Full of joy
Well, after my brief foray into baseball(and why not? After all, my life involves much more than just gospel music!), I'm returning to gospel music tonight, inspired by an LP review(what???)by my fellow blogger and friend Daniel Mount.
Daniel's review of the Cathedral Quartet(you'll NEVER see or hear me call them "the Cats"!)'s 1979 table album "Keep On Singing" is quite well-done, and written with a good historical perspective as well. Check out his blog and see for yourself.
As for me, I have no LP to review tonight(that'll come later), but I wonder how many of you have heard a certain song, and for a period of a few days, can't listen to anything else? I get that feeling all the time. And I'm going to tell you tonight about the latest such song to hit my musical consciousness in such a manner.
For many years, the Couriers' 1968 album "Coming And Going" has sat on my shelves, appreciated but not fully...until this week.
When getting it out to play once more to hear Neil Enloe's fine solo rendering of "Pity The Man", I happened on cut 2 on side 1, and finally discovered why that song has been such a favorite of Couriers' fans over the years.
Of course, I'm speaking of the Couriers' classic "Joy, Joy"...a song done so powerfully that my friend Herb Henry was proud to buy "Coming And Going" from Harold Timmons at the Great Western Southern Gospel Fan Festival last year...he wanted it just for that song.
I don't know why it took me over 20 years to figure out why it was so good...I guess I'm slow sometimes!
Anyway, I put it on, and was mesmerized by Enloe''s tremendous lead vocal(one of his all-time best)and the piano artistry of none other than Bill Purcell, a rare secular star musician who played piano on the album sessions.
If Purcell's name is familiar to some of you, it's undoubtedly because his 1963 hit instrumental "Our Winter Love" is one of the most beautiful pop instrumentals of that time period.
Purcell's piano fills any holes in the instrumental backing there might be, and really colors the song. Along with the guitarist(whose name escapes me as I type, their support of Neil and the group(Duane Nicholson and Dave Kyllonen join Enloe halfway into the song)makes "Joy, Joy" possibly the closest thing the Couriers ever did to making a pop record hit(though it may have been a bit long for the radio)!
The unusual but effective vocal harmonies, characterstic of the Couriers, only give the hopeful lyrics more distinctiveness...and the effect of the song to a listener on a quiet night is nothing short of spellbinding. But isn't great gospel music supposed to be like that?
For all the talk today about so-called "progressive" southern gospel, the Couriers' "Joy, Joy" is arguably the closest thing gospel music has had to a truly progressive musical statement. Music like that combined with the greatest message of hope in the world is what gospel music should always strive to attain.
Granted, not every song or arrangement achieves that lofty goal. But when a song like "Joy, Joy", sung by dedicated singers(and NOT aspiring hitmakers)like the Couriers comes so close to achieving the perfect musical mood for a gospel song, it should be celebrated by lovers of gospel music everywhere. And so, belatedly, tonight I am.
Sorry it took me so long, fellas.
Posted on Jul 21, 2007 - 11:41 PM | [3]
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Ben and Brock Speer played on that cut. I was told that Boots Randolph originally attempted to put sax riffs on the cut (it was done live), but it really didn't fit the mood - and the song was done without the sax.