VA - Testify! The Gospel Box [3CD Remastered] (1999)

Rhino Records set their tasteful, selective hands on African American gospel music with this three-CD set, elaborately packaged to resemble a hardcover Bible. The reach of this collection is wide, beginning with a cappella jubilee-style singing from the '30s and ending with 1990s funk soul and gospel-flavored R&B. The selections are superb (Golden Gate Quartet, Highway Q.C.'s, Swan Silvertones, Reverend Cleveland, Inez Andrews, Shirley Caesar, Andraé Crouch, Oleta Adams, the Winans) and the sound quality surprising (you've never heard the Trumpeteers' gorgeous "Milky White Way" till you've heard this restored version). While this set offers few discoveries for the true fan, the 70-page book's essays are topnotch (notably those by Opal Louis Nations and Carol Cooper). As an introduction to an innovative, hugely influential, vital, thoroughly spiritual, and frequently misunderstood music, this collection should be your first choice. --Mike McGonigal