Mahalia
Jackson: How I Got Over (Westside WESX 303) (Sky B000006K88)
Hey now, there...you’ve just found yourself a mid-priced
set - comprising the complete best period of very probably
the finest-ever female gospel singer...and you (still)
need a review? You’re really sure about that? Well...here
goes:
...no listener - no matter how allergic to religion -
can easily resist...
disc 1: 3, 5-6, 12, 14, 17, 20-21, disc 2: 1-2, 13, 15-18,
disc 3: 1-3, 13, 16, 20-1
Not much of a review, eh? Come on, though - I just identified
22 definitely great tracks on one mid-priced three cd
set...so, what more you want - balloons?
Look...just buy it. Because, although I’d have to
admit that (myself) I’m not that great a fan of gospel
as a genre, still...the very best undoubtedly slays me
- as do all of the tracks just listed - so...do yourself
a favour (now...there’s a “joke”) and please
give this one house space. Because, the rewards’ll
well repay you...
But - if’n you want/need real convincing...well,
there’s only one choice: Disc Three, Track 1: “In
the Upper Room (parts 1 & 2)” with the awesome
Southern Harmonaires...and, in all of those variations
between sublime groove & ecstatic outreach - yes -
this one hits the spot...
Hell...buy it for that one alone - because, it’s
damn-well worth the price of admission - still, that’d
definitely be to shortchange the rest. Because - what
about the stunningly swingin’ big band vocal feel
of “Said He Would”, or that awesomely spiritual
reply to “devotional” doo-wop, “He’s
my Light”...still more the bizarre mixtures of “I
Wonder if I Will Ever Rest” & “I’m
on My Way to Canaan Land”...which seem somehow strangely
akin to a more “genuine” 1950s version of “world
music” - but, still...that’s not the (real)
reason you’ll actually be buying this, I suppose...
Because, to put it bluntly, Mahalia was the Aretha of
her day - the late forties/early fifties - even if she
never cut a secular side. The fact that this stuff now
gets no airplay - and the fact that you’re very likely
to have never even heard of it - is solely because Apollo
was a small label - and that Columbia/CBS was stupid enough
not to buy up the rights to these, her very finest sides,
when they became available. Consequently, the shops are
(now) clogged w/the later - and much, much weaker major
label sides - whilst few but gospel collectors have actually
heard Mahalia at her peak. So...catch the first train
smokin’ - as they say, and grab ahold of this, Mahelia’s
finest...and marvel at how goddamn real she sounded, before
the mainstream caught - and tamed - her fire...
John Henry Calvinist
