Various Artists – Nuggets of the Golden Age of Gospel

Various Artists
Nuggets of the Golden Age of Gospel
JSP Records 2009
www.jsprecords.com

Hallelujah! ‘Tis the season for new multi-CD vintage gospel music collections.

In addition to Mike McGonigal’s raw and earthy Fire in My Bones, we now have Nuggets of the Golden Age of Gospel. Nuggets is a 4-CD, 105 track collection of gospel music that spans 1945-1958, the time period known as gospel music’s Golden Age.

Compiled and annotated by gospel music historian Opal Louis Nations, who does his typically fine job on the liner notes, the collection is a cornucopia of musical delights.

First, all the artists on this collection are stone singers. From the Violinaires’ ethereal “Another Soldier Gone” to the Zion Travelers’ Billy Watkins crooning like Lee Andrews on “Where is My Wandering Child” to Tony Harris leading the Traveling Four on the breathtaking “All on the Altar,” it’s clear that if the devil had all the good rhythms, God had claim on the great singers.

There are far too many highlights to enumerate here, but some of the most notable singles in the collection include the Canaanites’ 1949 “Lead Me to that Rock,” featuring the superhuman falsetto of Joe Van Loan, one of the finest male tenors of the 1940s and 1950s. “Angel,” the Pilgrim Jubilee Singers’ obscure 1954 side for Chicago’s N.B.C. label, helps us understand Cleave and Clay Graham’s claim that Elgie Graham, who sings on “Angel,” was the Jubes’ finest vocalist.

Big-voiced, glass-shattering female singers are represented by classic artists such as Willie Mae Ford Smith, Madame Ernestine Washington and Emily Bram-Bibby. Chicago’s Lorenza Brown Porter and the Argo Singers tear up the grooves on “He’s Alright With Me,” the flip of their 1956 hit “Near the Cross.” In fact, Nuggets has a knack for introducing us to lesser-known but often superior efforts by the era’s popular gospel singers, groups and quartets. It also represents the first time many important records, such as the Gospel Clefs’ “Open Our Eyes,” are commercially available on CD.

Even the collector who has everything will find this box set worthwhile for its rare-as-hen’s-teeth selections, including Pastor Shirley Caesar’s earliest recording from 1951 when, as “Baby Shirley,” she sang with such cheek-pinching cuteness you knew she was going to grow up to be somebody. “Walking in Jesus’ Name,” a 1952 track by California’s Stewart Singers, introduces a young Sly Stone on lead, sounding nervous and dry-mouthed but earnest.

In fact, if there is any doubt that some of the most talented pop stars cut their musical teeth on gospel, a tour through this set will put that doubt to rest. Artists such as Sam Cooke, Lou Rawls, Little Johnny Taylor, Joe “Peanuts” Cook, Candi Staton, Napoleon “Nappy” Brown, Ann Cole, Johnnie Taylor, and so many others are here, singing first and foremost for the Lord.

Artists of high stature such as Mahalia Jackson and Sister Rosetta Tharpe share the set with lesser-known groups such as the Gospel Tones and the explosive Original Gospel Stars. If there’s any aspect of gospel music not well represented in the set, however, it is the gospel choir. This is in part because of the time frame covered, which predates by a couple of years the rise in popularity of the gospel choir as recording artist, but also because of the pervasive (and, to me, perplexing) disinterest in gospel choir music among collectors.

What I have always liked about the box sets on John Stedman’s JSP label is that they are affordable and accessible, enabling a wider audience to enjoy recordings that have been out of print for a long time. And his newest release, Nuggets of the Golden Age of Gospel, is a must-have for fans of gospel music as well as anyone who wants to explore the aural equivalent of an ultrasound for doo-wop, soul and rock-and-roll.

Five of Five Stars