Oh Lord, Stand By Me/Marching Up To Zion

Not to be confused with Archie Brownlee's Five Blind Boys of Mississippi, these Alabaman blind singers met at a school for the blind in the late 1930s. Clarence Fountain, whose range was not very wide, led the group with deep shouts, lofty cries, and rumbling, emotional singing that seems to have the power to move mountains. The group stick to their well-known "mother" theme (their first hit was the mind-blowing "I Can See Everybody's Mother, But I Can't See Mine" in 1949) on these two early '70s LPs, issued here as one CD. No less than three songs mourn the death of a matriarch--the bluesy, brilliant standby "Alone and Motherless," the moody, slow-tempo "When I Lost My Mother," and the revved tearjerker "Goodbye Mother." The group singing is tight, the tempo and material varied, the minimal percussion perfectly complementary, the guitar playing subtle, sparse, beautiful. But the real treat is when the five singers wind each other up, like a spinning top, into ecstatic realms of entwined shouting, singing, and praising that will please any ear. --Mike McGonigal