Various Artists - Voices of the Civil Rights Movement Black American Freedom Songs 1960-1966

Artist:

Various Artists

UPC:

093074008423

Description:

Producer: Bill Bennett. Reissue producer: Bernice Johnson Reagon. Includes liner notes by Bernice Johnson Reagon. The civil rights movement used freedom songs to spread their message, adapting folk and pop tunes with contemporary topical lyrics, or writing new songs addressing social injustice in general, and injustice for African-Americans in particular. This is a two-CD, 43-song compilation of such songs, recorded live in mass meetings in churches between 1960 and 1966. The SNCC Freedom Singers, including in their ranks future Sweet Honey in the Rock mainstay Bernice Johnson Reagon (who wrote the liner notes), contribute quite a few tracks, but the majority are by less professional soloists and choirs. Historically speaking, this is a valuable document of a movement whose importance cannot be underestimated; if nothing else, it`s interesting to see how folk and pop songs (including such unlikely candidates as Ray Charles` "Hit the Road Jack") were changed to reflect struggle for equality. Musically speaking, it`s not that captivating; the fidelity is sometimes rough, and the performances interesting purely from an archival standpoint. This isn`t meant to diminish in any way the significance of these songs, just to say that they were effective mostly as organizing tools, not as pure musical statements. Listeners will need to have a strong interest in the historical context of these recordings to justify their purchase, because as music it can make for a dry experience. Some of the SNCC performances, however, do stand up on their own as fine folk/gospel, especially "In the Mississippi River," "Governor Wallace," and "Oginga Odinga," imaginative compositions that are movingly sung. ~ Richie Unterberger

Track Listing:

DISC 1:

1. Freedom Medley: Freedom Chant / Oh, Freedom: This Little Light Of Mine - The Freedom Singers
2. This Little Light of Mine - Betty Mae Fikes
3. If You Miss Me From the Back of the Bus - Betty Mae Fikes
4. Lord, Hold My Hand While I Run This Race
5. Get on Board, Children - Willie Peacock
6. Calypso Freedom - Willie Peacock
7. Freedom Now Chant
8. Oh Freedom - Hollis Watkins
9. Ain` Scared of Nobody - Amanda B. Perdew/Virginia Davis
10. Leaning on the Everlasting Arms
11. Sermon - Rev. Lawrence Campbell
12. We Are Soldiers in the Army
13. Go Tell It on the Mountain - Fannie Lou Hamer
14. Wade in the Water - Fannie Lou Hamer
15. Come Bah Yah - Willie Peacock
16. Walk With Me, Lord - Fannie Lou Hamer
17. Jesus on the Mainline, Tell Him What You Want - Sam Block
18. Freedom Train - Sam Block
19. Don`t You Think It`s About Time That We All Be Free - Mabel Hillary
20. We`re Marching on to Freedom Land - Carlton Reese
21. We Shall Overcome

DISC 2:

1. We`ll Never Turn Back - The SNCC Freedom Singers/Emory Harris
2. We Shall Not Be Moved - SNCC Freedom Singers Led By Rutha Harris
3. Certainly, Lord - CORE Freedom Singers
4. Get Your Rights, Jack - CORE Freedom Singers
5. Which Side Are You On? - The SNCC Freedom Singers/Cordell Hull Reagon
6. Woke up This Morning With My Mind on Freedom - The SNCC Freedom Singers/Bernice Johnson Reagon
7. Been in the Storm So Long - Bernice Johnson Reagon
8. Dog, Dog - The SNCC Freedom Singers/Cordell Hull Reagon
9. a & P Song, The - Integration Grooves
10. Oh Pritchett, Oh Kelly - The SNCC Freedom Singers/Bertha Gober
11. I Told Jesus - Bertha Gober
12. 99 1/2 Won`t Do - Alabama Christian Movement Choir/Carlton Reese
13. I`m on My Way - Alabama Christian Movement Choir Led By Brown
14. City Called Heaven - Cleo Kennedy
15. In the Mississippi River - SNCC Freedom Singers Led By Marshall Jones
16. Ain` Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me `Round - The SNCC Freedom Singers/Cordell Hull Reagon
17. Will the Circle Be Unbroken - Jimmy Collier & The Movement Singers/The Movement Singers/Diane Smith
18. Governer Wallace - The SNCC Freedom Singers/Charles Neblett
19. Ballad of Medgar Evers - The SNCC Freedom Singers/Matthew Jones
20. Uncle Tom`s Prayer - Cordell Hull Reagon
21. Oginga Odinga - The SNCC Freedom Singers/Matthew Jones
22. We Shall Overcome - The SNCC Freedom Singers

Album Information

Release Date:

01/21/1997

Type:

Collection

Genre:

Gospel

Label:

Smithsonian Folkways Recordings

Catalog Number:

40084

Original Release Year:

1997

# of Discs:

2

Studio/Live:

Mixed

Mono/Stereo:

Mixed

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