"The Gospel Truth: The Complete Singles Collection" by VARIOUS ARTISTS – Thirty-Four Tracks from January 1972 to October 1974 – Seventeen US 45-Single-Sides (A&B) on the Stax-Related 'The Gospel Truth' Records Label – Featuring The Rance Allen Group, Terry Lynne Community Choir, Reverend Maceo Woods, Reverend Marvin Yancy, The 21st Century, Jacqui Verdell, Blue Aquarius, Jimmy Jones, Charles May and Annette May Thomas, Louise McCord, Joshie Jo Armstead and more (September 2020 US Craft Recordings/Stax 2CD 34-Track Compilation in a Three-Panel Gatefold Card Sleeve with Joe Tarantino Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"…Just My Salvation…Running Inside Of Me…"

Although Stax was most closely associated with R&B, Soul and Funk for the Sixties and Seventies – between January 1972 and October 1974 when Stax was still a viable Record Company before their ignominious liquidation and closure in 1975 – they got behind the Lord.

Fans will know that smidgens of the American label The Gospel Truth have turned up on the Stax Singles Mega Boxes – particularly Volume 3 and 4 (I have reviewed all four separately). August 2010 also saw Ace Records of the UK via their Beat Goes Public label imprint offer up a CD compilation called "The Gospel Truth: The Gospel And Funk Of Stax Records" (see my separate review for Ace/Beat Goes Public CDBGP 222 - Barcode 029667522229 - and pictures below). But that 20-track compilation concentrated primarily on the album output of the label and leaned (as it said in the title) towards the Funk and Soul of the label. 

This double has some Funk and Soul but is primarily about secular themes and is the first time their Entire Singles output has been put into one place. Remastered from original tapes and presented to an unwitting world with genuine class – seventeen US 45s and their (mostly) Non-LP B-sides - thirty-four sides in total. These single-sides are rare, and on digital have received scant attention until now

I have found that everything Craft Recordings does regarding reissued-Stax and the label's astonishing legacy, is invariably a classy affair. And this wee twofer from September 2020 is no different. Craft even issued a 3LP version 8 January 2021 in the US on Craft Recordings CR00331 (Barcode 888072180383) – a beautiful piece of kit and if it sounds anywhere as good as this does – then turntable Nirvana is not far away. But back to the 2CD variant – and how the angels won the day…

US released 17 September 2020 – "The Gospel Truth: The Complete Singles Collection" by VARIOUS ARTISTS on Craft Recordings/Stax CR00332 (Barcode 888072180468) is a 2CD 34-Track Compilation of Remasters covering US-only 45-Single releases between January 1972 and October 1974 that plays out as follows: 

CD1 (64:02 minutes):
1. Just My Imagination (Just My Salvation) – THE RANCE ALLEN GROUP
2. Up Above My Head – THE RANCE ALLEN GROUP
3. His Love Will Always Be – TERRY LYNNE COMMUNITY CHOIR
4. Consider Me – TERRY LYNNE COMMUNITY CHOIR
5. Don't Let The Green Grass Fool You (Don't Let The Devil Fool You) – REVEREND W. BERNARD AVANT, Jr., & THE St. JAMES GOSPEL CHOIR
6. God Is What You Let Him Be - REVEREND W. BERNARD AVANT, Jr., & THE St. JAMES GOSPEL CHOIR
7. There's Gonna Be A Showdown – THE RANCE ALLEN GROUP
8. That Will Be Good Enough For Me – THE RANCE ALLEN GROUP
9. The Magnificent Sanctuary Band (Marching For The Man) – REVEREND MACEO WOODS & THE CHRISTIAN TABERNACLE CONCERT CHOIR
10. Jesus Is Waiting - REVEREND MACEO WOODS & THE CHRISTIAN TABERNACLE CONCERT CHOIR
11. Keep My Baby Warm – CHARLES MAY & ANNETTE MAY THOMAS
12. Satisfied – CHARLES MAY & ANNETTE MAY THOMAS
13. Ride Out The Storm – JOSHIE JO ARMSTEAD
14. I Got The Vibes – JOSHIE JO ARMSTEAD
15. I Got To Be Myself – THE RANCE ALLEN GROUP
16. Gonna Make It Alright – THE RANCE ALLEN GROUP
17. Who's Supposed To Be Raising Who – THE 21ST CENTURY
18. All I Can Do – THE 21st CENTURY
NOTES ON CD1 (All Entries Below are US 45-Singles):
Tracks 1&2 are the A&B-sides of Gospel Truth GTA-1201, January 1972 – a Gospel Cover of The Temptations Motown hit with words changed
Tracks 3&4 are the A&B-sides of Gospel Truth GTA-1202, February 1972
Tracks 5&6 are the A&B-sides of Gospel Truth GTA-1203, May 1972
Tracks 7&8 are the A&B-sides of Gospel Truth GTA-1204, June 1972
Tracks 9&10 are the A&B-sides of Gospel Truth GTA-1205, March 1972
Tracks 11&12 are the A&B-sides of Gospel Truth GTA-1206, January 1973
Tracks 13&14 are the A&B-sides of Gospel Truth GTA-1207, March 1973
Tracks 15&16 are the A&B-sides of Gospel Truth GTA-1208, March 1973
Tracks 17&18 are the A&B-sides of Gospel Truth GTA-1209, April 1973

CD2 (57:30 minutes):
1. I'm A Child Of The King – THE PEOPLE’S CHOIR OF OPERATION PUSH Under The Direction Of REVEREND MARTIN YANCY
2. He Included Me – as per Track 1
3. He's Mine – JACQUI VERDELL
4. We're Gonna Have A Good Time – JACQUI VERDELL
5. I Know A Man Who – THE RANCE ALLEN GROUP
6. Hot Line To Jesus – THE RANCE ALLEN GROUP
7. At The Feet Of The Master – BLUE AQUARIUS
8. Know Him While You Can – BLUE AQUARIUS
9. Stumblin' Blocks, Steppin' Stones (What Took Me So Long) – JOSHIE JO ARMSTEAD
10. Give A Little Loving – JOSHIE JO ARMSTEAD
11. Do It Yourself – JIMMY JONES
12. If I Had A Hammer – JIMMY JONES
13. Be True – THE RANCE ALLEN GROUP
14. We're The Salt Of The Earth – THE RANCE ALLEN GROUP
15. Reflections – LOUISE McCORD
16. There's No Need To Cry – LOUISE McCORD
NOTES ON CD2:
Tracks 1&2 are the A&B-sides of Gospel Truth GTA-1210, September 1973
Tracks 3&4 are the A&B-sides of Gospel Truth GTA-1211, August 1973
Tracks 5&6 are the A&B-sides of Gospel Truth GTA-1212, September 1973
Tracks 7&8 are the A&B-sides of Gospel Truth GTA-1213, November 1973
Tracks 9&10 are the A&B-sides of Gospel Truth GTA-1214, April 1974
Tracks 11&12 are the A&B-sides of Gospel Truth GTA-1215, March 1974
Tracks 13&14 are the A&B-sides of Gospel Truth GTA-1216, May 1974
Tracks 15&16 are the A&B-sides of Gospel Truth GTA-1217, October 1974

The 16-page CD-sized Booklet may feel a tad scant once out of its card-flap, but all the key players are featured in the newly penned JARED BOYD liner notes – fresh interviews from STAX Records chief executive AL BELL, their mainman gospel artist RANCE ALLEN and MARY PEAK (aka Mary Peak Patterson) – one-time assistant to the legendary DAVE CLARK - both of whom helped establish the label under the auspices of the STAX umbrella. From Jackson in Tennessee and in the music game since the 1930s, Dave Clark was called on by Bell to instigate the label. Clark recalled a story in a 1972 interview about being run out of Mississippi with his Aristocrat Records black music station vinyl piles burned on the side of the road by the State Police. How Clark found it in his heart to forgive those white racist scumbags must be literally down to the Lord and a wellspring of forgiveness I would not have. Peak and Bell also made sure that artists on the Gospel Truth label were treated like mainstream stars when they went touring – great cloths – decent accommodation and venues where they were appreciated. It is a fascinating read on a lesser-told side to Stax.

But you will be even more impressed by the Glorious Audio – JOE TARANTINO having done the Transfers and Remasters – a name associated with the other huge Stax Box Sets. I don't know how these Craft Recordings sets have such illuminating audio over previous stabs at Stax – but they do. Listening to the vocal pyrotechnics of Rance Allen on the debut-45 (Tracks 1 and 2 on CD1) and you are hit with gorgeous clarity – and just enough oomph to make you feel the choir lifting of with the spirit.

The Music: Northern Soul Dancers and Mod-moment chasers should know that "The Gospel Truth: The Complete Singles Collection" absolutely ain't loaded with 70ts Soul as we know it and only very occasionally gets Funky Righteous. But when it does – the results are (dare we say it) devilishly sexy. The Rance Allen Group takes on The Staples Singers "I Got To Be Myself" (Track 15) where the shouter gets all Sly & The Family Stone on the personal positivity vibe (he soon returns to Jesus on the equally good flipside). There are songs like "Keep My Baby Warm" by Charles May and Annette May Thomas on CD1 that have as lovely a Soul vibe as you've ever heard and does so without mentioning the man in the sky even once (their very Staples Singers flipside "Satisfied" is secular too but in a saved-my-soul Funky way). 

I can hear why the Ace CD featured The 21st Century – their fantastically Funky "Who's Supposed To Be Raising Who" towards the end of CD1 gets ants-in-its-pants about the generation gap – they need leadership and strenght - who is the child and who is the adult. The same social consciousness permates "If The Shoe Fits, Wear It" – the B-side which Ace did include on their CD in 2010. It ends CD1 of this twofer on a high and with cracking audio too. 

As I said before, in the main, the music is full-on Gospel-abandonment Good-Word-Spreading marching for the man type tunes (Jesus gets a lot of favourable mentions and there maybe occasional clapping). And that dominates CD2. It opens with a joyous palm-in-his-hand "I'm A Child Of The King" where Reverend Marvin Yancy lends his deeply rich and Soulful lead vocals to a huge choir – lovely and hopeful in tandem. As singular piano notes and a lone church organ sets the scene for the flipside "He Included Me" – Lead Vocalist Loretta Oliver and the Choir may just reduce your heathen heart to tears (a gorgeous find). Lush strings lead in Jacqui Verdell as she caresses "He's Mine" where she sanctifies how much she depends on the big guy – it’s a slow almost Stylistics groove and it's another lovely discovery. She decides to go Funky Piano on the B-side "We're Gonna Have A Good Time" – but her words are not about partying but the colours all getting together and digging the scene. 

Rance Alley goes soppy too for the Lord on his own "I Know A Man Who" advising us that He will let you leave your troubles behind (a more restrained vocal, but what a voice nonetheless). Funksters will dig the Mack Rice flipside with its clavinet keyboard chug – Rance calls on the man in "Hot Line To Jesus" then goes Halleujah (Good God!). Blue Aquarius decide to step right out of the Stax/Gospel Truth sound altogether and get ever so slightly Duncan Browne-Nick Drake-Al Stewart Spanish Guitar acoustic with their "At The Feet Of The Master". It's a Pop Love-Song to Jesus of 4:22 minutes length that feels very Folk UK in ways – halfway through it goes all Hair in its chorus about 'we're all love'. Unfortunately, its ooh-bop-bop-bop B-side is terrible sub-Fifth Dimension meets Sixties Neil Diamond and not in a good way. Better, deeply emotive and believing every note, Joshie Jo Armstead brings her fabulous set of pipes to a tale of coming out of cotton fields and finding that her stumbling blocks had become stepping stones to a higher way. She penned the flipside and sounding like a more mature Tammi Terrell doing a Jimmy Webb song - "Give A Little Loving" has Joshie Jo let rip on the kindness message. 

The astonishingly rich and canyon-deep Lou Rawls meets Fred Neil voice of Jimmy Jones wows in his time-for-action plea song "Do It Yourself". Mentions of inflation and politicians ignoring poverty sets the 1974 city scene (he does the Pete Seeger/Lee Hays anthem "If I Had A Hammer" on the flipside in a funky style but it feels hammy compared to the A). The set smooches home with Rance Allen and Louise McCord. Ace showed the Louise McCord US album "A Tribute To Mahalia Jackson" on the last page of their "The Gospel Truth: The Gospel Soul and Funk of Stax Records" CD booklet in 2010. Electric Organs and Sunday-Morning references fill her lovely "Reflections" (no giving up - keep on keeping on) coming into the back-stretch with her backing singers testifying on "There's No Need To Cry". God will heal your problems – McCord's rich voice filled with conviction as the love-ballad floats out of your speakers clear as a bell. 

For sure, much of what is on "The Gospel Truth: The Complete Singles Collection" will only be for a limited audience, but for STAX nuts like me and others even remotely interested in Soul, Funk and the occasional Righteous Groove that sometimes sidled up to those Genres – then this US 2020 2CD set on the wonderful Craft Recordings reissue label is a must own and a nice discovery all in one. 

Praise the Lord and ain't that the Truth, Gospel or otherwise…