VA - The Gospel Sound (2 CDs)

"This recording documents the changes in Afro-American religious music over a forty-year period. This collection is powerful, filled with vitality, integrity and direct personal communcation.

The best in gospel music from the mid-forties to the late fifties contained moving spirituals by Mahalia Jackson, Marion Williams, The Staple Singers and many other great gospel artists.

Gospel is one of the dominant sounds of our times. In one form or another, gospel has reformed our listening expectations.

The tension between beats, the almost subliminally anticipated climac are straight out of the church. The dance steps that ushered in a new physical freedom were copied form the church dance, the shout. The sit-ins soothed by hymns, the freedom marches powered by shouts, the "brother and sister" fraternity of revolution: the black gospel church gave us all these." - From the liner notes

VA - The Gospel Sound pt 1
VA - The Gospel Sound pt 2
(192 kpbs, front cover included)