I Heard the Angels Singing: Electrifying

"...the first thing Ernie Young would do was to weigh the morning mail, not open it. He wanted to estimate what the daily take was going to be and he had it down to a formula." Cal Young, Ernie's nephew.I try not to review something that's already been done, but this set is so good hopefully more people will find out about it. In a nutshell--if you like post-war gospel--the real deal kind--get this collection now. This set can easily sit next to the "Fire In My Bones..." collection, the "This May Be My Last..." set, the "Nuggets of the Golden Age of Gospel 1945-1958" set, the "Spreading the Word-Early Gospel Recordings" collection, or the two "Guitar Evangelists" sets. This is a good overview of gospel music on the Nashboro label, but it by no means includes all the great performers who recorded for the label. Hopefully there will be a second volume that will include more great sides from the label.The packaging resembles a vinyl album cover--it's about 12"X12". The discs slip into slits inside the gate-fold cover--I put the discs into double jewel cases for protection. There's a slot for the (slightly smaller) booklet, which has several period photos, a list of songs/performers, and recording dates for each disc, ads, album covers, and notes by Opal Nations.The sound and the fervor of the true meaning of gospel music runs all through this collection. Listen to "Get Your Soul Right", by the Fireside Gospel Singers, from 1953. Or "It's Hard To Get Along", by the Swanee Quartet, from 1955. Whoa. Most, if not all these performers will be new to most people, which is a good thing. The notes by Opal Nations (who also wrote informative notes for many of the Acrobat label's r&b/blues/gospel collections, which are great sets) are succinct, factual, and informative--the cherry on top of this great set of music. Each disc covers a specific period--Disc One: 1951-1957, Disc Two: 1958-1963, Disc Three: 1964-1967, Disc Four: 1968-1983.The sound of real gospel music from Ernie Young's Nashboro label can't be beaten. His "500" series (which also issued blues recordings not on Excello) was filled with great gospel groups--some who stayed with Young for many years. A religious man himself (even though he especially liked easy listening music of the day), he knew the real thing when he heard it--and so will you. This is real testifyin', deep-rooted, spiritual music. Check it out and you'll hear what I mean.

This set of CDs were a trip thru my past. People and places, churches. I only wish that they were DVDs, but of course that technology wasn't available back then. I can only go back to 1955 when I first heard the music on Nashville's WSOK and Morgan Babb. Later changed the call letters to WVOL-am. Mostly the music stayed the same until "Contemporary" gospel music attempted to dilute the pure and honestly sincere "Old Style" Saint Mark's Baptist Church in Nashville was the first time I had attended a "Program" and there I saw and heard teenager Paul Beasley's sweet high sound. First saw Willie Neal Johnson and his Gospel Keynotes and Slim Hunt and Supreme Angels. Those were some exciting and thrilling days for me. This compilation brought it all back in Living Color as it were. I would thank Shannon Williams for his efforts to see that the music was recorded with all the clarity and sound available at that time.

Nice selection of classic gospel from one of the great labels. Any gospel collection produced by Tompkins Square is a winner. This one too.

The four cds were presented in what appears to be a double fold LP cover. It looks like a collectors item already. It is marvelous to have this music available again. Some of it has been rereleased before but most has not been available for some time. They have dug deep for this stuff. Delightful! !!!

I bought this as a Christmas gift for a friend, but was compelled to listen and keep it for myself!(Buying 2nd one now)You don't have to be Christian to be moved by the power of these songs and these artists.I love this. Pure joy.

The set comes in a LP size holder. It took me a while to get around to opening it after it arrived and, to my dismay, CD disk 4 was missing. The slot for that CD does not show signs of it ever having a CD inserted. Returning an LP sized package is a chore, plus at the time it was not clear whether I could get a replacement, so I will keep what I have.

the music i listened to as a kid, sitting in the window on Saturday night. the sound quality is excellent and of course the music is beautiful

This is an amazing compilation of music. Buy it.

GREAT & FASTER