God Bless America

Mormon Tabernacle Choir (Artist)

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 14, 1992)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B0000027YP
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #3,052 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

If you have a patriotic bone in your body, you'll find it hard not be stirred by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's God Bless America. This 69-minute collection offers 23 flag-waving standards, from "America the Beautiful" and "The Star Spangled Banner" to "Shenandoah" and "This Land Is Your Land." These 1970s recordings tend toward the bombastic, with backing by the Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Columbia Symphonic Band, and Philadelphia Orchestra, but they don't sound overly dated, and there's also an intimate a cappella version of "When I First Came to This Land." Richard P. Condie and Jerold D. Ottley conduct, and baritone Robert Merrill contributes two brief solos. Choral music aficionados might also enjoy the Mormons' 1991 recording, Songs from America's Heartland. --David Horiuchi

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice recording - but consider some others, May 2, 2000

By A Customer

"God Bless America" is a nice recording. Everything is well performed. But like the Shaw recording of many of these same pieces, I think that patriotic music should be a bit crisper (i.e. it should have the flavor of a Sousa Band rather than a Symphony Orchestra). I also think that a men's chorus is perhaps a more effective instrument for most of these works (e.g. all of the service Hymns and anthems). Two fine recordings to consider are the patriotic recording by the all-male U.S. Army Chorus on the Allegro label and better still, the new patriotic CD - "The Spirit of Freedom" - by the Washington Men's Camerata on Gothic.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Quite soaring and extraordinary. Will touch your soul......, August 25, 1999

By	[e-mail] (Tucson, Arizona) - See all my reviews

Since I have never owned or listened to a MTC CD, I find this a little difficult to write about. However, I had quite an extraordinary experience with one song in particular off this collection. I was flying from Boston to Phoenix on America West airlines, and as we flew through a gathering of magnificent thunderheads, highlighted even further by the setting sun with a rich halo of muted yellows, pinks and oranges, the song Shenandoah came on channel 2 of their in-flight music channel. This stunning rendition of this folk song matched the passing of the towering thunderheads, while below you could see the lush green valleys below, and it was just a magical moment...if you have never been touched by just how magnificent a country we live in, I hope you have a chance to experience this sometime in your life. I bought this CD the next day after I got home, and about once a week, I put on Shenandoah, and in my mind's eye, I can watch this big beautiful country of ours roll by. I get goose bumps even now....The rest of the songs are equally as good, with the traditional arrangements coming through with grace and dignity. Without being too mushy about this, it really is a wonderful CD to listen to on a weekend, when you can just pop it in and listen as you go about your chores at home. I guarantee you that you will, at some time during your listening experience, feel goose bumps of your own starting to form.....

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars God Bless America/Morman Tabernacle Choir, July 7, 2000

By	Thomas Allen (Anderson, SC USA) - See all my reviews

The Morman Tabernacle Choir, as always, has a wonderful sound, however this was a bit too operatic in nature. I was looking for a more "macho" version of these patriotic songs.