Religious music for less than devout


We have a thread " Jazz for someone who doesn’t like jazz. " In a similar vein perhaps "Religious music for the less than devout".

"people get ready" - Rod Stewart
"Amazing Grace" - Jessye Norman
2009 "Duets" - Five Blind Boys of Alabama, The - entire CD
1988 "Sweet Fellowship" - Acappella, the entire CD

In 1989 I was working in NJ, I may have been the only guy on the job who did not know he was working for the Irish Mafia. I would lend people the CD "Sweet Fellowship" and they were willing to pay for it but never return it:

"Here is $20 kid, go buy yourself another cuz youz can’t have mine back. Now don’t ever ask me again."


timothywright
On that same album set by the Garcia Band was ‘My Brothers and Sisters’, right before ‘I shall be Released’. Forgot about that one.
A truly great masterwork is Brahms "German Requiem"
In some interesting twist, unlike most if not all of the Requiem compositions, Brahms’ Requiem is not a lithurgical work. It is still spiritual, though.
Religious music for less than devout, indeed.

If you are not familiar with The Louvin Brothers, check their "Satan is real" album, listen to the lyrics, and when you are done with it, read about them. Preferably in that order. Just the album cover is worth the price of admission. Don’t get me wrong, it is some fine spiritual country music. It is quite brilliant.

This is from Wikipedia (quote from elsewhere, though)...

Mark Deming stated in his AllMusic review: "You don’t need to share the Louvin Brothers’ spiritual beliefs to be moved by the grace, beauty and lack of pretension of this music; Satan Is Real is music crafted by true believers sharing their faith, and its power goes beyond Christian doctrine into something at once deeply personal and truly universal, and the result is the Louvin Brothers’ masterpiece."

"There is a reason why songs from this album have been performed by the more commonly accepted genius of artists such as Gram Parsons, Johnny Cash, and Emmylou Harris."