Honoring Jesus

Here is another classic gospel album I wanted to review for this blog, and it’s a tasty yet relatively unknown classic by the Couriers Quartet from early 1965, “Honoring Jesus”(Hymntone 3086).

“Honoring Jesus” is not usually mentioned in lists of all-time favorite albums by the Couriers, but to underestimate its musical magnificence would be a mistake. Quite simply, it is one of the most musically accomplished albums that renowned group ever made, and of all the albums they did as a quartet(still my favorite iteration of the Couriers), it is probably my second favorite one after “Nothing…but the Gospel Truth”(reviewed in an earlier entry).

This album was recorded most likely in late 1964, not long after the quartet’s lone Christmas album was released. They had earlier on recorded an album in lead singer Neil Enloe’s living room(”The Love of God”, Hymntone 3085), which was as close to a straight southern gospel quartet album the group ever did.

The group returned to the RCA Studios in Nashville for this one, though, the scene of triumphs like “The Lord’s Prayer(1962)”, “You Will Never Have To Journey Alone(1962)”, and their two albums for Warner Brothers in 1963 and 1964. This meant, of course, that they would be back in the capable hands of renowned gospel sideman Brock Speer, along with his brother Ben, and some of RCA’s top sidemen backing them instrumentally.

This particular group of Couriers was not only my favorite, but the favorite of many who were fans of the group during their quartet days…tenor Duane Nicholson, Enloe as lead, baritone and manager Don Baldwin, bass Dave Kyllonen, and multi-talented pianist L. David Young(known widely as “Little David”), who did most of the arranging during his time with the group, as well as writing a lot of the group’s songs during that time.

The album came out in two versions, with differing song orders. As I proceed through the songs, I’ll be reflecting the order on the original issue(the copy I have). It was also distinctive in that there was no group picture on the cover, merely a depiction of Jesus(Whom the group was ostensibly “honoring” on the album). That was not unusual in that day, but still a bit different.

The album opens with a Young original, “Gathering Home”, a nice bit of quartet harmony with Young himself doubling the melody line an octave high on the final chorus. That’s followed by another beautiful Young original, “Greatest Friend”, which has a big harmony sound. The story goes that Young wrote the song by thinking of ways in which to describe Jesus, and asking the group members on the bus to do so in one sentence. Young took the various lines and made the song.

Next is an energetic rendering on “I Am Resolved”, which features a solid lead from Enloe at the outset, and good vocal work by Nicholson and Kyllonen on the choruses. This is followed by the attractive close harmony of “I Found A Friend”, which ends on a very nice modern harmony chord.

Then Baldwin and Nicholson combine features on a unique arrangement of “Victory In Jesus”. IMO, Baldwin never sang better on a song than he did there. The next number was written by Young’s pastor in Pennsylvania when he was with the group, and it features on of Kyllonen’s best bass leads, “When The Lord Is Near”. I might mention that the group sings with as much confidence as they did in their careers on this album…and Kyllonen’s best all around bass singing during the time he sang bass in the quartet is heard on this album.

The next number features an unusual Courier lineup…Nicholson and Kyllonen drop out, and the singers are Young, Enloe, and Baldwin…quite a unique trio. The song is an old number written by Bob Robinson for the Sons of Song(a group Young was a part of at the start of the 1960s), “Jesus Knows About You”. Young’s lead is quite compelling, and the arrangement is magnificent. This song was a staple in Courier concerts during that period, and never failed to bring down the house. The song is being revived today by the Cerces, but this is the definitive version of it.

Next is “Lily of the Valley”, not in the version most quartets sang it in, but the alternative hymnal version. The Couriers sing Neil Enloe’s arrangement of it, and he and Nicholson contribute great lead vocals on it. That’s followed by a story song written by Young and sung by Enloe, “Jesus Loves You”, based on a true story Young saw when observing an elderly man talking to a pair of children on a street corner.

That is followed by a unique arrangement of “Led Out Of Bondage”, not featuring Kyllonen as one might expect, but Young…who delivers it flawlessly as well as opening it with a memorable piano riff. Next is a convention-style arrangement on “Jesus Is The One”, showing that the Couriers took a back seat to no quartet when it came to a straight, southern-style quartet arrangement.

The album closes with a lovely rendition of “Take Up Thy Cross”, featuring Kyllonen and Nicholson. It is an appropriate wrapup for one of the finest quartet albums of the period, and an almost unknown gospel classic.

The Couriers by that time had come a LONG way from the ragged but determined college kids trying to make their mark on the quartet scene in the late 1950s, and with this album, definitively demonstrated they were one of the top quartets of the 1960s. This album is extremely hard to find, but if you can find it, and you love good gospel quartet singing, by all means, get it!

Besides the excellent musicianship on “Honoring Jesus”, the most pertinent thing to say about the album is that it lives up to its’ title….it indeed honors the Master. “Honoring Jesus” is a triumph of what skill, dedication, submission, and commitment to a vision can produce…this is why it is indeed a gospel classic.

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