Gospel: Soul Sources
Overview by Charlie Gillett, Record Mirror, August 1969
ON STAGE at the Apollo, Harlem: standing at one microphone, an immaculately dressed man dramatically insists his love. At the second mike, four men bend towards ...

The Edwin Hawkins Singers/Blue Mink: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by David Nathan, Blues & Soul, December 1970
IN PRACTICALLY every biography written about today's soul singers, mention is made of how he or she began singing in church; so much so that there ...

George Perkins
Profile and Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, June 1972
THREE YEARS ago, George Perkins' debut single, 'Crying In The Streets', gave him a No. 1 R&B record. Now comes the belated follow-up and a change ...

Aretha Franklin: Amazing Grace (Atlantic)
Review by Roger St. Pierre, NME, August 1972
THOUGH IT HAS received wide critical accalim Aretha Franklin's latest album, the double set Amazing Grace, is far and away the least commercially orientated she has ...

Aretha Franklin: Amazing Grace (Atlantic)
Review by David Nathan, Blues & Soul, September 1972
WHEN I WAS first privileged to hear some of Aretha Franklin's Amazing Grace album when John Abbey brought back from the States several cassettes'-worth of the ...

Various Artists: The Gospel Sound
Review by Tony Russell, Cream, November 1972
YOU READ it here, you read it there: gospel is close to the heart of blues and rock. But where do you hear what that statement ...

Rev James Cleveland
Profile and Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, December 1972
IT'S REALLY quite a sad commentary on life that it took a pupil to bring the master to the attention of the world but that's almost ...

Billy Preston's Gospel Truths
Interview by David Rensin, Rolling Stone, February 1975
LOS ANGELES – "I've never asked anyone to help me or give me a break," declared Billy Preston adamantly. "Whatever I don't have now I believe ...

Hey You, Get Onto The Mighty Clouds Of Joy…
Comment by Bob Fisher, NME, March 1975
...and discover the undiluted gospel fervour and emotional commitment you thought black music had lost. ...

The Father Of Gospel: Thomas A. Dorsey
Profile and Interview by Steve Turner, Melody Maker, May 1977
He likes his stories does Thomas A. Dorsey, and with a 77-year-old mind in charge of the telling, they do tend to crop up more than ...

Timmy Thomas: The Gospel Freak
Profile and Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, November 1978
The 'Why Can't We Live Together' man now has a dual role – as head of TK's Gospel division and leader of the Freak dancefloor ...

Rance Allen
Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, February 1979
THE RELEASE of Straight From The Heart marks the return home of the Rance Allen Group. After a gap of four years – during which time ...

The Dixie Hummingbirds: Flyin' High
Profile and Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, February 1979
THERE HAS been a whole lot of publicity about the fact that fifty years ago, Walt Disney was introducing Mickey Mouse to the world over in ...

Al Green: Higher Plane (Hi/PRT)
Review by Andy Gill, NME, April 1982
OH, HAPPY man...You can tell Al Green is truly saved from a quick glance at the cover, from the way his Daz-white shirt blue-airbrushes its way ...

The Clark Sisters: Is The Lord Bored With Disco?
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, NME, August 1983
GOD MUST be tired of pop music. The most popular female gospel act in America, Detroit's Clark Sisters, have the first gospel record in a decade ...

Viv Broughton: Black Gospel: An Illustrated History Of The Gospel Sound (Blandford Press)
Review by Barney Hoskyns, NME, 1984
IT’S ONLY TOO easy to take that vicarious pleasure in the religious antics of folk who are not of one's own race, nationality or (non-) persuasion. ...

The Gospel According To Al Green
Interview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, January 1985
Al GREEN was the hottest soul singer this side of Stevie Wonder in the early '70s but don't expect to hear old hits like 'Tired of ...

Al Green: Trust In God (Demon/Hi)****
Review by Chris Roberts, Sounds, February 1985
F*** GOD (Brando's first two words in Last Tango, actually), we're talking AL GREEN here. Quite simply, the best voice ever to co-exist with anything so ...

Various Artists: Father And Sons (Spirit Feel)
Review by Barney Hoskyns, NME, 1986
IF YOU'VE any interest in gospel music at all, this should be an essential purchase. Compiled by Anthony Heilbut, author of seminal tome The Gospel ...

The Winans: The Divine Music Of Protest…
Profile and Interview by Simon Witter, NME, January 1986
SIMON WITTER has a new calling – to spread the word about THE WINANS, a hot Gospel sound that just won't let go. ...

Pet Sounds: Get Right With the Swan Silvertones (Archives Alive/Rhino)
Review by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, August 1986
GOSPEL MUSIC GENERALLY gets much lip service as an influence on R&B (and indirectly rock) vocalists but short thrift when it comes to re-issues of classic ...

Johnny Cash: The Gospel Collection
Sleevenotes by Colin Escott, Sony, July 1992
ONE NIGHT in August 1957, after an appearance on Town Hall Party in Compton, California, Johnny Cash went to the home of Lawrence and Hazel Collins, ...

The Genius of Marion Williams: My Soul Looks Back
Sleevenotes by Anthony Heilbut, Spirit Feel/Shanachie, 1994
IN RETROSPECT, Marion Williams' last year assumes an almost mythic shape. She finally received the worldly honours and material goods long denied her: the rush of ...

The Backpages Interview: Clarence Fountain of the Blind Boys of Alabama
Interview by Jason Gross, Rock's Backpages, June 2001
A sixty-plus-year-old gospel group that covers Tom Waits and the Rolling Stones songs for Peter Gabriel’s label? Is it possible? When most groups struggle to last ...

The Third Rail of Rock & Roll : Paying Respect To The Greatest Of Gospel Groups
Retrospective by Tom Graves, Memphis Flyer, July 2004
Note: The following article of mine appeared in the July 2 special issue of the Memphis Flyer that celebrated the 50th anniversary of the birth of ...