Rev. J. M. Gates – Vol. 5 1927 / Document CD-5449

Description

Document Records Compact Disc-CDDOC5449

1. Get Right With God
2. Praying For The Mourners
3. Jonah And The Whale
4. Sister’s Prayer Meeting
5. Noah And The Flood
6. Rich Man And The Needles Eye
7. Hell Wasn’t Made For Man
8. The End Of The World And Time Will Be No More
9. Prodigal Son
10. Hell Is In God’s Jail House
11. Are You Bound For Heaven Or Hell
12. Hell Bound Express Train
13. Devil In A Flying Machine
14. Where Will You Be Christmas Day
15. Will The Coffin Be Your Santa Claus-
16. God’s Wrath In The St. Louis Cyclone
17. White Horse And His Rider
18. If You Say You Got Good Religion, Don’t Turn Back
19. From The Pit To The Throne
20. You May Be Alive Or You May Be Dead, Christmas Day
21. The First Born Was A Murderer
22. He Was Born In A Manger
23. Samson And The Woman

Reviewed by Tony Cummings

During 1926 when he was a one-man gospel preaching sales phenomenon, the Atlanta preacher was hugely over-recorded often cutting the same sermon, or at least the same theme, over and over again. Thankfully, by 1927 he’d slowed down a bit and stopped making the gruelling trips to New York or Chicago studios and, in the main, waited for the recording men to come to him. The more relaxed atmosphere produced many of his best sides as demonstrated on the 23 compiled here. “The End Of The World And Time Will Be No More” is apocalyptic preaching at its best with Gates straining to good effect; “Hell Is God’s Jail House” has the Rev Gates sharing his sermonising with Deacon Leon Davis and is in-your-face evangelising; “You May Be Alive Or You May Be Dead, Christmas Day” which features a rendition of the song the Rolling Stones “borrowed”, “It May Be The Last Time, I Don’t Know”; and “Are You Bound For Heaven And Hell” which showcases, in the words of the sleevenotes, “perhaps Gates’ most fervent and ferocious preaching on record.” Like all the Document compilations, not every track is A plus and sometimes we are subjected to substandard stuff of interest only to completists and ethnomusicologists (like “Hell Wasn’t Made For Man” where an off key unidentified singer ruins the track). But there’s still much here which is exciting, raw and packing a considerable spiritual wallop.

23 tracks recorded in 1926 from the Atlanta Baptist preacher.