The Howard Lemon Singers - Message For Today (1972/2020) [Official Digital Download 24/192]

In a miraculous instance of cross-promotion, Detroit’s the Howard Lemon Singers nod to Stax star Luther Ingram’s 1972 single “To the Other Man.” Both versions of the song, along with a rendition by the Rance Allen Group in the same year, stand in the lineage of Stax’s signature “message music,” in which social awareness set to song took the place of straight-on gospel tunes.

Lemon plays host to an impressive cast of soon-to-be highly regarded stalwarts in Detroit’s gospel music scene and churches throughout the U.S. The sessions, recorded at neighboring Warren, Michigan’s Pampa Studios, feature Rance Allen on guitar, Thomas Whitfield on organ and early soprano vocal work from Esther Smith, who’d break out as a viable solo talent in the 1980s.

Deferring to William Garrett as the dominant male voice, Lemon conducts, arranges, produces and writes the better part of an album in which a stunning array of male and female voices take precedent in the absence of any discernable instrumental flourishes. Lemon’s metered, measured approach to arranging bore a sonic resemblance to the secular soul of ensembles such as the Soul Children, holding up a mirror to a familiar sound within Stax’s larger stable of artists.

Tracklist:
1. To The Other Man (03:42)
2. Oh! My Brother (03:42)
3. I Want To Thank Him (03:24)
4. Never Without Him (02:52)
5. Spirit Of God's Love (02:38)
6. In My Father's House (04:15)
7. We've Come This Far (03:06)
8. Free Today (03:45)
9. One More Time (02:33)


Thanks to the Original customer!