I Need Your Spirit

So, to get your motor running this morning I’ve selected a great contemporary hip-hop song. This caught my ear the other day and I’ve had a hard time getting the chorus out of my head…earworm alert!

 

  1. I Need Your Spirit Lamar Campbell and Spirit of Praise 4:45

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I Don’t Know What I’d Do Without The Lord

This is a great old school sounding song going back to 1978 when traditional gospel was still very much in style, but you can hear the jazz/blues/contemporary influence.. Nice B3 and piano and the high wailing sopranos are classic.

 

  1. I Don't Know What I'd Do Without The Lord Pool of Bethesda CLGI Choir 3:52

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Rain On Me

Thought this song might be appropriate since yet ANOTHER rainy day is in the forecast!

Holy Spirit, Rain on me! Pour on me!
Drip-drop-drip-drop! Drip-drop-drip-drop!

 

  1. Rain On Me United Voices Of Worship 4:35

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Jessie Obanner started this group in 1994 and recorded the album titled “Rain On Me”. It was a great start of a powerhouse unit of young people and musicians ready to take on the world.  The choir would rehearse all day and later go to a studio in High Point, NC. On the night of the CD Release, Hezekiah Walker was the featured guest along with his choir.

Thanksgiving Week 2018 – Saturday

A little Thanksgiving sampling from Detroit Michigan, home of some of the best gospel in the world.

 

  1. Oh Give Thanks Rev. Charles Nicks & The Saint James Baptist Church Choir 6:27

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Charles Nicks, Jr. [Charlie] (July 18, 1941 – July 28, 1988) was an American gospel musician and former pastor, organist, and accompanist of St. James Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan. Rev. Nicks released his first musical project in 1985, Come Unto Jesus with Sound of Gospel. He would release some albums while he was still alive, and others posthumously that would chart on the Billboard magazine Gospel Albums chart. In the late 80’s, Rev. Nicks collaborated with many other gospel performers and composers and he became a close friend of James Cleveland.

 

  1. I Thank You Lord The Southwest Michigan State Choir 2:47

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In 1979 when this song was released, The Southwest Michigan State Choir of the Church of God in Christ (COGIC) was under the direction of Mattie Moss Clark.

Juliet “Mattie” Moss was born the seventh of nine children to ministers Fred and Mattie J.Moss in Selma, Alabama. Moss began playing piano at six. By twelve, she had become the musician for her mother’s services at the Holiness Temple Church of Christ in Prayer and traveled with her mother to play at mission services, a trend she passed on to daughter Twinkie. After high school, she attended Selma University and received training in classical music and choral singing. Moss moved to Detroit in her early twenties to be with her sister Sybil Burke and became a member of Greater Love Tabernacle Church of God in Christ.

While with the Southwest Michigan State Choir, Mattie Moss Clark become the first person to separate vocal parts into soprano, alto and tenor. She received three gold albums with the Southwest Michigan State Choir, and went on to write and arrange hundreds of songs and recorded over 50 albums.

Thanksgiving Week 2018 – Friday

There are SO many songs about giving thanks that it is hard to whittle them down so I can post two or three each day this week, but I think I have some real gems here.

To kick things off I’m introducing my new favorite gospel song. I can’t find the lyrics online, can’t Shazam it, it’s not on iTunes. What the heck..so what.

 

  1. O Give Thanks Charles Nicks and The St. James Baptist Church Choir 4:02

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Clearly not your typical gospel song, the intro starts out with an intro of organ and HARP..a REAL harp I think (not electronic) with the choir falling in with some ooooh’s. That’s different.

This gives way to the verse and chorus that has a sort of Duke Ellington “Come Sunday” vibe married with a Broadway show tune…think “A Chorus Line”. All that is followed be a lyrically simple bridge of “Loo Loo Loo Loo Loo’s, but the bridge tune isn’t’ simple. It goes a couple of places you don’t think it will, and then the song returns and repeats the verse/chorus/bridge a couple of times. Finally the bridge gives way to a build that starts with the men and that runs into the final vamp. The song ends with an outro similar to the intro, but ends with just a simple piano instead of a heavy organ. BRILLIANT!

 

Because I have so many songs I want to share with you, I’m adding one more to this post. This is also titled “Oh Give Thanks”, but this is a simple praise and worship song lead by Judith Christie McAllister, often referred to as “The First Lady of Praise and Worship.” The group of only 12 intrepid JVOI singers who traveled to Holland in the summer of 2004 sang this song, beautifully!

 

  1. Oh Give Thanks T.D. Jakes 5:04

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Happy Thanksgving!

 

 

  1. Thank You Richard Smallwood and Vision 8:59

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The MASTER again, Richard Smallwood with his song of Thanks. This almost nine minute masterpiece, like “Total Praise”, leaves one drained and full of emotion. A beautiful, powerful song.

 

  1. Thank You Walter Hawkins 6:34

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Walter Hawkins, the Grammy Award-winning gospel singer, composer and pastor of Oakland’s Love Center Church, died July 11, 2010,at the age of 61. He had been battling pancreatic cancer for two years.

During the 1970s, Walter Hawkins personified a new wave of gospel artists such as his big brother, Edwin Hawkins of “Oh Happy Day” fame, and André Crouch, who brought a youthful contemporary vibe to gospel music. Walter cut a series of best-selling “Love Alive” LPs that remain gospel classics to this day. His songs have been recorded by a who’s who in music ranging from Aretha Franklin and “American Idol” champion Ruben Studdard to Vickie Winans and M.C. Hammer. “The impact that Walter Hawkins had on gospel music was so profound and far-reaching that it is now, and forever shall be, part of gospel’s DNA,” says gospel music historian, Bob Marovich, who edits The Black Gospel Blog.

Walter was born on May 18, 1949 in Oakland, CA and came up in the Church of God in Christ (COGIC) denomination. He became a master pianist as well as a dynamic singer with an operatic vocal range. With his big brother, Edwin, already making a name for himself in 1969 with “Oh Happy Day” which became an international hit in the Gospel world as well as in the secular scene, Walter was well on his way at making a name for himself as well.

While studying for his master’s of divinity degree from the University of California at Berkeley, Walter recorded his first LP “Do Your Best” in 1972. An October 1972 Billboard magazine reviewer wrote, “Walter Hawkins is a pianist of enviable accomplishments while his vocal prowess is in no way disputable. He’s gathered around him an exceptional crew of sidemen and vocalists and the total effect is completely invigorating.”

The next year, Walter became a pastor and founded the Love Center Church in East Oakland. After forming the Love Center Choir, he recorded their first album as a church family. He used $1,800 he borrowed from his mother-in-law to complete the project. It was the first in a series of LPs named “Love Alive” and it debuted on Light Records in 1975. The album featured his then-wife, Tramaine, leading “Changed” and “Goin’ Up Yonder” which became two of the biggest gospel songs of the decade. A runaway smash, the “Love Alive” album sold a staggering 300,000 copies. The five “Love Alive” LPs featured classic gospel songs such as “I Love the Lord,” “Be Grateful,” “I’m Goin‘ Away,” “Thank You, Lord” and “Until, I Found the Lord.”

In the `80s, Walter recorded a number of solo LPs and produced a number of artists, including Tramaine. Although, he had earned nine Grammy Award nominations during his career, he only won one for his performance on “The Lord’s Prayer” LP in 1980 (he also performed on the televised Grammy Awards ceremony that year). In 1990, he released “Love Alive III” which became the biggest seller of the “Love Alive” album series. The radio favorites were “There’s A War Going On”, “I Love You, Lord” and “He’ll Bring You Out.” The LP remained at the #1 on the Billboard gospel album sales chart for 34 weeks during the almost 100 weeks it spent on the survey. The album went on to sell over a million copies. The 1993 “Love Alive IV” also hit the #1 spot on the album sales chart and spent a year on the survey as well. In between projects, Walter was ordained a Bishop in October 1992.c

Thanksgiving Week 2018 – Post 1

  1. I Just Want to Say Thank You Myrna Summers 6:52

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Evangelist Myrna Summers is the Minister of Music at Reid Temple A.M.E. Church in Glendale, Maryland. Myrna is the leader of the church’s five choirs, orchestra and is the Director of Reid Temple’s Mass Choir. Prior to joining and assuming her duties at Reid Temple A.M.E Church in 1999, Myrna was Minister of Music at Refreshing Spring COGIC in Riverdale, Maryland.

Myrna, a Washington, D.C. native, has been performing professionally for over four decades in the United States and Europe. Her strong and energy filled alto voice has earned her numerous honors and awards. She was nominated for Grammy Awards for her original compositions “God Gave Me a Song” and “Give Me Something to Hold on To”. In 1970, Myrna was the recipient of the Mahalia Jackson Award. Her 1982 recording of “Uncloudy Day” has become a gospel classic. She received a Stellar Award in 1989 for Best Traditional Gospel Artist (Female). Myrna has performed at Madison Square Garden in New York; The Apollo Theatre in New York; The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.; The Lincoln Center in New York; and in London, England and Frankfurt, Germany.

 

  1. I Have So Much To Be Thankful For Georgia Mass Choir 4:00

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The magic began in 1983 in Macon, Georgia, when the Georgia Mass Choir was organized by the Rev. Milton Biggham, who signed up the finest singers in the region, ranging in age from 13 through 70. Biggham not only is founder, lead singer and major songwriter for the choir; he is director of Savoy Records-the choir’s label, which is a gospel division of Malaco Records.

The highly acclaimed gospel choir reached a musical milestone with the November 1996 release of an eight spectacular album, The Georgia Mass Choir: Greatest Hits. The world also heard the Georgia Mass in the globally televised 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, during which the choir performed six times-including in the Opening Ceremonies and the healing re-opening ceremonies of Olympic Centennial Park, after the bombing.

The 150-member group has continued to be honored with Stellar, Grammy and Dove Award nominations. This faith-filled vocal powerhouse also is featured in Disney’s major motion picture, The Preacher’s Wife. Three of the choir’s signature songs from Greatest Hits-He’s All Over Me, Joy and Hold On, Help Is On The Way-are on the movie’s soundtrack CD. Preacher’s Wife star and recording superstar Whitney Houston leads choir selections.

BRILLIANT!!

I MISS not doing the song of the day blog, but don’t miss all the work that went into finding, editing, researching and writing each post, sooooo…

How about I just RECYCLE the old posts starting from three years ago??  The songs may now be a bit familiar to you, but I picked them because they are GOOD, so you probably will enjoy hearing them again.

So…this post will be followed by the first recycled post, the first of some 900+ posts containing some 1000+ songs.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

R.L.