A little slice of heaven
I have not experienced much internet radio. My personal computer has no soundcard, so I was never able to listen much to the stations online that frineds of mine had told me so much about. Now that I’m in temporary living quarters, I have access to a computer with sound, and can catch up a bit on what I’ve been missing.
And with my tastes in music being what they are, it was only natural that once I had a chance, I’d check out Carl Ramsey’s All Quartets Radio…a 24/7 station offering nothing but gospel quartet music!
Not just current quartet music either, but classic quartet sounds from the golden age of the genre…it is well programmed and well integrated throughout the day!
I checked it out a couple of days ago, and I heard some Gold City, some Landmarks, some Palmetto State and Melody Boys music…and the quality of the songs was uniformly high…songs that were fun to listen to and sing along with, but also songs with strong lyrics that moved the heart. It was quite captivating and compelling.
The clincher came when they went to their “turntable classic”…a 1962 Couriers Quartet recording, “He Will Pilot Me”…naturally, I play my own record of that often…but to hear it online really sparked my spirits. If they were smart enough to play stuff like that, I should make a habit of listening to them when I can! It’s a station after my own heart!
I listened again before I went to work today…I heard the old Harvesters Quartet version of JD Sumner’s “Lord, Teach Me How To Pray”…as well as a selection from the Cathedral Quartet(NOT the “Cats”, heaven forbid)classic album “With Strings”, and a classic from the ultrasmooth Weatherford Quartet had me in the palm of the computer’s hand.
Then a couple of groups I’m personally VERY familiar with…the Liberty Quartet from Idaho, mentioned prominently in my reviews of the GWSGFF on these pages recently, doing “I Wanna Know”…it was such a pleasure to hear the lyrics sung clearly, UNlike the way the Statesmen did on their 1959 classic live album! I know it’s heresy to suggest that Big Chief was anything less than perfect as a bass singer, but honestly, on faster songs, it was hard to understand his singing! I hope I won’t catch too much flak for telling it “like it is”!
Then came California’s Songfellows doing a tasty version of “You Don’t Know What Lonesome Is”…then it was time for work, and I reluctantly had to turn All Quartets Radio off for the day. Oh, did I mention I also heard one of today’s best traditional quartets, Southern Sound? Sorry if I almost forgot about Ben Harris and his outstanding quartet.
It proves once again(lest there be any doubt)that no matter what mood I might be in(and I’ve been uncharacteristically angry of late), a good dose of four-part gospel quartet singing is always good for my state of mind.
As far as this boy’s concerned, the sun never sets on gospel quartets!
Posted on May 20, 2006 - 08:10 PM | [0]
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