Les Beasley Presents Jubilee Favorites, CD Review

Jul

2003

Les Beasley Presents Jubilee Favorites

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Artist: Various
Label: Daywind Records
Producers: Various
Compiled by: Les Beasley, Norman Holland And Ed Leonard
Song Titles: “Intro/Jubilee Theme Song (Les Beasley/Jubilee Choir),” “Hallelujah Square (Florida Boys),” “We Shall Wear A Robe And Crown (Rex Nelon Singers),” “Sheltered In The Arms Of God (Rambos),” “King Jesus (Oak Ridge Boys),” “Oh, What A Savior (Statesmen),” “The King Is Coming (Speer Family),” “Victory Road (JD Sumner And The Stamps),” “The Lighthouse (Hinsons),” “Touring That City (Inspirations),” “Old Ship Of Zion (Kingsmen),” “I Wouldn’t Take Nothing For My Journey Now (Happy Goodmans),” “Learning To Lean (Blackwood Brothers),” “Hallelujah Meeting (Hinsons),” “I’ll Shout And Shine (Cathedral Quartet),” “Jesus Is Coming Soon (Oak Ridge Boys),” “The Lovely Name Of Jesus (Kingsmen),” “Turn Your Radio On (Speer Family),” “When He Was On The Cross (Florida Boys),” “You’ve Got To Walk That Lonesome Road (JD Sumner And The Stamps),” “I Firmly Promise You (Wendy Bagwell And The Sunliters),” “I’ve Never Been This Homesick Before (Rambos),” “Your First Day In Heaven (Statesmen),” and “Old Country Church (Blackwood Brothers)

As the title and artwork implies, Les Beasley Presents Jubilee Favorites is a compilation of various artists from the 1960s to 1980s who made regular appearances on the Gospel Singing Jubilee television show. Masters were provided by Canaan Records (now a subsidiary of Warner Bros.), Provident Music Group, Skylite Records, and Calvary Records. A company called 440 Digital did the digital remastering work for this project.

Please understand . . . the tracks on this project are NOT taken from the actual audio of the original TV broadcasts. These are studio and live concert recordings that reflect the Jubilee era. In most cases, these are the same performances you would have heard if you had listened to Southern Gospel radio during the 1970s and early 1980s. The big advantage to this collection is that it has been digitally remastered and it’s available on CD. The packaging is excellent and the liner notes by Jerry Kirksey are historically informative.

If you want to know what Southern Gospel sounded like 30 years ago, this 2 CD set will work as an introduction. The Jubilee setting is a great framework for presenting this music, but the core product is really more generic in nature. Even if you take away Beasley’s spoken introduction, the packaging, and the Jubilee theme song, you still have 23 tunes that define an era. From the classic “four guys and a piano” sounds of the Statesmen to the Country inflections of the Hinsons; from the “three chords and a cloud of dust” energy of the Happy Goodmans to the modern (for that time) mixed harmonies of the Rex Nelon Singers; from the almost spooky sound of Ben Speer on “The King is Coming” to the energies of Hamill and Foxy in their heyday with the Kingsmen, this collection covers it all.

Rating:
4 Star Rating

Reader Comments

Really surprising that nothing is on here by the Dixie Echoes. They were always a mainstay on the Jubilee.

Commented by On 08/06/2003

I was disappointed with this. The title and perhaps the ad I originally saw at least made me think it was the performances from the show, not some of the tired old studio versions that have been on several compilations. Some examples are King Jesus and Jesus Is Coming Soon by The Oak Ridge Boys. If they couldn't get the performances from the series Benson had live performances of theirs that are much better and would have fit here better than the studio versions which lacked the energy and live feel. I went to get it on the original release date and after the bookstore called was told that some of the masters for the songs were in bad shape and that is at least one of the reasons that some songs were cut.

Commented by On 08/11/2003

I held off on writing this review until I knew for sure whether these were studio/live performance cuts or actual audio clips from the TV broadcasts.

I like the idea of this CD, because it gives people historical reference points for groups of the past. However, other than the theme song, Beasley's name on top, and the fact that some of these songs MIGHT have been sung on the TV broadcasts, there's little that makes this a "Jubilee brand" recording.

It's nothing I would characterize as "deceptive" at all. The packaging makes no claims that this is original broadcast recordings. But at the same time, I can understand someone buying it expecting to hear that and being disappointed when they discovered it was something else.

Commented by On 08/11/2003

Well...to be honest if you saw The Rambos on The Gospel Singing Jubilee they were lip synching to the actual studio cuts. I know Dottie hated to lip synch but she said they made you do that on the show for years...so based on the Rambos experience I would say you are getting the TV live version (even if it is the studio cut ha!).

Commented by Larry Ferguson On 08/12/2003

Larry, I noticed that on my Jubilee videos. Seems that all the Rambo clips I saw were all lipsynched. Why only them? Surely they could hold their own with everyone else!

Commented by On 08/12/2003

Just got this CD over the weekend, and thoroughly enjoyed it! Of course, there were some songs I wish could have been included, but all in all I believe Les did a good job picking out songs that represent the style and feel of the Jubilee. Just enjoy it for what it is!

Commented by On 08/14/2003

can you tell me who wrote these 2 songs ---- your first day in heaven. & swing low sweet chariot. thank you Jim DeGraw

Commented by On 09/27/2004

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