The New Born King--Jerry Barnes With the Ralph Carmichael Orchestra (Zondervan Victory ZLP-6455)

 

There's a good deal of background on today's "transitional musical curiosity" in this detailed 2018 analysis by Johan Palme, posted at Records.Christmas.  Ralph Carmichael is working in "a new language he’s not fully familiar with," says Palme, but to me the arrangements sound assured, professional, and imaginative--I hear no stumbling.  But this kind of thing is totally subjective--there's no right or wrong when it comes to musical criticism.  The least usual number here is Glory Manger, which seems to be associated with Harry Belafonte, if my Google search can be trusted, and which comes out sounding a bit like James Brown on the instrumental end.  It really stands out among the selections, and in fact it sounds like early soul music, but it's handled adroitly.  I just can't see a pro like Carmichael being thrown for a loop by new pop music styles.  I think he was able to accommodate such developments in his sleep.

Jerry Barnes has a strong, smooth baritone with just a touch of Vaughn Monroe's patented nose-and-throat-congestion style--and the "just a touch" part is a blessing.  Anything more than just a touch, and I wouldn't have ripped this.  Not that Monroe was a bad singer; it's just that his voice sounded wrong.  I want to call it "phlegmatic," but I'm not sure that's the word.  Again, Monroe sang like someone congested in his throat and nose.  His voice was also big and strong, so the effect was something like when you turn the treble way down.  Apparently, he was regarded as a manly-man vocalist.  But Barnes' singing voice gets more pleasant the more you listen to it.  Pleasant is the word which best describes this album.

I think we hear some of the roots of praise music in this effort, along with a touch of Top 40 pop and soul, but I've never placed huge significance on the combining or borrowing of styles in popular music of any type, since it's an event that's common as dirt.  Rolling Stone put out a long, go-nowhere history of rock and roll in which the swapping of influences between White and Black musicians accounts for rock evolution, though the logic escapes me.  First of all, a dirt-common event like cross-influence isn't likely to function as the lifeblood of evolution; plus, you have an infinite-regression problem.  Rock History is big on the country-plus-blues-equals-rock-and-roll notion (A+B=C), but that hardly works as the primary mechanism for any kind of evolution, simply because with that model you have the problem that each A and B, in turn, needs its own A+B, and so on and so on.  And I keep fumble-fingering "evolution."

As for this being some kind of turning-point or end-of-an-era LP, the diversity of style and material is pretty standard by gospel music terms--I've become so used to styles within styles in gospel that I don't give such a display of diversity any special thought--it just goes with the genre.  And I've gone on a little too long--sorry about that.  Enjoy this one for Barnes' pleasant, only slightly Monroe-like baritone, and Carmichael's superbly creative arrangements.  Nothing unusual happening here, imo.  Just a pleasant and fun ride.  Oh, and not even Jerry or Ralph can sell me on Do You Hear What I Hear?  I'm still mystified by the popularity of that one.

DOWNLOAD:  The New Born King--Jerry Barnes With the Ralph Carmichael Orch. (Zondervan Victory ZLP-6455)

The New Born King

I Wonder as I Wander (Niles)

Christmas Is a Birthday Time

Silent Night

Was He Quiet or Did He Cry?

Do You Hear What I Hear?

Little Baby Jesus

What Child It This?

Jesus, Jesus Rest Your Head

Away in a Manger

Glory Manger

O Little Town of Bethlehem

The New Born King--Jerry Barnes With the Ralph Carmichael Orch. (Zondervan Victory ZLP-6455; 1964)

Lee