Blues Spirituals are classic and timeless pieces of music.
The Blind Boys of Alabama bring these spirituals life and they are extremely good at it.
Atom Bomb is they're newest album and it should be the standard for everything else in the genre. You can hear and feel the emotion in their voices. This album is a masterpiece to display their wonderful talent. I recommend this album to anyone who wants to hear some good music.
The album kicks off with the title cut, a cover of the Cold War-era "(Jesus Hits Like The) Atom Bomb," which reveals a surprisingly current world view forty-some-years after it was initially recorded by the legendary Soul Stirrers, and is further proof that, although they may be well up in years, the Blind Boys of Alabama still know how to get to the soul of the matter.
The next song is a cover of Fat Boy Slim/Macy Grays Demons which is pretty interesting for this type of album (as you probably know), but nonetheless adds to the whole experience of the album and the talent of the band. But they really shine on the true gospel standard Talk about suffering. They do take risks on this album though and their risk taking pays unusually high dividends. "Spirit in the Sky," a recasting of Norman Greenbaum's fuzz-tone classic, ropes in blues harpist Charlie Mussellwhite and David Hidalgo of Los Lobos, and tops it off with a little bit of ZZ Top's "La Grange."Which is extraordinarily prevailing and tells the truth of how amazing the Blind Boys of Alabama really are.
This album is classic, and transcends all possible genres it can be put in.
You might not think this is true, but that doesn't matter at all to me.
And for the Blind Boys of Alabama, I hope they keep doing what they've been doing for as long as possible.
