The Exciting Holy Sons
Greatest Hits, Volume 1
Flight 14 Productions (release date: June 26, 2026)
By Robert M. Marovich
By offering an hour’s worth of highlights from the Exciting Holy Sons’ two-decade recording career, Greatest Hits, Volume 1 is like having a ticket to a program by the award-winning Chicago-based gospel quartet.
Live recordings offer a more authentic listening experience when it comes to quartet singing. Thankfully, this collection of ten tracks features a number of live cuts. Among them are “He’ll Do It,” a conventional mid-tempo bouncer that reflects on God’s constancy in times of trouble. At one point on “I’ll Make It,” female members of the audience shout their appreciation to the group.
“I Must Tell Jesus” is an extended gospel ballad with powerfully passionate singing. The sole drive tempo track is the group’s recent single, “You Can’t Stop Me,” though “Come See About Me” is sufficiently spritely to encourage audience handclapping.
To my ears, however, “You Can’t” is the album’s finest cut due to its compelling melody and hooky chorus, which respectfully warns listeners of the dangers of “doing people wrong and trying to get away.” It’s a ready-made song for a quartet. The live “Church Folks” runs a close second with its audience-pleasing vamp, during which the group calls on the name of Jesus relentlessly, all to a bluesy beat.
Greatest Hits, Volume 1 offers heaps of vocal vigor, shouting leads, a robust rhythm section, and three-part harmony that tends, like most quartets today, toward the treble register. That it’s “Volume 1” suggests that the Exciting Holy Sons, formed on Chicago’s West Side in 1988, is just getting started.
Four of Five Stars
Picks: “You Can’t,” “Church Folks”
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.
