Reviewed by Tony Cummings

Acrobat Records are to be congratulated for putting together this tremendous 3 CD compilation and whether you're a connoisseur collector of old school gospel longing to see the Harmonettes' first recordings made for RCA Victor in 1949 or their scarce 45s made for Andex Records in 1959 or a less obsessive music lover who recognised Dorothy Love Coats' amazing soul power heard on her 1954 gospel masterpiece "No Hiding Place" used in the Hollywood movie Ghost, you'll be keen to check out the music on offer here. The collection takes its time to ignite because when The Original Gospel Harmonettes first got a chance to make records for RCA Victor their powerhouse lead singer teenager Dorothy love had temporarily left the group in 1947 to care of her ailing infant daughter. Without Love the Harmonettes were competent rather than brilliant and the sides they cut for RCA including Mahalia Jackson's "Move Up A Little Higher", Lucy Campbell's "In The Upper Room" and Roberta Martin's "Only A Look" didn't reach the heights of the originals. But when Dorothy returned to the group and the Harmonettes signed to Specialty Records everything changed. She possessed a voice that was rough and gravelly yet could shriek and even scream in exultant frenzy while the best of the many songs she wrote like the ecstatic "Get Away Jordan (I Want To Crossover)" and "(You Can't Hurry God) He's Right On Time" were skilful constructs which gave any congregation the opportunity to enter into the same emotional catharsis as their creator. Of all the 66 songs on this collection certainly the most exciting, and certainly the most exhausting, is the 15-minute medley first heard on the multi-artist 'The Great 1955 Shrine Concert' album, but wherever you look in to this extraordinary gospel communicator will find passion and abandon that few singers before or since could equal. One of the final songs on CD 3 of this set is Dorothy's "Heaven's My Final Goal". The 2002 obituary of Coats in the New York Times reported she had finally reached her goal, describing her achievements as "a gruff singer whose gruff delivery and blazing theatrics made her one of the giants of the genre." You can't argue with that.

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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