The Five Blind Boys

 Artist: The Five Blind Boys

LP: Can I Get a Witness

Song: "Shall We Come?"

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Song: "I'll Trust In God"

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Song: "Come Up the Back Door"

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I can only assume that, after losing their first five copies of this terrific gospel record by The Five Blind Boys of Alabama to theft by sticky-fingered staff and students, the folks at Tufts University Radio (WTUR) were forced to take extraordinary security measures regarding their WTUR-property-labeling protocols upon acquiring this subsequent copy of the record.

 

The Five Blind Boys of Alabama (not to be confused with the five blind gospel-singing boys from the state next door) released more than one LP under the "Can I Get a Witness" title. According to Discogs, the one I've posted above is from 1969. The other is from 1965 and then there's yet another one from 1970 that has the same tree-and-clouds cover as the one from 1965:

 

According to the Discogs listing, my Buddah Records release of the LP with the farming cover is a 1969 reissue of the 1965 release on Vee-Jay Records that features the tree-and-clouds cover. (The track list titles are slightly different, but they seem like they might still be the same songs.) And then the 1970 release, with the tree-and-clouds cover again, on Exodus Records has the same track list as the 1965 listing, but for some reason Discogs doesn't list that one as a re-issue of the earlier releases. (Discogs also says there's yet another re-issue with the tree-and-clouds cover on Trip Records, release date unknown.) So it seems there are at least three LPs released by The Five Blind Boys of Alabama on three different labels over the span of five years, all with this same title. I suppose this points to the difficulty of securing a witness when nobody in the group is able to see. 

 

Speaking of dates unknown, the group photo below may or may not include actual members of The Five Blind Boys of Alabama at around the time this LP was recorded. But based on hairstyles, I'd say there's a good chance the photo was taken sometime between the years 1965 and 1970.

 

[ The Five Blind Boys of Alabama ]

The Dixie Hummingbirds

Artist: The Dixie Hummingbirds

LP: The Best of The Dixie Hummingbirds

Song: "Our Prayer For Peace"

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Song: "Christian Automobile"

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I have nothing but unstained praise for this 1967 "Best Of" compilation from The Dixie Hummingbirds, who have been together, with various lineup changes, since forming in South Carolina in 1928. (I think I've found the group photo—included below—that was used to create the six Hummingbird portraits on the cover of the LP!) 

We sure could use a prayer for peace right about now, eh? "It's a sin to hate your brother because of the color of his skin." (This includes orange.) It's a drag that we even have to make this point still in the year 2020...and I guess I'd throw in "because of the color of his state" too, in a brand new verse for our current times.

 

[ The Dixie Hummingbirds ]

Edna Gallmon Cooke

Artist: Edna Gallmon Cooke

LP: Stop Gambler
Song: "Leaking In This Building"
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Song: "Stop Gambler"

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Song: "The Lord Still Answers Prayer"

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Here's an old gospel record in bad condition that I picked up at a shop in Mobile, Alabama back in 2014. Born in Columbia, South Carolina in 1918, Edna Gallmon Cooke attended school in Washington, DC and became known as the "Sweetheart of the Potomac" as she toured the USA. But according to the "Stop Gambler" LP liner notes, Edna G. Cooke's musical career as both a recording artist and a public performer didn't really take off until after her first waxing.

 [ Edna Gallmon Cooke: 1918 — September 4, 1967 ]

The Mariners

Artist: The Mariners

LP: Ship Ahoy

Song: "Keep Walkin'"
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Song: "In My Home Over There"
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Today my city sued President Trump. Seems Donald wants to withhold $$ from us unless we all join up with his Nazi witch-hunt for undocumented immigrants. It's almost kinda' cute how he thinks the USA is a corporation he bought and we're all employees that he can do with whatever he wants.

As a tribute to Seattle, I'm posting a few tracks by our city's baseball team, who also just happen to sing gospel music! Who knew! Wait. Can a "gospel quartet" have five people in it? Whatever. I'm definitely a Mariners fan—especially since they stuck a drawing of a fancy mustache on the back of their album. For lots of information and plenty of confusion about who sang bass in the group, read the comments here. 

I'm posting "In My Home Over There" as a tribute to immigrants and refugees, including the undocumented ones, who have come to the USA to find a better life for themselves and for their families. "Keep Walkin'" is a little bit of a tribute, but mostly it's to all the Christians aligned with Trump's pledge to "Make America Great Again," a musical reminder that they're not supposed to be treating people like shit.

[ The Mariners ]

Teen Challenge Addicts Choir

Artist: Teen Challenge Addicts Choir

LP: Teen Challenge Addicts Choir

Song: "The Addict's Plea" (soloist: Andrae Crouch)
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Song: "He Included Me" (soloist: Laura Lee Myers)
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Song: "I Cannot Tell It All" (featuring: Gordon Woods & Gale Stalhman)
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Song: "Psalms 40"
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It's mystifying that executives at Word Records, "The Finest Name In Sacred Music," would have given the go-ahead for the release of an LP that features a graphic depiction of somebody (with a tattoo, naturally) actually shooting up on the front cover. But voilà! Imagine what they'd stick on the front of their LP by the Teen Challenge Sex Addicts Choir. 

Produced by gospel legend Andrae Crouch and released in 1968, this record includes notes and artwork that confirm once and for all that yes, all drug addicts do indeed carry a switchblade—even Laura Myers, the young housewife who became addicted to prescription pills. Thank God she exchanged her switchblade for a chance to go solo on the lovely-ish "He Included Me."

The Raymond Rasberry Singers

Artist: The Raymond Rasberry Singers

LP: He Doeth All Things Well

Song: "Drive Him Away Lord"
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Song: "The Chariot's Coming"
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If you ask me, some record stores should be required to call themselves 'record museums' instead. These are the stores that stick prices on their LPs that are so hilariously high, you just have to assume the people running the shop have never stepped inside another regular record store before—and they've certainly never browsed through the dollar vinyl at any of their local neighborhood thrift stores.

When a store's barrel-bottom 'bargain' price for an LP is $8 and you're asked to fork over $10 or more for thrift store staples like this one, or this one, or this...well then you're not actually in a record store at all. You're in a museum. Sadly, you might actually find really neat records in the bins at the museum—like this one for example, or this one—but they'll be priced at $45, $75, or even $100, which of course no normal person should ever be willing to pay. You'll often find a date included on the LP's price tag that shows when the record was put into stock, so you can see for yourself that these outlandishly-priced records have been languishing in the bins for six, seven, or eight years or more, with nobody getting to hear them. And since the prices are never reduced, you can return there six, seven, or eight years later to marvel at the exact same vinyl exhibit that will still be on display. I hate record museums, and I just want to slap the morons who run them.

If you're the record-hoarding curator of a record museum, but you actually do want people to purchase and enjoy the music in your store, it's an easy problem to fix. Just ask the guy who runs Black Dot Records in Buffalo, a terrific little vinyl boutique on the northwest side of town. You'll find arrival dates on the price tags of the used records there, and if an LP has been in the bins for 10 months or more, it's automatically 50% off. If an album has been sitting in the bins for over 15 months, then the discount is 75%. It's smart, it's simple, it's fair, and it gets the records out of the store and onto people's record players at home. If I lived in Buffalo, I would always start my record hunting here. 

[ Black Dots Records' discount pricing structure ]

This 1960 gospel LP by The Raymond Rasberry Singers had been at Black Dots since January of 2016, so I didn't actually get a discount. But it was marked at just $3.99 anyhow, so they're not peddling their vinyl at museum-piece prices to begin with. There's no listening station available, but Josh, the owner of the place, offered to play some tracks from the albums I was interested in on the system in the store. I knew I'd be buying Ray Rasberry's record two seconds after the needle hit the groove, since I'd struck gospel gold!

The Raymond Rasberry Singers on YouTube:

[ "No Tears In Heaven" ]

[ Black Dots Independent Record Boutique — Buffalo, NY ]

The Angelic Gospel Singers

Artist: The Angelic Gospel Singers

LP: Gotta Find a Better Home

Song: "Mercy Lord" 
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I love the concept for the cover of this 1977 "Gotta Find a Better Home" LP: "This frozen planet that's completely covered with ice will do! Let's set 'er down." Actually, planet Earth made a fine home for Margaret Allison and her Angelic Gospel Singers. According to Wikipedia, they were "the longest consistently selling female gospel group in African-American history," performing together for over 60 years—from 1944 until founder Margaret Allison's death in 2008. You can find a neat video clip of Allison performing with her AGS here. The women with Margaret Allison, center, in the photo on the back of the record must be Josephine Wells McDowell and Bernice Cole, but I'm not sure which is which. Anyone else have any idea?

Princess Ramona and Buddy Kemp

Artist: Princess Ramona and Buddy Kemp

LP: Talk About Jesus
Song: "His Name Is Jesus"
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Song: "I've Got It Bad, That's Good" 
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Song: "A Tribute to Mom and Dad"
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As you may have guessed, I've been cleaning out my LP bins again to make more room. I was about to tell Buddy and the Princess to hit the road since their "Gospel Liner" motor home was taking up three parking spots in the religious music section. But then when I heard them perform—especially Princess Ramona's whispering in "His Name Is Jesus" and the yodeling in "A Tribute to Mom and Dad"—I decided to let them stay. Music pays the rent around here. 

I was excited that I'd found an autographed copy of Buddy and The Princess' 1978 "Talk About Jesus" LP...until I realized that all copies of this one were equally autographed by the time they left the printer. There's some interesting information about Princess Ramona and Buddy Kemp—along with links, videos, and more music—on the Clean, Nice, Quiet blog here. And if you're wondering where in the world Trail, Oregon is, you can find out here. 

[ Buddy Kemp and Princess Ramona ]

Fred Lowery

Artist: Fred Lowery

LP: Fred Lowery Whistles Your Gospel Favorites

Song: "Whispering Hope" 
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Song: "Shall We Gather At the River?" 
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Song: "Sweet Hour of Prayer" 
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Fred Lowery, who was born in Palestine in 1909 (no, not that Palestine, this one), lost his sight after coming down with scarlet fever when he was only two years old. But though Fred Lowery may have been blind, he still had his vision. When he was around 19 years old and in school, Fred met a bird imitator who encouraged him to take up whistling. Fred did, and soon he was performing with the likes of Vincent Lopez and Horace Heidt and their respective orchestras and he starting scoring hit records like his 1939 rendition of "Indian Love Call." This 1967 LP, on which Lowery whistles some of my gospel favorites, seems like the perfect thing for a wonderfully cool, sunny and  breezy Sunday morning—my first as I enter my 47th year on Earth. You can read more about Fred here and in the liner notes below.

[ Fred Lowery: November 2, 1909 — December 11, 1984 ]