Reviewed by Tony Cummings

Although this ancient all male ensemble recorded under the snappy moniker of The Christian And Missionary Alliance Quintette it was as The Cleveland Coloured Quintet that they were best known. They had their years of popularity playing regularly in the northeast United States before getting invited to attend a four week mission in Toronto, Canada. Such was their success that they quit their regular jobs and became touring musical ambassadors regularly playing the northern States of America as well as Ireland, Scotland, Norway, Sweden and even Latvia. But what of their music presented here on 26 sides made between 1923 and 1926? Well, shall we say that their history is far more interesting than their music. Archaic songs of faith sung in stilted, barbershop harmonies, this is gruelling listening today with a sound nearer to ancient white harmony groups than African American gospel. There's a photo of the group holding instruments on the sleeve but most of the recordings here are acapella or feature just a piano. The two part "Preacher On The Fence" has some interesting lyrics but even here the melody ("When Johnny Comes Marching Home") and vocal performance are all but unlistenable.

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