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

this coletion is a must for fans hwo grew up in the 1960's thru the 80's or those hwo never wached the jubilee but hear these songs from that era

in my opinion

Commented by jerrell p henderson On 07/17/2003

One thing I noticed, "When He Was on the Cross" by the Florida Boys is the only song NOT from that era. That song was recorded in 1984, AFTER the Jubilee went off the air.

I thought it was interesting for them to include that song, when there surely are some wonderful songs from the FB in the 60s and 70s during the Jubilee heyday.

Commented by On 07/25/2003

If one wants the REAL feel of the Jubilee the series videos put out by Gaither would be best be a better buy.

Commented by On 07/25/2003

Boy would I love to have a chance to edit that sentence!!

Commented by On 07/25/2003

I have most of those...love 'em!

Commented by On 07/25/2003

I'm sure they would be best be a better buy! LOL!

Commented by On 07/25/2003

Well, Les Beasley was picking out the songs, so I guess it's only natural he'd want one of the Florida Boys biggest hits to be included. I'd have preferred to hear something a little more obscure from them, like "I Have Returned." From a sales point of view, I guess it makes sense to re-release songs people will remember most, but from a historical perspective, there's many songs just under that surface that could be re-discovered if given a bit of exposure. How many more compilations of old Southern Gospel are going to include some rendition of "O What A Savior," for example?

Commented by On 07/26/2003

By the way, many of the songs that were originally planned to be on this project didn't make it. I'm sure they ran into a sea of licensing issues when putting this together. It was first advertised as a 30 song collection. In the end, it became a 24 song project, with one of the songs being the "Jubilee Theme Song."

The titles that fell thru the cracks were:

"Who Am I?" by the Goodmans
"Shoutin' Time In Heaven" by the Inspirations
"O For A Thousand Tongues" by the Nelons
"Little Is Much When God Is In It" and "Come In The Room" by the Dixie Echoes
"Thanks To Calvary" by the Cathedrals
"Pearl Buttons" by Wendy Bagwell and the Sunliters

"Get Away Jordan" by the Statesmen was dropped and "Your First Day In Heaven" was added.

"I'll Meet You In The Morning" and "Crossing Chilly Jordan" by the Blackwood Brothers were both dropped. These were replaced by "Old Country Church" and "Learning To Lean."

Commented by On 07/26/2003

"O For a Thousand Tounges" was after the Jubilee as well.

Commented by On 07/28/2003

You know...it just hit me...(I know...I'm slow!) but there is nothing on here by the Couriers or Dixie Echoes. They were part of the original cast of the Jubilee. I would have thought they'd use a song by them.

Commented by On 08/06/2003

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