Reviewed by Tony Cummings

One of the great gospel recordings of yesteryear is "Memphis Flu" by Elder Curry. Recorded in 1930 the lyric describes that the influenza epidemic that spread through Memphis in the years following the First World War. The track is propelled by Elder Charles Beck's stomping eight-to-the-bar piano and Elder Curry's melodic guitar playing while Jo Ann Williams powers through the lead vocal while a raucous congregation urged her on. As the sleevenote rightly acknowledges, "The performance possessed an indescribable ebullience that surely must have prepared the way for the descent of the Holy Spirit." None of the seven other Curry sides here quite reached that same atmosphere though the powerful denouncement of illicit alcohol, "Drinking Shine", comes close. Elder Charles Beck himself is featured on the other 17 tracks on this compilation and they range from vocal and piano renditions of Dorsey's "Precious Lord" through to the Elder with full congregation including a wild kazoo player on the track "Changes". What is clear is that Charles was a superb sanctified piano player.

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