

For more information, you can contact the Church of God at 773-548-7133, or write to:
Church of God
c/o Tape Ministry
4601 S. Drexel Blvd.
Chicago 60653