Reviewed by Tony Cummings

Greenbelt Festival have been running seminars for decades about the whole phenomenon of Christian musicians going into the mainstream while in recent times a shoal of American authors have offered books full of essays about this or that rock band avoiding the insularity of the Christian market and venturing out into the dog-eat-dog world of Secular City. The glaring weakness of just about all these earnest seminars and essays is brought to light by examining this fascinating three CD set featuring a welter of '60s soul music - namely that any discussion of artists crossing over from "ministry", church audiences and songs about God, to "entertainment", secular audiences and songs about love and sex, has to begin with an historic grasp of what has been going on for decades in the African American community. Ever since the early '50s when the 5 Royales dumped gospel quartet music and hit R&B paydirt and Ray Charles pillaged the vocal stylings (and sometimes the songs) of black church to become a secular superstar, the interaction has continued. Not every singer on these three albums comes out of the Church but most did and some, like Betty Lavette, with her sublime hit of the '60s "Let Me Down Easy", Joe Simon, with his wistful country soul "My Special Prayer", Irma Thomas, with her understated New Orleans gem "Ruler Of My Heart", Sam & Dave, with their Stax classic "Soul Man", Aaron Neville, with his first hit "Tell It Like It Is", Dorothy Moore, with her haunting version of the country ballad "Misty Blue", and Denise LaSalle, with her sassy "My Tu Tu", not only came from the Church but returned to gospel music once the R&B bigtime had passed them by. But that of course isn't the whole story. As well as Christians making hits with a bit of lyric amendment this CD documents others for whom church going may have formulated their vocal style but didn't bring them into discipleship. So when you listen here to Bobby Womack's "Harry Hippie", or Ray Charles' "I Got A Woman" you may thrill to some classic music but you may also be saddened when you think of the scars in the singers' lives. But to return to the music rather than the subtext, there is so much music forged in the Southern States of the USA here which is utterly breathtaking. Clive Richardson is to be congratulated for such an excellent compilation. When you listen to a track like Peggy Scott's "When The Blind Lead The Blind" you realise just how deep, deep soul actually is.

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.

Interested in reviewing music? Find out more here.