Joe Ligon & the Mighty Clouds of JoyAll That I Am: Chapter One
MCG Records (2013)
By Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel Blog
The Mighty Clouds of Joy are among a handful of Golden Era gospel quartets whose main lead singer is still with them. I won’t even venture a guess as to how many records the group has made over the years, but they just added one more: All That I Am, recorded live at Covenant Ministries International in Decatur, Georgia, where Bishop Quincy Lavelle Carswell is Senior Pastor.
With a career spanning seven decades, Joe Ligon and the Clouds were organized when quartets ruled the gospel music scene. Unlike many of their associates, the Clouds made the transition to the contemporary scene, mostly due to their 1975 hit, “Mighty High.” Theirs has become a household name ever since.
There’s no trace of the disco sound of “Mighty High” on the new album, though the Clouds do trot out a few old-school tracks, such as the driving “Heavy Load,” the doo-woppy “What A Friend We Have In Jesus,” featuring the group’s high harmonies, and “Been in the Storm.” They also reprise their cover of the Consolers’ countrified “Somewhere Around the Throne.”
Incidentally, the organist, Alphonso “Cheeseburger” McClain, is the son of Rev. James McClain, songwriter and guitarist of Chicago’s Willing Four.
Ligon is the prominent lead throughout the concert, and concert it is. The more than fourteen-minute song of thanksgiving, “I Came to Jesus,” is archetypal live gospel program material. It opens with a story, half sung and half preached—this one involves the poor health of a Swanee Quintet drummer whose healing is testimony to God’s saving power—but turns into a hand-clapping holiness rouser. Ligon even encourages some fans to do their holy dancing near the front of the stage, while the quartet riffs on “Holy Ghost Fire.”
All That I Am: Chapter One demonstrates that the Mighty Clouds of Joy still have fire in their bones and can stir a crowd to shape throwing.
Four of Five Stars
Picks: “Heavy Load,” “I Came to Jesus.”
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Written by : Bob Marovich
Bob Marovich is a gospel music historian, author, and radio host. Founder of Journal of Gospel Music blog (formally The Black Gospel Blog) and producer of the Gospel Memories Radio Show.
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