| Reverend Charlie Jackson - God's Got It - The Legendary Booker Singles |
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Crypt Records 2003 | CD | 23.00 € |
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| Roy Acuff And His Smokey Mountain Boys - Sings American Folk Songs/Hand - Clapping Gospel Songs On most CDs that the Ace group of labels release, we have a reasonably good idea of how many copies they are likely to sell immediately, and how many they might go on to sell in their catalogue lifetime. More often that not - happily, much more often than not - we're nigh on spot-on in our assessments, give or take a handful of copies. Sure, there are times when we're off beam - we're only human, after all. Generally, though we're there or thereabouts. We've been doing this a while now, so there'd be something seriously wrong if we were not. However, every so often something comes along which does very nicely, very quickly, and thus surprises us in the nicest possible way. It's only been a few months since we put out our first Roy Acuff release, combining his two early 60s Hickory albums "Once More" and "The King Of Country Music". Now, we expected this to be a nice addition to our growing country catalogue, and also a useful stock item that would tick over year-in, year-out. Turns out, though, that we may have underestimated the demand for Mr Acuff just a tad, as we've already sold almost as many copies of our first Acuff 2-on-1 in two months as we originally thought we might sell in two years! Naturally we're very happy to be wrong on these kind of occasions, as it gives us the excuse to bring you further recordings from Acuff's Hickory catalogue, and bring them to you more quickly than was originally envisaged. So it is that, in March 2004, we have for you another excellent coupling of the man's Hickory long-players, both from the early 1960s and both featuring this legend of country music at the peak of his vocal powers. These days, "Americana" is a term you hear used a lot to describe traditional and real country music, ie the kind that American radio prefers to ignore while they're busy assaulting eardrums with loud AOR-rock that sounds like it escaped from a mid-70s Styx or Rush session. The two albums compiled here are thus "Americana" in every sense of the word - they're traditional, and real. "American Folk Songs" and "Hand-Clapping Gospel Songs" are both self-explanatory "concept" albums. And like the proverbial Ronseal, they both do exactly 'what it says on the tin'. AFS is Acuff's homage to the songs he learned as a boy and youth in South Tennessee, in the days when such songs as Little Rosewood Casket, Zeb Turney's Gal and House Of The Rising Sun were the equivalent of "regional chart-toppers" through sung per-formances, rather than recorded ones. Acuff's early musical experiences again played a great part in the selection of repertoire utilised on HCGS, although he also dipped into the catalogues of 20th century songwriters like Albert Brumley, the Bailes brothers and Hank Williams to give the album a more contemporary edge. Roy Acuff was never in better voice than he was in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and he's heard to his greatest advantage on "American Folk Songs" especially. So intense are his performances at times that you can almost hear the tears rolling down his cheeks as he sings a song like The Letter Edged In Black - not an uncommon occurrence for Acuff, who was often known cry publicly when delivering a particularly emotional parable. The sympathetic backing from his long-time band the Smoky Mountain Boys - featuring the undisputed master of the dobro, Pete "Bashful Brother Oswald" Kirby - enhances every one of Acuff's stellar performances. The man and his musicians certainly made some of the most uncompromisingly country music to be coming out of Music City in the era of the "Nashville Sound", two dozen examples of which will shortly (we hope) be interacting with the laser of your CD player! Plans are afoot to release more of Roy Acuff's Hickory albums in the 2-On-1 format. If this one sells even half as well as the previous one - and only half as quickly - you can expect the next pairing to be arriving fairly swiftly. Till that happens, we invite you to spend an essential hour in the company of Roy Claxton Acuff - a man who, for his many fans, simply was country music for most of the twentieth century and who, in their eyes, always will be. By Tony Rounce (Ace Records) |
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Ace Records 2004 | CD | 17.00 € |
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| Sam Cooke - I Thank God |
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Get Back 2004 | LP | 18.00 € |
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| Sam Cooke - Peace In The Valley |
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Get Back 2008 | LP | 15.00 € |
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| Sam Cooke The Soul Stirrers - In The Beginning This compilation takes us from the best of Cooke's gospel sides to the beginning of his secular career and features several alternate takes of those early pop sides. |
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Ace Records 1989 | CD | 17.00 € |
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| Sister Rosetta Tharpe - Spirituals In Rhythm |
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Collector's Choice Music 2002 | CD | 15.00 € |
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| Sister Wynona Carr - Dragnet For Jesus 26 biisiä Sister Wynonan gospeleita vuosilta 1949-1954 |
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Ace Records 1992 | CD | 18.00 € |
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| Sonny Burns - Satan's A Waitin' 23 tracks from the life and times of one of George Jones' great drinking buddies Sonny Burns. Unlike Jones, Burns' success never came and his aching soulful songs have added pathos as his career declined into alcoholism and despair while Jones became one of the biggest country stars ever. Featuring Burns' gritty moralistic songs and his biggest hit ‘A Real Cool Cat'. Along with the lyrically oddball ‘Let's Change Sweethearts' and plenty of gloomy marital tales. |
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Righteous Records 2010 | CD | 13.00 € |
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| Spirit Of Memphis Quartet - When Mother's Gone 14 tracks |
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Gospel Jubilee | LP | 15.00 € |
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| The Four Internes - I'm Troubled 20 tracks |
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Gospel Jubilee | LP | 15.00 € |
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| VA: - Bandera Blues And Gospel From The Bandera, Laredo And Jerico 27 biisiä: Dusty Brown, Jimmie Lee Robinson, Grover Pruitt, Bobby Davis, Norfleet Brothers, Space Spiritual Singers, Faithful Wanderers, Elder Samuel Patterson |
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Ace Records 2001 | CD | 18.00 € |
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| VA: - Best Of King Gospel Gospel recordings between 1949-1953 |
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Ace Records 2003 | CD | 18.00 € |
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| VA: - Get On Board Little Children The train waiting at the platform is the gospel train to glory! Get on board, little children, get on board! If Modern Records never approached the gospel field in the systematic way they did the blues one, they still captured some great performances. The Rev. C C Chapman (The Travelin' Shoes Man) and The Faith Temple Choir cut their solitary classic record for Modern - their On My Way is backed by jazzy organ, propulsive drumming and fervent handclapping. The Four Star Quartet's single recording Steal Away To Jesus was made in 1952 but never issued until now. The Echoes Of Zion sides were originally recorded for the Gerald label and bought by Modern in 1950. The sides here by this exciting Atlanta group showcase their use of switch lead singers on traditional songs such as Jacob's Ladder and On The Battlefield. The authoritative voices of the Revs Louis H Narcisse and James Earle Hines are also featured as are the sophisticated harmonies of The Smith Jubilee Singers, the San-Francisco-based Swanee River Quartet and the preacher-with-flock recording of the Rev G W Killens and his Mount Calvary Congregation recorded during a service at the Oakland City Auditorium. Killens is reported as saying "Once in a while, I like to hear the church sing" and on Father, I Stretch My Arms To Thee, they do just that and to stunning effect. |
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Ace Records 1995 | CD | 18.00 € |
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| VA: - Golden Gospel Gals - Selected Sides 1949-1959 4CD |
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JSP Records | CD-Box | 19.00 € |
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| VA: - Life's Railway to Heaven |
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Gusto Records 2009 | CD | 12.00 € |
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| VA: - Like An Atom Bomb 18 tracks - Apocalyptic Songs From The Cold War Era |
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Buzzola 2004 | CD | 15.00 € |
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| Wanda Jackson - Thunder On The Mountain / Dust On The Bible |
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Third Man Records 2010 | Single/EP | 9.00 € |
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