Gospel Train (album)

Gospel Train
Studio album by
Sister Rosetta Tharpe
ReleasedDecember 1956 (1956-12)[1][2]
Recorded2 and 5 July 1956
StudioMercury Sound Studio, New York
Genre
Length32:02
LabelMercury
MG-20201

Gospel Train is a studio album by the gospel and R&B artist Sister Rosetta Tharpe. It was recorded in July 1956 and released in December the same year.[1][2] Tharpe is accompanied on vocals by the traditional black gospel quartet the Harmonizing Four on some of the songs. The album was noted as part of Tharpe's induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.[3]

Music

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Sister Rosetta Tharpe was already known as one of gospel's most successful and pioneering artists and a leading purveyor of the genre's blending with R&B as a precursor to rock and roll.[4][5][6] This album finds her accompanied by musicians from the New York jazz scene.[7] The record marks a stylistic change in her recording career, presaging her influence on blues and blues rock artists of the 1960s.[4][8][9]

Musically, Gospel Train is rooted firmly in gospel music, specifically in the traditional black vein.[10] Blues often appears as well.[7][11][12]

Reception

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Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[13]
Billboard[2]
Cross Rhythms[7]
Record Mirror[14]
Spectrum Culture(favorable) (2019)[11]
79% (2023)[12]

A contemporary review in the trade publication Billboard quotes the Methodist minister John Wesley: "'Why should the devil have all the good tunes?' Sister Tharpe shows that he hasn't, and she does this with her well-known rocking rhythm and zest".[2] The album was noted as part of Tharpe's induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.[3]

Legacy and impact

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Gospel Train is highly regarded within Tharpe's discography. The website AllMusic called it "a super collection", noting it as an album highlight of the singer's career.[15] The webzine Spectrum Culture charaacterized it as "One of Tharpe's landmark albums".[11] Premier Guitar described the guitar work in the album as exhibiting "more technique and less raunch", concluding the record is "worth it just for the swinging, twangy and so ambient and vibey '99½ Won't Do'."[16] In 2015, Cross Rhythms' Lins Honeyman wrote that despite being "in arguably less frantic mode than usual", she "pull[s] off some truly great performances" through her "verve and passion".[7] In 2023, Spectrum Culture's Will Pinfold dubbed it "an enjoyable, timeless album in its own right" beyond its historic legacy and praised the "skill, passion and impeccable musicianship" that it was played with.[12]

Gospel Train marks Tharpe's embrace of the rock and roll sound that she was one of the shapers of, while still experimenting with unique characteristics that would come to define early rock and several other genres. These genres' stages were set through the vocal stylings of Tharpe. The starting of soul music are heard in Train's third and tenth tracks. "Two Little Fishes, Five Loaves of Bread", the former, looks ahead to the music of Etta James, reflected in Tharpe's showing off her "soulful, bluesy side... over a smooth backing". The genre is also reflected in the latter song, "How About You", on which she sings "the kind of vocal that would automatically be classified as soul a few years later." Blues rock's future is present on "Can't No Grave Hold Me Down". With both her "forceful" singing that "obliterate[d] the fuzzy boundary between blues and rock 'n' roll" and "nice, pithy guitar solo", it shaped a style that the Rolling Stones would continue on their 1964 debut record.[12]

Author and critic Tom Moon cited the record as a choice of the catalog in 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die.[17] Treble included Train on an unranked list of "10 Essential Albums of Faith" in 2020.[10]

Track listing

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All tracks composed by Rosetta Tharpe except where noted.

  1. "Jericho" – 2:00 (Traditional)
  2. "When they Ring the Golden Bell" – 2:27
  3. "Two Little Fishes, Five Loaves of Bread" – 2:31 (Bernie Hanighen)
  4. "Beams of Heaven" – 3:20
  5. "Can't No Grave Hold my Body Down" – 2:40
  6. "All Alone" – 2:35
  7. "Up Above my Head there's Music in the Air" – 2:21
  8. "I Shall Know Him" – 2:22
  9. "Fly Away" – 2:25
  10. "How about You" – 2:25
  11. "Precious Memories" – 2:36
  12. "99½ Won't Do" – 2:02

Personnel

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Musicians

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References

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  1. ^ a b "December Album Releases" (PDF). The Cash Box. New York: The Cash Box Publishing Co. December 8, 1956. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  2. ^ a b c d "Gospel Train". The Billboard. Cincinnati: The Billboard Publishing Co. December 15, 1956. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  3. ^ a b "Sister Rosetta Tharpe". Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on March 22, 2019. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  4. ^ a b Moore, Hilary (2005). "Sister Rosetta Tharpe". In McNeil, William K. (ed.). Encyclopedia of American Gospel Music. New York/Abingdon: Routledge. pp. 396–411. ISBN 978-1135377076.
  5. ^ Csaky, Mick (February 22, 2013). "Sister Rosetta Tharpe: The Godmother of Rock and Roll". American Masters. Season 27. Episode 1. PBS. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  6. ^ "The Gospel Truth" (PDF). The Cash Box. New York: The Cash Box Publishing Co. June 13, 1959. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  7. ^ a b c d Honeyman, Lins. "Sister Rosetta Tharpe - Gospel Train". Cross Rhythms. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  8. ^ Wald, Gayle (March 2006). "Reviving Rosetta Tharpe: Performance and Memory in the 21st Century". Women & Performance: A Journal of Feminist Theory. 16 (1): 91–106. doi:10.1080/07407700500515944. S2CID 194074517.
  9. ^ Wald, Gayle. "Sister Rosetta's Train Was Going Everywhere". Vinyl Me, Please. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  10. ^ a b Terich, Jeff (April 12, 2020). "Soul Music: 10 Essential Albums of Faith". Treble. Retrieved August 20, 2024.
  11. ^ a b c Cober-Lake, Justin (January 7, 2019). "Sister Rosetta Tharpe: Gospel Train". Spectrum Culture. Retrieved August 11, 2024.
  12. ^ a b c d Pinfold, Will (April 12, 2023). "Sister Rosetta Tharpe: Gospel Train". Spectrum Culture. Retrieved August 11, 2024.
  13. ^ Nations, Opal. "Gospel Train". AllMusic. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  14. ^ Jones, Peter; Jopling, Norman (February 27, 1965). "Sister Rosetta Tharpe: Gospel Train" (PDF). Record Mirror. No. 207. p. 11. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 1, 2022. Retrieved August 17, 2022.
  15. ^ "Sister Rosetta Tharpe". AllMusic. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  16. ^ Ross, Michael. "Forgotten Heroes: Sister Rosetta Tharpe". Premier Guitar. Gearhead Communications, LLC. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  17. ^ Moon, Tom (2008). 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die. New York: Workman Publishing. p. 772. ISBN 978-0761153856.

Bibliography

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