Give Me the Gospel Truth – Dr. W.L. Mobley Sr. & the Gospel Truth Choir

Dr. W.L. Mobley, Sr. and the Gospel Truth Choir
Give Me the Gospel Truth
(private press) 2008

Dr. Wealthy L. Mobley is my newest role model for healthy living.

At 89, Mobley is fit and trim, looking like he’s preparing for the Olympics. He runs a successful church on Chicago’s far south side, sings, preaches, feeds the local senior citizens, and – with music director Min. Theodore Gilmore, Jr. – released dynamite in a package: Give Me the Gospel Truth. This project, recorded live at the church in May 2007, is proof that self-produced CDs can be every bit as powerful as major label releases.

Mobley served as assistant to recording preacher Rev. H.R. Jelks of Chicago’s Mount Pleasant Baptist Church and was a childhood chum of Sam Cooke and the Cook Family, so he knows something about traditional. The album is rife with back-in-the-day arrangements and new versions of longtime favorites, including Mobley’s own conversational take on the Boyer Brothers’ “Step By Step.” The choir gives “Eyes Have Not Seen” an uncharacteristic but engrossing up-tempo treatment. Appropriately spirited choral singing can be found on “We’re Going To Have a Good Time.”

The fantastic hard singing Rosetta Stokes puts you in the front row of church with “Take Your Burden to the Lord,” while Gilmore leads the brisk, quartet-style “Fix It Lord Jesus.”

Give Me the Gospel Truth is as genuine as its namesake church and a joy to hear.

Four of Five Stars

gPod Picks: “Fix It Lord Jesus,” “We’re Gonna Have a Good Time,” “Eyes Have Not Seen.”

Reviewed by Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel Blog.