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Just My Salvation: Vinyl Me, Please Collects Best of Stax's Gospel Truth in New Box Set

February 21, 2023 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

Best of Gospel Truth

PRE-ORDER NOW FROM VINYL ME, PLEASE

When Memphis' Stax Records launched its Gospel Truth imprint in 1972, its mission was simple: to "carry the message of today's gospel to the people on the street."  The label's Al Bell worked closely with in-house radio guru/producer/songwriter Dave Clark and staffer Mary Peak Paterson to afford Gospel Truth the same level of promotion as Stax's secular releases, and accessibility was the byword.  Bell paired traditional gospel talents with young artists well-versed in rock, funk, blues, and soul. Stax creative director Larry Shaw made sure that the imprint's releases bore the same hallmarks of quality in packaging and sound as the company's front-line titles.  A 2020 campaign from Stax saw the first-time digital release of Gospel Truth's albums discography as well as a Complete Singles Collection on physical and digital formats.  Now, Vinyl Me, Please is bringing six of Gospel Truth's finest albums back into print on vinyl as a new 6-LP box set, Truth Where It's At: The Best of Gospel Truth.

Over the course of over two dozen albums and singles, Gospel Truth cast its net wider than traditional black American gospel, taking in Indian meditative teachings, white roots music, contemporary choral music, psychedelia, and more - a true melting pot of spiritual sounds.  Gospel Truth releases often differed from the music on the parent label as many tracks were sourced from various production houses rather than produced at Stax, and then given the gritty yet radio-friendly Stax treatment in the mix stage by the label's engineers.  Stax never intended these recordings to be "underground;" they promoted and marketed them as if they would a so-called mainstream soul/R&B release.  The connection to pop-soul was evident by Michigan trio The Rance Allen Group's reworkings of hit songs; their self-titled 1972 LP included in the upcoming box features "Just My Salvation," a lyrical reworking of The Temptations' classic "Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)."  (They also added a gospel twist to Archie Bell and The Drells' "There's Gonna Be a Showdown," while The St. James Gospel Choir turned Wilson Pickett's "Don't Let the Green Grass Fool You" into "Don't Let the Devil Fool You.")  Gospel Truth was no ordinary gospel imprint.

VMP's collection features the following six, long-unavailable albums, all originally released in 1972 and 1973:

  • The Rance Allen Group, The Rance Allen Group (GTS-2701, 1972);
  • Maceo Woods and The Christian Tabernacle Concert Choir, Jesus People (GTS-2704, 1972);
  • Louise McCord, A Tribute to Mahalia Jackson (GTS-2711, 1972);
  • Clarence Smith, Whatever Happened to Love (GTS-2716, 1973);
  • The Gospel Artistics, The Gospel Artistics (GTS-2717, 1973); and
  • Blue Aquarius, Blue Aquarius (GTS-2725, 1973).

Truth Where It's At: The Best of Gospel Truth is limited to 1,000 foil-stamped and numbered units.  Each title has been pressed on 180-gram vinyl, with AAA lacquers cut by Ryan Smith at Sterling Sound.  A 20-page Listening Notes booklet has been written by Memphis journalist Jared "Jay B." Boyd.  The collection is expected to arrive in mid-May, and members of VMP's record club will receive a discount on the price.  Visit Vinyl Me, Please for more information on this rousing new collection.

Categories: News Formats: Box Sets, Vinyl Genre: Gospel, R&B/Soul Tags: Blue Aquarius, Clarence Smith, Louise McCord, Maceo Woods, The Gospel Artistics, The Rance Allen Group

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Joe Marchese

JOE MARCHESE (Editor) joined The Second Disc shortly after its launch in early 2010, and has since penned daily news and reviews about classic music of all genres. In 2015, Joe formed the Second Disc Records label. Celebrating the great songwriters, producers and artists who created the sound of American popular song, Second Disc Records, in conjunction with Real Gone Music, has released newly-curated collections produced by Joe from iconic artists such as Johnny Mathis, Bobby Darin, Laura Nyro, Melissa Manchester, Chet Atkins, and many others. He has contributed liner notes to reissues from a diverse array of artists, among them Nat "King" Cole, Paul Williams, Lesley Gore, Dusty Springfield, B.J. Thomas, The 5th Dimension, Burt Bacharach, The Mamas and the Papas, Carpenters, Perry Como, Rod McKuen, Doris Day, Jackie DeShannon, and Andy Williams, and has compiled releases for talents including Robert Goulet and Keith Allison of Paul Revere and the Raiders. Over the past two decades, Joe has also worked in a variety of capacities on and off Broadway as well as at some of the premier theatres in the U.S., including Lincoln Center Theater, George Street Playhouse, Paper Mill Playhouse, Long Wharf Theatre, and the York Theatre Company. He has felt privileged to work on productions alongside artists such as the late Jack Klugman, Eli Wallach, Arthur Laurents, Betty Comden and Adolph Green. In 2009, Joe began contributing theatre and music reviews to the print publication The Sondheim Review, and in 2012, he joined the staff of The Digital Bits as a regular contributor writing about film and television on DVD and Blu-ray. Joe currently resides in the suburbs of New York City.

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