Reviewed by Nigel Harris

The curious thing about these recordings is that neither of these soulful, tight harmony quartets of the late '30s have been conclusively identified. The Belmont Silvertones may have hailed from the North Carolina town of Belmont, in which case their 16 tracks might well have been recorded by Decca in the Carolinas rather than New York, as listed on the CD liner. Their unaccompanied vocals feature a fine, high tenor lead and a strong bass with the vocals often supplying a repetitive, rhythmic backing to the lead singer. The arrangements are solid but relatively unadventurous and tend to favour a slower, soulful style such as on songs like "How We Got Over" and "God Don't Like It". The Southern Wonders are even more of an enigma as there were several known quartets of the same name. Document Records, who have lovingly restored these original recordings, believe that the group was probably from Cleveland. Stylistically their 10 tracks contrast markedly with the Belmont Silvertones with their fuller sound and more contemporary, quartet style, reminiscent of later vocal groups such as the Blind Boys Of Alabama. The recording quality is also markedly better, perhaps bearing out the notion that these were New York sessions recorded in a superior studio than the Belmont Silvertones used some seven months earlier. The vocals could almost be described as crisp on many tracks, and show definite hints of the doo-wop style that became mainstream in the 1950s. The backing vocals on "His Eyes On The Sparrow", for example, almost mimic a guitar accompaniment while on "Go Wash In The Beautiful Stream" a singer provides a double bass line. These recordings preserve precious examples of a vocal legacy on which groups built in subsequent decades and which formed the foundation of so many North American styles.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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