This right here is a
real rare gem in many ways. Besides just being a record which has scarcely been
written about (I couldn't even find a picture of the album cover), this album is rare for one major reason: this is a Gospel
recording done by a (predominantly) Black Catholic choir. I don’t really count
myself as an expert on religion, but I’m fairly certain there aren’t many Black
Catholics, much less Catholic Gospel choirs. That being said, this one is
especially interesting to me because it happens to be recorded by a choir based
in Chicago, just blocks from where I went to high school.
According to several
blurbs on the album sleeve, Holy Family Catholic Church has been standing since
the mid 1800’s, before the Great Chicago Fire – they even claim that the pastor
at the time prayed that the fire would spare the church. This made me laugh,
because I recalled a lesson by a former History professor about churches on the
South and West sides of the city (as Holy Family is) claiming to have survived
the Chicago Fire due to the miracle of prayer, regardless of the fact that the
fire burned North and East. No matter, the blurb goes on to state that in 1987
when Put Your Hands in God’s Hands was
recorded, Holy Family Catholic Church was in a dire state of disrepair, and so
the choir and their director, Samuel R. Parker, recorded this album, “a symbol of
the living community known as Holy Family Catholic Church.” So here we have a
great album with a great story behind it.
Samuel R. Parker, the
man whose efforts are at the core of this album (and whose soft-focused and Jeri-curled
glamor photos are all over the sleeve), turns out to be somewhat of a virtuoso.
He has been playing piano since the age of 5, became choirmaster by age 11, and
has been Minister of Music at Holy Family since 1973. Mr. Parker apparently
also made weekly appearances on a local Gospel television program called “
Rock of Ages,” which aired on
WCIU-TV. Most importantly, he not only arranged every
song on this album, but wrote the majority of them as well. Once you hear this
album, I think it will become clear what a great achievement that is.
The music itself has
wide secular appeal and feels very contemporary, funky, raw, soulful and
personal. Mr. Parker lends his unique vocals to several tracks, and contributes
piano and heavy music production knowhow throughout. As a “crate-digger” of
sorts myself, this album is pretty much wall-to-wall sample-fodder (that’s a
compliment for those not “hip” to the “lingo”). From the funky keys of “Keep
Your Hands…” to the mind-boggling sparse-yet-heavy arrangement of “Somebody’s
Knocking at the Door” to the awesome Blues-Rock meets Catholic Metal chanting
of “Wash All My Sins Away” to the Reggae-on-Syzzurp lost homie anthem of the
finale “Move On Up A Little Higher,” this album is a delightful surprise at
every corner. One band member was so delightful and surprising that I felt I
should give him special tribute here, and that is Arthur (“Da Bass”) Sutton,
who slaps his bass like it owes God money.
While doing my final
stage of research for this blog entry, I discovered a couple things that made
me very happy: not only is Holy Family Catholic Church still standing today
(and I’d like to think that this great album helped to make those big repairs possible
25 years ago), but Samuel Parker is listed as Choir Director on their website
(I’m hoping it’s really him, and not a Samuel Parker, Jr.). I may just have to
play the role of the rabid fan and go collect an autograph some Sunday in the
near future.
