Comments on: Watershed albums

By: jeanette barnett

jeanette barnett — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 12:59:50 +0000

Remembering the Good Twins… who last time I heard them was fairly recent. They actually sound better than ever and their concerts are more than just music. They are quite entertaining. Don’t know if it’s still around, but I wrote the words for one of their songs “Lest I Forget” (Dwayne and I were kind of dating at the time, back in the 50’s!) Great guys, and good memories.

By: Wayne

Wayne — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 01:49:27 +0000

Leebob:

The Downings did several that could be considered transitional when Donnie and Joy McGuire were with the group, didn’t they?

By: Cliff Cerce

Cliff Cerce — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 20:29:33 +0000

Leebob asked, “Question for everybody…what “watershed” album subtly began the movement from SG to CCM?”

I’m don’t remember the title, but I’m pretty sure it was recorded either by Slim Whitman or Burl Ives.

By: Leebob

Leebob — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 16:58:40 +0000

Question for everybody…what “watershed” album subtly began the movement from SG to CCM?

By: ken

ken — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 13:26:15 +0000

To Janet#17
I have the CR248 have used it a few times. Works fine, not to hard to use, if you can post here you will have no trouble.Function buttons are somewhat hard to see, so will need good lighting in room or stronger glasses than i have.Check other dealers for better price.

By: Janet

Janet — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 08:26:03 +0000

To Ken #20
Thanks for the tip. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about these new gadgets that allow you to transfer lp’s to cd’s, would you? I’m imagining many happy hours completing that task! (Much more fun than simply buying the cd’s!)

By: ken

ken — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 11:47:23 +0000

To Janet #17
Go to crosleyradio.com they will be glad to sell you a unit to play them on.

By: RF

RF — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 04:44:36 +0000

Being a sound freak, I have a hard time relating to something done in 1921, no matter how good it was, but…

Symphony of Prasie has always been my number one album. Just lavishly produced with great sound and great performances. I also would nominate “On Stage” by the Statesmen only because I keep going back to that 60’s album time and time again. It may not be as rousing as “Big and Live,” but it was my first gospel album and it portrayed the Sensational Statesmen as they were. Dynamic.

By: Phil

Phil — Sat, 31 May 2008 21:25:26 +0000

i for one have been a good twins fan most of my life. i saw ‘em in ocala fl. just last year & they still sound great. because they did the whole background tape thing it’s never bothered me when i started going to sg concerts a decade ago.
#17 if you can’t play the albums, their music is out on cd. just contact ‘em.
i still love their ” have gospel must travel ” music.

By: Janet

Janet — Sat, 31 May 2008 18:47:51 +0000

Re #12: Ah, the Good Twins. Does that bring back memories. Saw them many times in my growing-up years. My mother had several of their albums. She died last year & I inherited her collection. Perhaps I should take the time to go through those crates to see if any of the albums mentioned throughout here are there? Too bad I have nothing to play them on…
I do know that the post-Jake Hess Imperials album that made John’s list is in the collection - yeah for me!
Ya’ll are a hoot to read! Blessings!

By: burt

burt — Sat, 31 May 2008 15:37:44 +0000

So Much To Thank Him For? Remember how that hit number one? What about that album?

By: philip elwood

philip elwood — Sat, 31 May 2008 06:07:44 +0000

Don’t forget the Sons of Song albums cut on the West coast,surely they were original enough to be considered’watershed’

By: quartet-man

quartet-man — Sat, 31 May 2008 05:05:43 +0000

I’ll vote for Cathedrals Symphony of Praise, Gold City Pillars Of Faith, Singing Americans Live and Alive and Black And White, The Sound - The Sound That The World Needs To Hear (their first for that matter), the Oaks did several in the late sixties to early seventies, and then again when they went to Columbia although they didn’t do what they set out to do or should have done. The quality was there, it just never took. However, earlier they started doing the Andrae Crouch stuff and perhaps Light and Street Gospel are two albums that took them further I think.
The Stamps did some HeartWarming lps that were really good quality products that I think put them in a different league. The Imperials too. In more recent years the GVB took a major leap with One X 1, but I am not sure it took off, but it did move them quite a bit stylistically although a New Point Of View was a buffer on the way there from Passin’ The Faith Along. Then, A Few Good Men was a pretty good leap into a more pop sound, but not sure if sales wise it did it or not, but it certainly put Michael English on the map as the new, exciting lead vocalist although he had sung on Wings and One X 1 previously.

By: John

John — Sat, 31 May 2008 00:37:41 +0000

Thank you and welcome, Doug, to the discussion of so-called “watershed” albums. Sic semper pedantis!:-)

Thanks also to Brandon for trying to set the record straight, and give proper attribution to the inspiration for my post on my own blog.

When readers here follow the link to my original post, they will see that I tried to define my criteria on what a “watershed” album is, and also justify my own selections on the basis of that criteria.

I must say that Doug’s criteria are quite similar to mine…and his inclusion of the Vaughan recordings and the Cathedrals’ “Something Special” should have been on my list as well…for the precise reasons that Doug cited here. I cannot explain why they weren’t…way to go, Doug, for catching what I failed to, and thus raising the level of the discussion.

I see a number of excellent albums listed on this thread…too bad that mere excellence alone is not sufficient criteria to be included on any list I would compile.

If I were making a list of the all-time greatest gospel albums, “In The Garden” would surely be in the top 10…maybe even my top 5! But I don’t know that that great album was as influential on the genre as perhaps it should have been.

One more thing I must clarify here for the benefit of Doug’s readers(who may or may not check my blog on occasion).
My good friend Cliff Cerce points out with a great deal of merit that all of us have our own “watershed” albums, and quite possibly our respective lists owe their existence to the meaning they have for us as listeners.

There is no doubt a great deal of truth to that…but as I tried to point out in the post on my own blog, I tried as best I could to divorce myself from my personal preferences as much as possible, and try to respond to Wes by pointing out in as objective an analysis as I could which gospel albums had the most “Sgt. Pepper”-like influence on the genre.

As Cliff pointed out, it’s quite likely that NO gospel album was a “Sgt. Pepper” to the rest of the genre…for a variety of reasons. My modest aim was to simply point out which albums on a historical basis might have best filled that role.

In the end, my list was not one of “MY” watershed albums, for that list would be longer…and only one of the albums on it would be on both lists. Yes, it’s “mine” in the sense that I made it, and argued for its’ adoption on critical grounds, but it’s more an exercise in my objective opinion as an observer rather than a subjective reading on what albums meant the most to me.

And I only used the term “watershed” for lack of a more accurate, one-word term to describe what kind of albums I was intending to cite.

Say what you will about Doug…he DOES have a very good understanding of this genre.

By: BUICK

BUICK — Fri, 30 May 2008 22:18:53 +0000

The Imperials: Blends and Rhythms (1965)
The Imperials: Slightly Regal (1964) - both albums by the Imps simply because they raised the bar for everyone else
Blackwood Brothers: Paradise Island (1959)-one of the earliest “concept” albums
Statesmen: Out West (1961)-another early “concept” album

And slightly off-topic, in 1961, a duet called “The Good Twins” (identical twins, Dwight and Dwayne Good), pioneered the practice of singing with orchestra tracks. Up to that time, it was a piano and little else. In 1961, the GT came up with this technique so that live concerts had the same lush sound as a studio recording. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, they started it all.