TBGB Reviews…Bishop Simon Gordon and Triedstone Church

Fall On Me
Bishop Simon Gordon & Triedstone Church
Tehillah Church/Light Records 2008

Listening to Fall On Me, you will think the choir of Triedstone Full Gospel Baptist Church on Chicago’s southwest side is comprised of 100 voices, but it’s not. It’s actually a moderately sized choir, but with big voices and an explosive yet finely tuned sound.

Fall On Me is an impressive project. The choir’s staccato and incessantly aggressive attack on the beat (true Chicago school) is punctuated by the leadership of the singing pastor, Bishop Simon Gordon. With the intimidating presence of a linebacker but a charisma that charms people right out of their seats, Bishop Gordon wrote all the songs and his singing is present throughout the CD.

Equally powerful are the musicians, which include – Glory Be! – a real brass section that supports the singers with style and harmonic depth. As opposed to synthesizer-produced brass, real horns add warmth, vibrancy, and immediacy that a keyboard cannot. And besides, “Hand me down that silver synthesizer, Gabriel” just doesn’t sound right.

A number of ministers, including Gospel Music Workshop of America Chairman and Light Records labelmate Bishop Albert Jamison, provide brief introductory and inspirational remarks between many of the songs on the project.

Triedstone’s choir is not cut from traditional cloth, such as Chicago or Mississippi Mass, nor does it sport a contemporary urban sound like John P. Kee’s group. Triedstone falls somewhere in between the two. That doesn’t mean the group lacks originality: on the contrary, the entire project maintains a steady energy without sounding repetitive or redundant, largely because the songs themselves are varied in their composition.

For example, “Oh, Magnify the Lord with Me” is the best track, with a cacophony of “Yes”es bouncing off the walls of the sanctuary, but “Your Miracle is Waiting on Your Praise” has an Eastern feeling and “Eternal Life” swings with jazz chord changes.

Meanwhile, Bishop Gordon’s solos – notably “Dreams Still Come True,” “He’s Watching Over Me,” and “Cry No More” – proves that he is a fine gospel balladeer.

Whether you are a choir enthusiast or not, you will enjoy Fall On Me. It’s inventive without losing its character, and pulses along with the excitement and anticipation that a live gospel recording ought to have.

Four of Four Stars

NOTE: Technically speaking, this is not Triedstone’s first appearance on record. I know of at least one 45 rpm single the Triedstone choir released, albeit when the church was M.B., on Chicago’s Host of Gospel label (below). The personnel and pastor were different at the time of the single, which I believe was made in the early 1970s.