Living the Gospel: Gospel Legends

This Time-Life collection covers songs from 1972-1995 and serves as a great document of the continuing power and joy of black gospel, one of America's greatest cultural treasures. The compilers definitely had "accessibility" in mind for this compilation. The disc leads with the spiritually charged yet incredibly funky mainstream hit, "I'll Take You There," that the Staple Singers (a sometimes gospel ensemble) took to the top of the pop charts in 1972. If you know a sinner who's spent any time in local taverns, they've heard this song covered by bar bands who will likely to keep the crowd-pleasing shuffle alive forever.

After this great start, there's some more gospel crossover performances by pop stars like preacher's kid Aretha Franklin, who belts out the choir-backed, spine-tingling "How I Got Over" (1972). Also the Commodores perform the Lionel Richie original "Jesus Is Love" (1980), and secular soul superstar Al Green sings "Everything's Gonna Be Alright," a hit from his 1987 Grammy-winning album Soul Survivor. Also, some of the biggest names in latter-era gospel get a moment in the sun, including the Edwin Hawkins Singers who adapt the traditional "Oh, Happy Day," Andrae Crouch who contributes "Soon And Very Soon" from 1976, and The Winans who offer their smash gospel ballad "Tomorrow" from 1984.

It's fun to hear how gospel changes over the three decades, and how it stays the same. For example, Al Green's use of very '80s-R&B-sounding synths and The Mighty Clouds of Joy's disco rhythm section on their 1975 gospel hit "Mighty High." Of course Christ and the power and joy of the Christian faith is the common denominator regardless of the passing musical fashions of the day. Oh, and another unifying factor is loads and loads of soul on the part of the artists who made these cuts.

As a cross-section of samples from three decades of black gospel -- from traditional-sounding choir-backed celebrations to contemporized pop, Living The Gospel: Gospel Greats serves as an excellent primer. And from it, listeners will gain a leaping-off point for the particular styles, artists and eras that speak to them most.

By Todd Spencer