|
Release Date: 06/22/2004
The sheer emotional language and zeal of gospel music affected R&B, soul, rock & roll, and even country more than is commonly realized, as this marvelous compilation from Bluebird Records shows. Drawing on the vast back catalog of vintage 78s in the Bluebird and Victor vaults, The Sacred Roots of the Blues is the 11th installment in the excellent When the Sun Goes Down: The Secret History of Rock & Roll series, and like the other entries, it's careful and intelligent sequencing opens a whole hidden world to the listener. What is most immediately striking here is the sparse power of these cuts, where simple handclaps or a single guitar spark beneath impassioned singing, often in a call-and-response format, like the set opener, "Gabriel," where handclaps and a trumpet drive Elder Charles Beck & His Congregation like twin pistons. Often there are no instruments involved at all, as in the Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet's a cappella "Job," where the trading of lyric fragments between alternating voices generates a relentless forward momentum, a technique elaborated by the Utica Institute Jubilee Singers into a jazzy, complex syllabic word game on "Peter on the Sea." At the other end of the spectrum is Paul Robeson's "Deep River," which is sad, searching, and stately. Another highlight here is the odd and atmospheric "Honey in the Rock" by Blind Mamie Forehand, which is as bare and electric (and subliminally dangerous) as a frayed wire. Over a half-century of music is represented on Sacred Roots of the Blues (the earliest recording, "Pour Mourner" by the Dinwiddie Colored Quartette, hails from 1902), making it a wonderful introduction to true, unadorned gospel. When the emotional intensity of gospel collided with the secular themes of the blues -- when Saturday night met Sunday morning, if you will -- the seeds were sown for R&B, soul, and rock & roll, and this compilation offers an indispensable road map to the very crossroads of that musical Big Bang. ~ Steve Leggett, All Music Guide
Release Date: 06/22/2004
|
