Anybody know about gospel music?

horse

Looking for recommendations please.

I find I always tend to like music with a gospel tinge - a great example would be the piano break in Black Crowes Thorn In My Pride - love the progression up the chords. Also tend to enjoy the harmonies of a gospel choir, the piano, organ etc. Not so keen when it's very preachy... but can cope if it sounds good enough!

I've got the double Amazing Grace by Aretha which I enjoy a lot but only in small doses for some reason - maybe the choir is just a little too churchy for my taste - a thin line....

So, any recommendations for either gospel or gospel influenced albums?

Cheers

merlin

Praise & Blame by Tom Jones. 

bigjon

Handel's Messiah - a Soulful celebration
Here's the Hallelujah Chorus :-)

BenSirAmos

The Dixie Hummingbirds

KKJale

Assuming you've already dug the hardcore gospel greats (Mahalia Jackson, Sister Rosetta Tharpe), how about Delaney & Bonnie & Friends? Very call-and-answer inspiration-type stuff but in a secular vein. 

smigeon

Ray Charles

wayneirie

Staple singers pre stax, Soul stirrers (sam cooke). Also checkout this guy. Pastor TL Barrett

DLM

I saw this a while back:

horse

wayneirie said:

Staple singers pre stax, Soul stirrers (sam cooke). Also checkout this guy. Pastor TL Barrett

I've got that Pastor TL Barrett album actually - from memory the title track is great, but is there one song on there where the bass is a semi tone out for the whole song?

I've also got some of the earlier Staple Singers - really like Gloryland, but it's a different thing to what I'm looking for really.

horse

Thanks for the suggestions guys, and there's a fair bit there in my collection already - I do like the earlier rawer stuff but it isn't quite what I've got in mind here, and once you get to synths being added in I'm not interested. I wonder if I am looking for late 60s - mid 70s gospel with a light rock backing?!

slacker

Ry Cooder sometimes veered into Gospel territory. 

I  prefer the older guitar based stuff like Blind Willie Soul of  Man etc. 

Strangefan

Anything by slayer or deicide should tickle that particular fancy. 

duotone

I like the Elvis Presley gospel stuff & Sam Cooke as well.

Reverend

Mahalia Jackson
Definitely look into the Library of Congress recordings that the Lomax's made. A must for nay fans of blues, gospel, country,  folk or indeed most American music. 

english_bob

Check out the Blind Boys of Alabama. They were early on the "American Recordings" bandwagon of older artists recording edgier material with earthier sounding bands. Spirit Of The Century has a mix of traditional gospel tunes and covers.

bingefeller

take your pick from this list (links aren't working on this work browser).

http://rateyourmusic.com/customchart?page=1&chart_type=top&type=album&year=alltime&genre_include=1&include_child_genres=1&genres=gospel&include_child_genres_chk=1&include=both&origin_countries=&limit=none&countries=

fob

First person to jump to mind was Solomon Burke. He came from the Gospel tradition and was a major figure in the Soul movement. If you've never heard him before, you're in for a treat.



It also doesn't hurt to listen to James Brown's stint with the Blues Brothers. It might not seem bona fide because of the commercial aspect (the film) but he took one of the biggest gospel standards and absolutely delivered. It's worth listening to the audio version of course but below is the clip from the film as I love watching the choirmaster.