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The Blind Boys Of AlabamaAlbums ReviewedSpirit Of The Century (2001)Higher Ground (2002) Go Tell It On The Mountain (2003) Spirit Of The Century(2001)It's pretty safe to assume that I'll never get around to covering the entire discography of The Blind Boys Of Alabama, who have been singing together since they formed at the Talladega Institute Of The Blind in 1939. Their 21st century records with Peter Gabriel's label Realworld place the group in a modern context. Gratifying it's all done with class; the group are supported by a terrific cast of veteran session musicians, including Pentangle bassist Danny Thompson and guitarist David Lindley, and perform a mixture of traditional pieces and religiously themed songs from the rock oeuvre. The latter include The Rolling Stones' 'I Just Wanna See His Face' and a couple of Tom Waits tunes; one of the most interesting aspects of this record is seeing these seemingly pseudo-religious secular songs alongside 'Amazing Grace' and 'Good Religion'. Drawing on years of experience the group ooze charisma, and the record keeps flowing whether the songs are in a full band arrangement, stripped back to the rhythm section (the excellent 'Run On For A Long Time') or completely a capella. Despite the variety of sources, however, it's really all basically straightforward gospel/blues material, and it's made to look relatively one dimensional by the subsequent record Higher Ground, which features more diverse material and a more aggressive backing group. As much as this record's a dignified update for a veteran group, it's not that exciting to listen to if you're like me and can't tell the difference between most of the songs. Still, it's not without interest; for example, 'I Just Wanna See His Face' was a half-assed piece of filler on Exile On Main Street, but here it emerges as something resembling an actual song. On Fight For Your Mind 'Give A Man A Home' was just another dull Ben Harper composition, but a passionate performance here makes it stand out as one of the best songs on the record. Waits' 'Jesus Gonna Be Here' sounds pretty similar to the original, which isn't surprising considering that the Blind Boys' Clarence Fountain is exactly the type of ancient throaty Negro that Waits aspires to emulate. Confusingly, the 'Amazing Grace' melody appears in the intro of 'No More' and when they do finally sing 'Amazing Grace', it's to the tune of 'House Of The Rising Sun'. Spirit Of The Century is kind of neat, but it all pretty much sounds the same - stay tuned for a bit more excitement next time round. 
Higher Ground(2002)This is much more interesting than the previous album; instead of a whole bunch of relatively interchangeable blues songs, Higher Ground explores more styles, ranging from a rocking six minute version of Stevie Wonder's 'Higher Ground' to the minimal arrangement of Prince's 'The Cross'. And as good as the veteran session musicians were on Spirit Of The Century, they're eclipsed by Robert Randolph and The Family Band who provide the backing here. Randolph is a young Christian pedal steel virtuoso, who's also played with Fountains Of Wayne and John Mayer, and his band does a phenomenal job; Ben Harper also joins on guitar for 'People Get Ready' and 'Higher Ground'. The real revelation here is the piano version of Harper's 'I Shall Not Walk Alone'; it was a pleasant little album closer on The Will To Live, but here it's plain gorgeous. 'The Cross' also gets a gorgeous yet tense organ and bass arrangement. On the other hand, there's a smoking version of Funkadelic's 'You And Your Folks' and an epic take on 'Higher Ground', which arguably does drag on a bit long. Fountain even gets in one of his own compositions, 'Stand By Me', which stands up fine with everything else on the record. Higher Ground is an enjoyable record, maintaining the integrity of the previous effort while adding more diversity and intensity.
Go Tell It On The Mountain(2003)Since The Blind Boys generally perform traditional religious songs anyway, a Christmas album's not a bad idea on paper. The group are joined by John Medeski and Duke Robillard as well as Michael Jerome and Danny Thompson, the rhythm section from Spirit Of The Century, but more tellingly they're also joined by lead vocalists on ten of the twelve tracks. Most of these collaborations just don't work - effeminate singers like Me'Shell Nedegeocello and Aaron Neville are upstaged, while others like Solomon Burke fail to add anything distinct to the Blind Boys sound. The enjoyable Chrissie Hynde and Richard Thompson collaboration 'In The Bleak Midwinter' all but bypasses the group altogether - it's an out of place slice of pastoral English folk with The Blind Boys adding superfluous ambient "Ooohs". Only veteran gospel singer Mavis Staples, on the excellent 'Born In Bethlehem', and Tom Waits, whose enthusiastic gravely vocals lead the joyful title track, don't seem out of the depth. Otherwise, the choices of vocalists fall flat; the group need to work with singers with equally rich voices as their own, otherwise the guests end up superfluous, like the massacre of 'Oh Come All Ye Faithful', with Nedegeocello adding pointless spoken emphasis to random words. The previous two Blind Boys comeback albums were consistently classy and authentic, but Go Tell It On The Mountain is clumsy and misguided - there's maybe two or three decent songs on this record. The CD version of Go Tell It On The Mountain comes with copy protection - it comes with a built in program that allows it to plays on a PC, but it's a huge drain on system resources and I was unable to run any other programs at the same time as listening to the album.
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Written 2001-2007, Graham Fyfe
