Rance Allen Group - The Soulful Truth Of The Rance Allen Group
STYLE: Gospel RATING OUR PRODUCT CODE: 2472-4211 LABEL: Stax CDSXD134 FORMAT: CD Album
Reviewed by Steve Best
The larger than life Allen Brothers - Rance on guitar, Tom on drums and Steve on bass - came to Stax Records of Memphis, Tennessee, one of the great soul labels of all time, where they cut half a dozen or so albums in two periods before moving on. This is a 17 track retrospective spanning 1971 through 1979 and amply showcases Rance's extraordinary voice, which ranges from a gutteral scream to a quite awesome falsetto. Among the delights here, check out the gospelisation of "(There's Gonna Be) A Showdown", the nine minute tour de force of "Ring My Bell" and another R&B song, turned gospel number, the Temptations' "Just My Imagination" (here retitled "Just My Salvation"). I'm told Rance is still going strong. However, this superlative collection captures him at his best.
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