"Old Time Religion" collects the complete recordings, including several alternate takes, of two of the hottest Gospel quartets of the lat 40s, the Detroiters and the Golden Echoes. These are all from the archives of Specialty Records, who were best known for numerous records by their four most famous groups, the Pilgrim Travelers, The Swan Silvertones, the Soul Stirrers and the Five Blind Boys of Alabama. With the focus on these four, some wonderful groups that weren't as well recorded have sadly been overlooked, an oversight that Legends of Gospel aims to correct. Although these great black Gospel groups formed in big cities, the Golden Echoes in Los Angeles and the Detroiters, of course, in the Motor City; they had their roots in Texas, the hotbed of great quartet singing. While the Echoes remained a quartet, the Detroiters added two more singers and a pianist, rare for Gospel groups at the time. They were also noted for their unusual focus on "Mother" songs, recording a trilogy of them, "Mother on the Train," "Mother, Don't Cry About Your Son" and "Mother, I Need Your Prayer." There are 15 spirited cuts by the Detroiters here, including 3 alternate versions, a few other favorites are "Ride On King Jesus," "Let Jesus Lead You," and the previously unissued "He Walks With Me," "Body and Soul" and "Shady Green Pastures." The Golden Echoes have 11 cuts, three of them alternates; some favorites are the previously unissued "Where Shall I Be (When The First Trumpet Sounds)," "Down on My Knees," "I'm So Happy (In the Service of the Lord)," "Waiting and Watching," and "Yield Not to Temptation." This is wonderful, joyous revival-meeting stuff from two of Gospel's best! |