Mississippi Mass Choir
It Remains To Be Seen

After missing my ride to the beach and finding myself alone at home with the heat suffocating me, I decided to kill time by taking a rash action: writing my first review on DeBaser. I made the final decision when, listening to the countless tracks that fill my days, my ear suddenly lingered on the first track of an album of a genre as beautiful as it is underrated: Gospel. Not even here, on DeBaser, where you can find any rarity, is there a review of gospel albums and "spirituals." Perhaps because many consider it "church music," as it is "religious music," whose lyrics talk only about giving glory to God: nothing could be more superficial.

Mississippi Mass Choir is a name that will mean nothing to most, and indeed if you are not inclined to listen to a certain type of music you will never know it, but those who frequent American Pentecostal churches or those who like gospel will know that it is the greatest gospel choir in the world. It was 1988 and Frank Williams, a famous gospel-soul singer, had an ambitious idea: to form a great choir with the best gospel singers in the country. He held auditions everywhere, and in the end, one hundred singers were chosen, "the hundred most beautiful voices of Mississippi," whose mission is to talk about God to people through playing and singing. Under the musical direction of David R. Curry Jr., and with the choir conducted by Dorcus Curry Thigpen, the MMC debuted in a live performance in Jackson, from which the eponymous album was released, launching it to the top of the gospel charts in the USA. The second album, "God get the glory," reaffirmed the choir at the top of this special chart, confirming this "ensemble" as one of the most important in the genre.

But the peak was reached in 1993, with this LIVE album, "It Remains To Be Seen": an album with dual value, first because it represents, perhaps, the highest artistic peak reached by the "group," which will also earn it significant recognition, (the Soul Train music awards for the best gospel album of '93, the most renowned award in the genre), second, it will be the last album in which Frank Williams sings, the solo voice and the "frontman," (certain terms are inaccurate to use in this case), because he would die shortly after. Needless to say how much better the MMC is live: and particularly Williams, in his solo interpretations, brings intensity and passion like never before; it will be the most expressive and beautiful performance he will do, as if he knew this would be his last (master)piece. The other voices are not far behind: besides exceptional vocal skills, the parts where the choir comes in are the most touching and beautiful, and they blend, fit, and complement perfectly with the solo voices that alternate from piece to piece, and the musical parts are of the highest level. Consider this album the swan song of true and authentic American gospel, the "pure" one, (because, unfortunately, this genre has also undergone numerous contaminations with rap, hip hop, and especially ethnic influences in recent years, also experiencing a certain commercialization that, with the exception of the great Mahalia Jackson, never belonged to it).

A live album that hits the soul and touches the heart from the first track: if you are believers, at times God will seem almost tangible to you, if you are not, listening to this masterpiece might make you reconsider.