VVAA - GO DEVIL GO! RARE + RAW + OTHERWORLDLY AFRICAN AMERICAN GOSPEL 1947-1976

If you're into sharing spiritual songs with your family, enjoying crystal-clear vocal harmonies, or the enveloping sound of a newly repaired Hammond organ, this gospel album is definitely not for you. Go Devil Go represents precisely the other side of the coin: the material collected here showcases the wildest and most visceral side of gospel. This cursed album, which demands all your blessings, has everything: from hypnotic mid-tempo tracks akin to the most elemental rural blues to the explosive energy of raw R&B, where guitars and furious handclaps take center stage, accompanying singers who simply don't seem to be from this world. Of course, there's also the matter of the lyrics: the messages and cries captured in Go Devil Go will help you put your frustrations into perspective and, believe us, rethink your existence. Go Devil Go is, in fact, our selection from the glorious 3-CD set "Fire In My Bones," compiled by Mike McGonigal in 2009. The tracks included here were mostly released on 45s or 78s by more or less well-known independent labels. The rest came from tiny local labels, sometimes paid for by the congregation itself. As McGonigal explains in the liner notes: "This is gospel, which we must always translate, let's not forget, as 'good news'—one of the most vibrant, beautiful, festive, and emotionally charged musics in the world." Amen.

CARA A I'm A Soldier - The Phillips' Specials / You Ought to Been There - The BC Harmonizers / I'm Just A Voice - Helen McGiver and the McGiver Singers / Made A Vow To The Lord - Rev. Steward & Family / Don't Let Him Ride - Mississippi Nightingales / This Train - Elder S. Patterson & The Christian Crusaders / Holy Rock - Reverend Billy H. Grady

SIDE B Go Devil Go - Madam Ira Mae Littlejohn / The Wicked Shall Cease - Nathaniel Rivers / He's Coming Back - Elder & Sister Brinson & the Brinson Brothers / Get Back Satan - Rev. Roger L Worthy & His Sister Bonnie Woodstock / God's Mighty Hand - Rev. Utah Smith / You Better Get Ready - The Bible Aires Spiritual Singers (Belle Aires) / So Soon - Little Ax & The Golden Echoes