Last week, I featured six of the twelve tracks from this LP, and I received a request to post the entire album, which I should have done in the first first, because it's so outstanding. So, today, in a new and improved rip, here is the entire What Will Your Answer Be by West Virginia's Valley Voices. Let me note that there's a big and deep crosscut on Side Two (spanning two bands) that I managed to mask over when I did this rip. So, when you hear what sound like brief tape drop-outs, you're actually hearing splice points that I connected with rapid fade-ins and fade-outs. A lot of work, but the affected tracks (first four on Side Two) are now without loud clicks, pops, and swishes. Whoever previously owned this LP had a heavy home stereo tonearm and accidentally (I'm assuming) knocked it across the disc when setting down the needle. Or his or her changer was acting up. We'll never know.
We're only talking a few very brief drop-outs, so I'm making more of them than I should, but that's just me. Lovely a cappella singing in pure from-the-hills fashion, and be prepared for a sameness of sound from track to track--it's a stylistic thing and not at all a flaw in the performances. I'm just noting this for anyone not used to the "mountain" gospel sound. Don't let the seeming monotony put you off--there's actually a good deal of variety in the material and vocal arrangements, and be assured that this kind of smooth and professional musicianship is anything but off the cuff or casual--these folks are superbly together in their performances, and the listener knows, from the first measure, that the Valley Voices believe every word they're singing. Cyber-wise, this is a very obscure LP, its only on line mention being my own post of last week, plus a library listing at the Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. My blog is earning its title today.
Enjoy!
CLICK HERE TO HEAR: The Valley Voices--What Will Your Answer Be
What Will Your Answer Be
I Am on the Road
Hard Working Pilgrim
I Know I'll Feel at Home
Lord I Want to Go Home
You Can Take My Place
When I Get Home
When We Gather by the River
Sinner You'll Miss Heaven
Who
I want to Hear Little David Play
Let Me Go Down to the River
The Valley Voices--What Will Your Answer Be (Riverside Records 102; recorded in Crum WV)
Lee