Gospel Legacy: Walter Hawkins (Light Records 2008)

Gospel Legacy: Walter Hawkins
Light Records 2008
www.lightrecords.com

Released in February 2008, this volume in Light Records’ ten-CD “Gospel Legacy” series is essentially a sampler of high points in the Hawkins Family’s first three celebrated Love Alive recordings. Thus, it includes the Hawkins’s moody, intoxicating “Changed” and their smash hit “Going Up Yonder,” one of the most influential gospel recordings of all time.

Incidentally, “Going Up Yonder” is, for all purposes, a two-parter: the first section contains the motif and the second features an extemporaneous and explosive solo by Tramaine Hawkins. By the end of the performance, Tramaine Davis Hawkins has transitioned from gospel singer to gospel superstar.

Other indelible Hawkins hits featured on Walter’s sampler are “What is This,” “Be Grateful,” and the rollicking “There’s A War Going On,” led by Lynette Hawkins Stephens. “What is This” and “Try Jesus” are the two additions not from the Love Alive series but rather from the Hawkins Family’s top-selling eponymous 1980 recording.

Gospel music collectors who dismiss the work of Walter Hawkins and his California brethren, Andrae Crouch & the Disciples, in search of hard-core quartets miss out on some truly church-wrecking performances from the architects of the California School. Genre-bending and envelope-pushing in their day – as gospel musicians from the Church of God in Christ always have been – the Hawkins Family helped rewrite the rules on what constituted praise music in the African American church.

In truth, the Hawkins’ performances sound as fresh today as they did in the 1970s and 1980s. Whether they were years ahead of their time, or their influence still resonates in today’s gospel sound, is a chicken-and-egg question.

If you own the Hawkins’ Love Alive sessions and their 1980 The Hawkins Family, this set will be redundant, unless of course you have scratchy vinyl versions and want a cleaned up CD for car or iPod use. Nevertheless, this sampler is a fine tribute to Walter Hawkins, who despite a recent bout with pancreatic cancer, is now back, giving his all on the altar.

Two and a Half of Four Stars