VA - When I Reach That Heavenly Shore: Unearthly Black Gospel 1926-1936 [3CD Remastered Box Set] (2014)

Many of the 42 tracks collected here, 34 of which are being digitally re-introduced to the world, don't sound much like gospel, at least not in the modern sense of the word. Recorded between 1926 and 1936, and done for commercial labels, these are really pre-gospel pieces, religious and sacred songs done in blues, street jazz, choral, and other styles, and some of them are simply passionately delivered proto-rap-like rhythmic sermons. Modern gospel as a distinct musical genre had yet to be codified, and what we really have here are the roots of all that. There's a little bit of everything, from unclassifiable artists like Henry Thomas, a black Texas street singer who played his guitar like a banjo, self-accompanied by quills (pan pipes), to East Texas street evangelist Washington Phillips, who played two self-made zithers simultaneously to deliver an eerie, celestial sound behind his personalized hymns and sermons. There's also guitarist Roosevelt Graves and his amazingly talented tambourine-playing brother Uaroy delivering a spirited "I'll Be Rested When the Roll Is Called," which is a bit unnerving, like hearing early rock & roll from another planet. There are gutsy blues sides here, and shape-note singing, black barbershop quartets, fiery street corner sermons, and the complete recorded works of the Primitive Baptist Choir of North Carolina. It adds up to a strange, invigorating, haunting, and otherworldly listening experience, a bit like taking a time-travel musical tour of a world we've almost lost the means to comprehend. Drawn and assembled from the personal collection of Grammy-winning engineer and record producer Christopher King, who has also put together similar collections covering the blues of Charley Patton, Greek folk violin, and other pre-war obscurities, and is a part of the Paramount Records comprehensive reissue project, When I Reach That Heavenly Shore is a wonderful restoration of a little-known part of America's musical past, and it has the power to awaken astonishment.

Among the most powerful music to be captured on 78 rpm in America during the 1920s & 1930s are those recordings of black sanctified and gospel singing. Ranging from plaintive mourning to unbridled ecstasy, the sacred music from this time period represents a flowering of diverse and idiosyncratic rural songs styles. At no time was there a wider panorama of religious songs in America.

Selected exclusively from Christopher King's private collection, the 78s included here represent the most unhinged, the most compelling survey of pre-war black gospel. The complete recorded output of the Primitive Baptist Choir of North Carolina is also included in this collection for the first time. Several rare & previously unissued photographs are also contained within. Lovingly and respectfully designed by Susan Archie and firmly grounded in Scripture by Christopher King.

Tompkins Square has been steadily mining the history of black gospel through previous collections - the Grammy-nominated 'He Is My Story : The Sanctified Soul of Arizona Dranes'; 'Fire In My Bones : Raw, Rare & Otherworldly African-American Gospel, 1944-2007'; 'This May Be My Last Time Singing : Raw African-American Gospel on 45RPM, 1957-1982' ; Bessie Jones - 'Get In Union'; and 'I Heard The Angels Singing : Electrifying Black Gospel from the Nashboro Label, 1951-1983'.