The Lord Is Blessing Me

Here are two versions of the same song, each very different.

The first version is by The Thompson Community Choir (“The Tommies”) It is great traditional version of the song. It’s a dead give away the moment the songs opens with the Hammond B3 organ and the piano doing the intro that this is real deal traditional gospel. Listen for the chords on the piano…they couldn’t be any more bluesy and/or pure gospel. The vocal performance is stellar, with the choir delivering each clipped phrase with exact precision and perfect enunciation and the soloist leading the choir onward and upward. No real vamp on this version, but it makes one wonder how long that last part that fades out actually continued; you know how it is when the “spirit” takes you and you just don’t quite want to stop.

This second verse is also what I would term “traditional gospel”….it’s a “traditional” gospel song after all, but the arrangement is MUCH more energetic and uptempo. The intro is longer than on the first cut, with the driving beat of the snare drum and the clapping in perfect time together. And yes, all the while the B3 player is doing his thing along with the piano player. And, like the first cut, the choir here is spot on. A crisp, forceful, staccato of lyrics. There is no soloist on this track. The choir repeats the chorus and verse a couple of times, which is then followed by a long instrumental interlude until the men take us into a build for the final vamp. It’s so wonderful as the parts with different pitches and differently timed lyrics intertwine with each other. The only criticism I have of this track is that they didn’t give that fantastic vamp enough time…it could have gone on a minute or more so we all could really appreciate it.