A budget Sunday afternoon gospel, from a ten-inch Royale reissue of sides recorded in 1946 for Majestic. I got decent sound out of this cheap piece of wafer-thin vinyl, but only because I used my widest LP needle--a conventional .07 mil needle doesn't do the job. Excellent, traditional Southern gospel material, with the numbers by the Thomas Family (a Chuck Wagon Gang-style group) especially bouncy, save for the slow-gospel standard, Farther Along, which quick on-line research reveals to have words and music by William B. Stevens, from 1911 (the words, at least).
I Ain't Gonna Study War No More is, of course, is a spiritual also known as Down By the Riverside.
The Southern Joy Quartet is a very solid group--kind of a less showy Statesmen Quartet. Nice to find gospel of this high quality from the least of the cheap label groups. This was a last-minute job, as I'd put a lot of work into restoring a more recent (1968) black gospel LP that I should have Amazon-checked right off the bat. A common sense lapse, since the artist was super-popular. The album took a lot of work, and it was only until I had it almost ready to go that I checked Amazon and, of course, found it in digital-download form. I was initially so happy to have thrifted such fine material, I didn't stop to think. Of course, not thinking is an American tradition, so perhaps I was simply fulfilling my patriotic duty.
Luckily, today's LP gave me little trouble, ripping-wise, and it turns out to be excellent. Can't complain. For both groups, these tracks appear to be their entire Majestic/Eli Oberstein output. I kind of like the minimalist art on these ten-inch Royales, art which is credited, in this case, to "Design House," which I doubt is the artist's name. But you never know. ("Hey, Design! Mr. House! We need same art. Are you free this afternoon?")
DOWNLOAD: Southern Joy Quartet, Thomas Family
I'm a Debtor, I Know--The Southern Joy Quartet (1946)
My Labor Will Be O'er--Same
There's a Little Log Cabin--Same
He Set Me Free--Same
I Ain't Gonna Study War No More--The Thomas Family (1946)
Farther Along--Same
I Can't Sit Down--Same
You Better Get Down on Your Knees and Pray--Same
Southern Hymns (Royale 18121, 10" LP)
lee
8 comments:
Here's an ad from a 1947 issue of Billboard. Majestic marketed these groups in its "Hillbilly" line.
https://mega.nz/file/WAdCQIrY#ftGkXWj4niIkRVD9lkrSt_e15YGR79ImQfjQHFLs30I
Thanks. That's hilarious! Maybe a little sad. Hadn't Majestic heard of country gospel?
Your "widest" needle? How many needles do you have/use? I conjured a mental picture of you like a scientist in a lab, choosing the right one.
I have five LP needles, including 1.0 and 1.2 mil styli, one each. I have four 78 needles, including a 3.5 mil stylus. I switch off between three cartridges. I'd love to have more, but...
And then once you've decided on the correct width needle, there are different geometries. The normal is conical, but they also make them where the cross section is an ellipse. And then you can get them with and without the point on the end ("truncated"). You just never know what might do the best job. :)
And we can all dream about that fancy four-arm turntable at George Blood...
Yup. I tend to not like conical styli, but the one that came with my turntable (and the Stanton 500 cart) does very well. The whole "truncated" stylus bit scares me--I'd expect that to carve a path as it traveled through the groove!
Muchas gracias Lee, muy buenos discos dificiles de localizar. Animo y sigue deleitandonos. Gracias
Antonio--You're welcome!
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