Various – “Noah Found Grace” – Social Music Records

In 2010 I signed up for the Social Music Records Club because a few of the records interested me, and because they had helped (along with Mississippi Records) put out “Oh Graveyard You Can’t Hold Me Always,” a really fabulous collection of gospel songs that span the last century and cover straight soul songs, choir groups, r&b, and even a pretty unbelievable anonymous song. Sure, Mississippi might have a somewhat shady connotation with a lot of blues collectors, but this LP was fantastic, so buying into a music club related to it was a no brainer for me. After what seemed like 2 years of waiting, I finally had all of the records in the club, and the “Noah Found Grace” compilation was a clear standout. Recently I’ve seen three different copies for under 5 bucks, so it’s earned its way into the Doll Bin Rippers blog.
“Noah Found Grace” is a compilation of Jamaican gospel music from the 60’s and 70’s (I assume). Of the 17 tracks on this album, I had only heard of two of the artists, Otis Wright and Ken Parker. Not surprisingly, both of their tracks are solid, but somewhat more surprising is that every single song on here is solid. I wouldn’t hesitate to purchase records by any of these groups if anything surfaced.
Most (all?) of the songs are standards that all fit together well and I’d wager that anyone familiar with southern gospel or folk music has heard most, if not all of these songs. But there is something very different about the delivery of the Jamaican versions. The guitars almost all use slides that sound closer to calypso guitar than Folkways, and the vocals all have a very eerie recorded quality to them. There is something slightly more upbeat about the rhythms, but it still sounds much darker than a lot of other versions I’ve heard. Whatever mixing and mastering was done to these songs was done well, because the record plays through like a well sewn shirt. A lot of compilations sourced from bad or old masters end up sounding like garbage (re: most of the blues compilations that live on shelves in my house), but Social Music did a very nice job making this record sound like it was all recorded in one shot. I think the biggest weakness this album has is that the art is just bad. It’s just a sticker with almost zero information on it, including a complete lack of the fucking title of the record! I get that it’s supposed to feel more personal or intimate or something, but it just comes off looking cheap and being very confusing for someone that might want to buy it. I think it’s why online, where you can see what’s actually on the record and where the hell the record is from, it actually sells for more than a few dollars, but in stores where you don’t have instance access to google, people are left holding a record with no information and a big cross on the cover and just put it back down. It’s a shame that any of these records end up in budget bins because it’s SO GOOD and will end up being passed on by tons of people that might really dig it.