Rev W M Mosley - Rev W M Mosley Complete Recorded Works In Chronological Order (1926-1931)
STYLE: Gospel RATING OUR PRODUCT CODE: 21375-11980 LABEL: Document DOCD5480 FORMAT: CD Album ITEMS: 1 RRP: £9.99
Reviewed by Tony Cummings
Rev Mosley was an Atlanta minister whose recording career started in 1926 with a bang (over 30,000 copies were pressed of "Rev W M Mosley's Prayer" when fellow Atlanta preachers like Rev J M Gates were selling by the bushel) and ended in the depths of the Depression in 1931 (with so few copies of Rev Mosley's 78s being pressed that today one of them has seemingly vanished without trace). The good reverend has a stereotypical preaching style, punctuating almost every phrase with the pre-requisite "huh!", while, like Rev Gates, he often sang selections of the old hymns in a satisfyingly declamatory style. Sometimes Rev Mosley's congregation add their hearty vocals to the proceedings, like on "Ain't It A Shame". As the recording sessions continued there was less preaching and more singing and "Drinking Shine", "Yes! Tis Me" (which turns out to be a variant of "Amazing Grace") stand out while "Labor For The Lost" features an adventurous bass singer, who as the sleevenote says, sounds like he's strayed in from a quartet session. One of his most intriguing titles here is "You Preachers Stay Out Of Widows Houses" which bizarrely portrays the homicidal tendencies of widows as practitioners of decapitation and ends with a vision of deceased reverends approaching the Pearly Gates and being asked by St Peter, "Where's your head?" Preaching doesn't get any weirder.
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