Les Beasley Presents Jubilee Favorites Various
by David Bruce Murray
--- David Bruce Murray
Label: Daywind Records
Producers: Various
Compiled by: Les Beasley, Norman Holland And Ed Leonard
Song Titles: "Intro/Jubilee Theme Song (Les Beasley/Jubilee Choir)," "Hallelujah Square (Florida Boys)," "We Shall Wear A Robe And Crown (Rex Nelon Singers)," "Sheltered In The Arms Of God (Rambos)," "King Jesus (Oak Ridge Boys)," "Oh, What A Savior (Statesmen)," "The King Is Coming (Speer Family)," "Victory Road (JD Sumner And The Stamps)," "The Lighthouse (Hinsons)," "Touring That City (Inspirations)," "Old Ship Of Zion (Kingsmen)," "I Wouldn't Take Nothing For My Journey Now (Happy Goodmans)," "Learning To Lean (Blackwood Brothers)," "Hallelujah Meeting (Hinsons)," "I'll Shout And Shine (Cathedral Quartet)," "Jesus Is Coming Soon (Oak Ridge Boys)," "The Lovely Name Of Jesus (Kingsmen)," "Turn Your Radio On (Speer Family)," "When He Was On The Cross (Florida Boys)," "You've Got To Walk That Lonesome Road (JD Sumner And The Stamps)," "I Firmly Promise You (Wendy Bagwell And The Sunliters)," "I've Never Been This Homesick Before (Rambos)," "Your First Day In Heaven (Statesmen)," and "Old Country Church (Blackwood Brothers)
As the title and artwork implies, Les Beasley Presents Jubilee Favorites is a compilation of various artists from the 1960s to 1980s who made regular appearances on the Gospel Singing Jubilee television show. Masters were provided by Canaan Records (now a subsidiary of Warner Bros.), Provident Music Group, Skylite Records, and Calvary Records. A company called 440 Digital did the digital remastering work for this project.
Please understand . . . the tracks on this project are NOT taken from the actual audio of the original TV broadcasts. These are studio and live concert recordings that reflect the Jubilee era. In most cases, these are the same performances you would have heard if you had listened to Southern Gospel radio during the 1970s and early 1980s. The big advantage to this collection is that it has been digitally remastered and it's available on CD. The packaging is excellent and the liner notes by Jerry Kirksey are historically informative.
If you want to know what Southern Gospel sounded like 30 years ago, this 2 CD set will work as an introduction. The Jubilee setting is a great framework for presenting this music, but the core product is really more generic in nature. Even if you take away Beasley's spoken introduction, the packaging, and the Jubilee theme song, you still have 23 tunes that define an era. From the classic "four guys and a piano" sounds of the Statesmen to the Country inflections of the Hinsons; from the "three chords and a cloud of dust" energy of the Happy Goodmans to the modern (for that time) mixed harmonies of the Rex Nelon Singers; from the almost spooky sound of Ben Speer on "The King is Coming" to the energies of Hamill and Foxy in their heyday with the Kingsmen, this collection covers it all.
Rating: 4 Stars