Robert Christgau: Dean of American Rock Critics

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The Blind Boys of Alabama

  • Spirit of the Century [RealWorld, 2001] A-

Consumer Guide Reviews:

Spirit of the Century [RealWorld, 2001]
Gospel as blues, the way you, me, John Hammond, David Lindley, Charley Musselwhite, and two guys from Richard Thompson's band like it. A little manipulative, but just the thing to play Sunday morning without compromising your religious principles--or the Blind Boys', which were never the same after they experimented with pagan ritual in The Gospel at Colonus. The opener equates glory with a brand-new Ford, and the crowning touch is the conversion of "Amazing Grace" into "House of the Rising Sun"--or is that now "Son"? A-