Sweet Song Of Salvation
Queen City Recording, Cincinnati, Ohio
1975
This is not the more famous "The Kingsmen" as you might find them on the web (or at least this album is not listed on their discography). I assume that this is a forgotten local group using the same name.
The surface of the jacket, the cardboard is covered with a Velveteen type material.
This is "The Kingsmen" from Ashville, North Carolina (or as you said, "The Famous Kingsmen"). They recorded a few albums in Cincinnati in the early 1970's. I don't have this particular album but I do own several dozen albums of the Kingsmen and I could tell right away the distinct lead voice of Jim Hammel as well as Johnny Parrack on tenor and Ray Dean Reese on bass. Eldridge Fox sang baritone for the group as well during this time and Nick Bruno would most likely have been the piano player.
ReplyDeleteI would guess that this was one of Johnny Parrack's last albums with the group because he left the Kingsmen around this time to spend more time with his family and was replaced by "Little" Ernie Phillips. Gospel music fans will remember that Johnny Parrack's son Jay sang tenor for the Gold City Quartet for a number of years as well.
It was also during this time that Eldridge Fox started singing less with the group, giving way to another Kingsmen addition, Squire Parsons. Mr. Parsons spent about five years with the Kingsmen but was probably their most popular lead singer of all time as he wrote several songs including "Beulah Land."
I remember not only the Kingsmen but also The Cathedrals, The Hoppers and others used to do a couple of non-label albums each year and all in Cincinnati.
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