Wings Over the City of Angels: A Los Angeles Gospel Collection

Various Artists

City of Angels Music Group (2012)

By Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel Blog.

Although the UK-based Acrobat Music dissolved some years ago, historian Opal Nations has maintained its exploration of gospel music under his own imprints.  For example, Nations has compiled classic gospel recordings from venerable Chicago indies as well as several volumes of early releases from the vast Duke-Peacock gospel catalog.

He now turns his attention to Los Angeles for his latest two-CD endeavor, Wings Over the City of Angels. The 56 selections cover approximately four decades of gospel artists from Los Angeles or who recorded for LA-based labels.  While most of the cuts are of male and female quartets, which are Nations’ specialty, there are tracks from a couple of choirs and several gospel vocalists.  A few selections were never released commercially at the time of their taping.

What is perhaps most interesting about this collection is hearing how the artists emulated the top stars of their time.  For example, the impact of Sam Cooke’s flexible tenor on Richard Wallace’s lead on the Stars of Bethlehem’s “Ev’ry Once in a While” is evident.  The Spiritual Kings evoke the walking rhythm of the Pilgrim Travelers on “Paul and Silas.”  Rev. Steward and his family group render “Wings to Fly Away” with guitar licks borrowed from Elder Utah Smith, while the Traveling Four do “What He’s Done for Me” in the country rhythm of the Radio Four.

Among the most impressive tracks collected on the compilation are the huge-voiced Rosie Oliver leading the Los Angeles Gospel Jewels on “Guide Me” (aka “Guide Me O Thou Jehovah”) and Sister Elizabeth Phillips’ charmingly Rosetta Tharpe-esque “A Little Old Fashioned.”  On “Somebody Touched Me,” the Sensational Wonders—whose members would form the Mighty Clouds of Joy—are propelled by an incessant Johnny Cash-like rhythm that could best be described as “gospel-billy.”  The Joe Liggins Trio gives East St. Louis’s Sister Goldia Haynes a marvelous jazz accompaniment on “That Great Judgement Day.”

Of the unreleased issues, a track by the Gospel Five called “Race, Creed, and Color” is exceptional for its courage in taking on a charged topic long before the revolutionary 1970s made it not only okay to do so, but a moral imperative.

At least one track, by the Close Harmoneers on Rush, seems out of place on this collection, as Rush was a Chicago-based label and, as far as I am aware, the Close Harmoneers were a Chicago-based quartet.  Noticeably missing is the St. Paul Baptist Church “Echoes of Eden” choir, the first church-based gospel chorus to make records.  The liner notes, written by Nations, lean toward the more well-known artists on the collection versus the lesser-known.  The audio reproduction varies from track to track and is only as good as the source material it comes from, which for the most part, is strong.  

Nevertheless, whether you are a seasoned gospel enthusiast or unfamiliar with the classic gospel oeuvre, Wings Over the City of Angels is packed with plenty of pleasant surprises.