Customer Reviews

I Am Born to Preach the Gospel

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A beautiful album in the way that early folk art is beautiful --spare and simplistically powerful. It ranks alongside Blind Willie Johnson's work as the most heartfelt and relevant early gospel/blues recordings on the market. A question that begs to be answered is whether or not the novelty value of the dolceola propels these recordings toward a unwarranted degree of reverence in the gospel/blues genre. I've attempted to transcribe some of these works (the original Phillips works only) for guitar and while they I'm convinced that the dolceola is central to the delivery of the material on this album, the music and the messages translate surprisingly well to other instruments. See Ry Cooder's version of Denomibation Blues

I so enjoy this CD. For those who are looking for quality in sound -- forget it. The CD picks up the scratchiness of the 78's it was recorded from. However, if you can overlook the sound quality and hear the sweet music and the amazing skill with which Phillips plays his "dolceola", you may be pleasantly surprised by this CD!

I feel that it is extremely difficult to prattle on about an album like this. All I can do is write to you and hope that this album becomes part of you and will not be forgotten. It is of such a high caliber that when it finally ends, you may find it fitting to pay the musician respect with silence and stillness.

Several collections of Gospel and Gospel Blues include Washington Phillips' Denomination Blues parts 1 and 2. Occassionaly one will see Jesus Is My Friend with its spoken poetic introduction. The album fills a useful function of filling out our knowledge of his repetoire - unfortunately "complete" is still only 16 tracks.

Phillips' vocals are firmly in the blues tradition but his use of a dolceola - I've never heard or heard of it elsewhere - gives him a unique place in Gospel blues. However, if asked to choose a favorite track I'd have to answer "all".

I highly recommend this quiet, laid back blues to anyone interested in blues or gospel.

Washington Phillips sang and played with the utmost skill. His music was simple and his message was clear, no one ever sounded like him, and no one ever will.
This CD is one of relatively few who feature the guitar evangalists, most famous of which is Blind Willie Johnson, and which also include Blind Joe Taggart, Blind Roosevelt Graves, Rev. Gary Davis and others. Those are all exceptional musicians, making the music that expresses the life of the society they were part of.
Phillips plays the dolceola, a strange instrument that produces angelic sounds when played by him. This is enough to make him sound original. But the originality is in the man himself, and not in the instrument he uses. Phillips has to be one of the most sincere sounding artists ever recorded. His sincerity was spectacular even for his time, and today it is unheard of. He does not have the emotional raw power that Blind Willie Johnson posessed, but in his mellow way he may be just as effective.
I cannot think of any serious music lover who should not listen and enjoy this music.

Now, here's a real find. This is the most interesting music I've found so far this year. Washington Phillips was a mysterious, shadowy figure of early gospel/blues, of equal importance with Robert Johnson, and even less seems to be known about him. This beautifully restored collection by Yazoo is apparently everything we have of him, his voice and his dolceola, a wondrous little piano-like instrument that produced sounds like a child's delicate music box. The songs - all gospel; some original, some as ancient as time - are uniquely performed with gentle conviction and melody and are unlike anything else of the era. The generous liner notes tells us a great deal about the dolceola and its too-brief history, but tantalizingly little about Phillips himself. Perhaps someone else can fill in the sad gap here. Meantime, how do I find me one of them there dolceola things to try and play?

This man was an amazing performer! His music is pure, raw, powerful, and beautiful, all at once. His lyrics span from heart-wrenching to openly and hilariously judgmental. The one that raises the hair on the back of my neck is "Key to the Kingdom", a dreamstate performance featuring an almost chant-like vocal rendition. His instrument sprinkles single notes, some fat and plunky, some high and sparkling, over the foundation of a grinding, relentless drone. The total generates a half-real atmosphere. But then, there isn't anything weak on the whole CD.

Incidentally, it appears that Phillips's instrument was in fact two zithers, joined together to make one big one. This information is from:

http://www.angelfire.com/country/fiddlin/clips.html#wp

At this site, the instrument Phillips is pictured holding in the photo on the back cover of the CD is investigated and approximated, successfully in my opinion. The Dolceola is also investigated, and this site offers comparative sound clips of both instruments. (This is a non-commercial public service-type site that offers nothing for sale.)

Of course for any of this to mean anything you will need to buy the Phillips CD, which you need to do anyway if you haven't yet. You've never heard anything like it, guaranteed.

This is a collection of incredibly deep music. Every song is a winner: painful, desperate, tragical, yet hopeful, naive and uplifting too. Washington plays a weird but beautiful sounding instrument (makes me think of an out of tune piano pitched to a higher level) and his singing, well, his singing... he's an angel! This music is 85 years old but forever young. Phenomenal.

The isolation stems from the Dolceola and Phillips' simple delivery. Not plaintive, but more transcendent after repeated listens. Phillips' pragmatism provides a window to a different world--the world Greil Marcus termed the old weird America. And as a result of the space created by the Dolceola, which provides an ethereal backdrop reminiscent of Harpo Marx, Phillips lovely vocal delivery makes you realize a great Gospel singer like Pops Staples. As many fans of rock-n-roll have discovered when they reach back, the gems of such artists as Robert Johnson, Phillips' is as important as the Blind Willie Johnson recordings--though entirely different. Johnson's razor-like vocals and knife-playing guitar deliver a more fire and brimstone reading than Phillips.

As with most blues songs, no one knows who wrote these songs, but as with all great artists delivery--think Hank Williams--these are Phillips' songs, and not without its own wisdom: "I have never been to no college/ I didn't get a chance in school/ but when Jesus Christ anointed me to preach the Gospel, he sure didn't leave me no fool..."

This is probably the greatest gospel recording I've ever heard. It is overflowing with sincerity, and that alone is enough to win me, but the sincerity is coupled with a magnificent musical talent that comes only from Jesus. This man truly must have been an anointed singer and musician. (Please don't write me off as a kook for the language I'm using because I'm serious; listen once, and you'll agree.) The icing on the cake, for me anyway, was the mystery concerning his life and the obscurity of the recordings. All in all, this is powerful stuff, and well worth whatever you can afford to pay for it.