Keeping a Faith - Contemporary Gospel and Spiritual Soul Music

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a well written, thoughtful piece. thanks for posting

Cheers Ken. 

 

Nice article ,well written , gets to the roots  of soul music 👍🎶🎶

A well written & thought out article.

I've bought gospel stuff since the 60's & today still buy old & more modern stuff. Of the more recent artists, I really like the Winans, Yolanda Adams, Mary Mary, Sounds of Blackness, Donnie McClurkin & more.

To get into the genre there are quite a few good compilationn CD's available: Soul Gospel Vol 1 & 2, Christians Catch Hell and my faves, the US series WOW Gospel which had an annual release from the late 90's thru to the present day.

YOLANDA ADAMS turns soul to gospel ....

 

 

Thanks Robert, some good recommendations  , I;ll check em out. Yolanda Adams .. class act every time. 

 

Good read, thanks for that. Some of my favourites listed there and there's so much more too.

Thanks Robert, some good recommendations  , I;ll check em out. Yolanda Adams .. class act every time. 

 

2009 Trailblazers of Gospel award ceremony  sees Yolanda deliver faultless performance in tribute to Donnie Mc Clurkin . 

Cool Notes 

 i was under the impression this site had a No Religion Policy ,Full Stop ,the last two paragraphs of this article contradict this ? 

Ready with ; Richard Dawkins Does Norther Soul?

 

 

 

 

3 minutes ago, John Hart said:

 i was under the impression this site had a No Religion Policy ,Full Stop ,the last two paragraphs of this article contradict this ? 

Ready with ; Richard Dawkins Does Norther Soul?

 

 

 

 

I thought you had left us John

welcome back

as you know we do have a policy that you should use the 'support' forum for all matters regarding moderation

raise the issue there and i will look at your concerns

regards

mike

 

Enjoyed this, thanks for posting. The "Divine Disco" comp put together by Greg Belson is an excellent collection, well worth your time. The Enlightment tracks alone are fantastic 

 

I'm pleased to see Beverley Knight get a mention. She's a gem.

I believe her first church was in Temple Street in Wolverhampton - home of the Catacombs.

There's a bit of synchronicity there - if that's the right word.

Reading the article brought this song by Curtis Mayfield to mind:

 

I do love the music of the Persuasions - esp. with Jerry Lawson on lead vocal

Mostly secular music but also little gems like this.

"This track contains no instruments other than the human voice."

 

Slightly uncormfortable reading in my opinion. The opening sentence is quite disturbing.  "Given how much influence christianity  and gospel music has had on the music we all love".   Yes gospel had a huge influence on 60s soul music but to implicitly forge a link to christianity is absurd, The influences are more musical - harmony and chord prgressions etc. What the article in a roundabout way is saying is that  soul music is in effect christian music which it is not.  Yes some soul performers had stong religious beliefs. But there were probably just as many who did not.

Duplicate post

Can't agree with maslar ... I've not got a religious bone in my body BUT even I know a huge number of great soul singers came out of a chuch background or straight into secular music from a gospel group (especially back in the 60's). Indeed, many soul hits (& pop hits) back then were just gospel songs with the words changed from a religious love to personal love tale.

Just now, Roburt said:

Can't agree with maslar ... I've not got a religious bone in my body BUT even I know a huge number of great soul singers came out of a chuch background or straight into secular music from a gospel group (especially back in the 60's). Indeed, many soul hits (& pop hits) back then were just gospel songs with the words changed from a religious love to personal love tale.

I'm not really asking anyone to agree with me. I'm giving my opinion. In fact you are agreeing with me with regard to the inluence of gospel (probably without you realising it.)

Can you give examples of gospel songs that had their words changed? 

 

I would say that Sam Cooke was one of the first major artists to cross over. From his sweet sounding gospel to sweet sounding pop/soul.

Not identical I know but a lot of similarities between this track and You Send Me.

 

 

Numerous .... I GOT A WOMAN Ray Charles taken from IT MUST BE JESUS

 

"LOOKIN FOR A LOVE" was a pop song taken from "COULDN'T HEAR NOBODY PRAY" by the Valentinos & then Rolling Stones ...

Also tracks by Solomon Burke & many more. OF COURSE, by the 70's, gospel acts were returning the favour by re-wording secular songs ... such as ...

 

Another pop to gospel goodie from Rance ... 

 

17 minutes ago, Roburt said:

Numerous .... I GOT A WOMAN Ray Charles taken from IT MUST BE JESUS

 

 

 

Not really what I was looking for. I Got A Woman isn't a soul record. it's   mid-50s rhythm and blues.  Sixties soul? I'm sure there might be some. But they don't roll off the tongue do they?

You're very picky ... I Got A Woman ...  not soul ... we'll have to differ once again. 

1 minute ago, Roburt said:

You're very picky ... I Got A Woman ...  not soul ... we'll have to differ once again. 

It's not soul music. It's pre-soul mid-50s rhythm and blues. That's not being  picky. Is Johnny B Goode by Chuck Berry soul music? Is That's Alright by Elvis soul music? Somehwere down the line you've got to actually draw a line. 

Darrow fletcher 🎶🎶👌

45 minutes ago, maslar said:

It's not soul music. It's pre-soul mid-50s rhythm and blues. That's not being  picky. Is Johnny B Goode by Chuck Berry soul music? Is That's Alright by Elvis soul music? Somehwere down the line you've got to actually draw a line. 

 

Religion/faith/gospel may well have influenced the music we love , but considering that most Sunday mornings were/are spent travelling home from all-niters there's not many on the scene that would be found sitting on a pew instead ... 

That said , I had a close to religious experience one Sunday morning after Blackburn in Mr Lyon's "Temple" , but that's another story altogether ... 

56 minutes ago, maslar said:

It's not soul music. It's pre-soul mid-50s rhythm and blues. That's not being  picky. Is Johnny B Goode by Chuck Berry soul music? Is That's Alright by Elvis soul music? Somehwere down the line you've got to actually draw a line. 

I agree, Rhythm & Blues

3 hours ago, maslar said:

It's not soul music. It's pre-soul mid-50s rhythm and blues. That's not being  picky. Is Johnny B Goode by Chuck Berry soul music? Is That's Alright by Elvis soul music? Somehwere down the line you've got to actually draw a line. 

I also agree, however the birth of soul could not have been possible from nothing to a 100% purity in one magic recording. It could of only slowly evolved, taking various elements from rhythm and blues, gospel, jazz, folk, classical etc. In my opinion 'I got a woman' most definatly has elements of soul, but not enough to cross the line from rhythm and blues. Tracks like 'Dreams' 'Little angel' and 'Think about you' from the new David hooper vinyl LP would make a much better topic than this old chestnut. Pure soul to these ears.

I clicked on the link to the dt site and Avast tells me a threat has been detected. No surprise there.  Proceed with caution.

Strange how the OP replies to one point raised in the Support Forum but ignores my post here on the actual topic. and the very pertinent point I highlight.  But not really surprising. For the record, soul music is secular music. It isn't anything to do with christainity per  se.    All the early rock'n'roll stars Elvis, JL Lewis, Carl Perkins, Chuck Berry etc etc went to church, usually southern Baptist. They even sang a few hyms in the Sun Studios. Yet no one in their right mind would say Rock'n'roll owes a lot (or indeed anything) to christianity (even though in some cases their music ability was honed in a church environemnt).  It's ridiculous to even suggest it.

Let's have a little reflection and restraint. 

If you're still LOOKING FOR A reason to LOVE gospel tunes that were turned into soul classics, try this un ..

 

Steal Away ... a gospel cut from late 59 ....

Not the same song but most probably inspired by the gospel song .... 

 

Another soulful outing from the Pilgim Jubillees ... they cut at Universal Studios in Chicago from 1959 (even though they were originally from Houston and were signed to Peacock ...

 

Roburt - didn't realise you were still looking. So that's almost half a dozen of nearly and almost tracks now? Almost two months later.

1 hour ago, maslar said:

Roburt - didn't realise you were still looking. So that's almost half a dozen of nearly and almost tracks now? Almost two months later.

I haven't been 'STILL LOOKING' in fact I'm just back from 5 weeks in Florida when my internet access was patchy ... I just happened to give some old Pilgrim Jubilee cuts a listen & thought mentioning them was still appropriate.

If you truly dispute that gospel had a big influence on the emerging soul scene in the US, then I despair for you.

2 hours ago, Roburt said:

I haven't been 'STILL LOOKING' in fact I'm just back from 5 weeks in Florida when my internet access was patchy ... I just happened to give some old Pilgrim Jubilee cuts a listen & thought mentioning them was still appropriate.

If you truly dispute that gospel had a big influence on the emerging soul scene in the US, then I despair for you.

Despaireth not brother for if thou observe  that what I actually wrote you will see that your despair truly is in vain - for the second time on this thread . 

Me in the first post: " Yes gospel had a huge influence on 60s soul music ". 

 

you're all splitting hairs - I'll mention you in my prayers!

Pete

Sounds of Blackness are a sound gospel/soul group. 

 

I subscribe to the view that the African slave work songs, "spirituals" are at the root of blues, gospel, jazz and influenced all black music of the 20th Century.

Wikpedia...."Spirituals (or Negro spirituals)^[1][2] are generally Christian songs that were created by African Americans.^[3] Spirituals were originally an oral tradition that imparted Christian values while also describing the hardships of slavery.^[4]Although spirituals were originally unaccompanied monophonic (unison) songs, they are best known today in harmonized choral arrangements. "

I think it's hard to deny the Christian element in the evolution of soul music.