Reviewed by Tony Cummings

Document Records' breathtaking endeavour to make available on CD every pre-war gospel recording is something Cross Rhythms continually praises. It also shows that such a systematic re-issue campaign is bound to unearth all kinds of unexpected musical treasures. Take these recordings by an acapella male quartet originally intended solely for radio broadcast recorded in April and September 1939. If you're in your 50s you might remember music like this was once broadcast by the BBC when the Deep River Boys (a black 'jubilee' style group) who, somehow or other, ended up in the UK. Like that group, The Bronzemen's audience was (in all probability) largely white and their repertoire a kind of Spirituals And Gospel Songs Greatest Hits. So here The Bronzemen (of whom absolutely nothing is known) offer beautiful, harmonically dense versions of songs like "Standing In The Need Of Prayer", "Down By The Riverside" and "Deep River"). A number of the songs here were already recorded by the Fisk University Jubilee Singers ("Little David Play On Your Harp", "Good News" and "I Couldn't Hear Nobody Pray") and the versions here are rich and thoroughly recommended to anyone looking for an album of the "old spirituals." The only downside is a poor front sleeve and a sleevenote where, with little serious information to convey, the writer instead displays his prejudices against "concert styled polished approach" to gospel. But for those without such inverted cultural imperialist tendencies, a listen to the beautiful lead and harmonies on a track like "I Want To Be A Christian" will reveal something truly transcendent.

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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