Heavenly Light

Thanks to Claude Jeter's unearthly falsetto, which was the single greatest influence on soul singer Al Green, West Virginia's Swan Silvertones spent three decades as gospel's smoothest and most sophisticated singing group. But the Silvertones could also rock churches to their very foundations, and this album's second half, which was recorded live, captured the quintet at the peak of their house-wrecking abilities. On the standards "My Rock," "Sit Down Servant" and "Amen," the group holds its own against gospel superstars like Dorothy Love Coates. And on "The Lord's Prayer," an ecstatic congregation pushes Jeter & Co. to heights equaled only on the Silvertones' own unparalleled recordings for Chicago's Vee-Jay label. The opening tracks are cobbled together from alternate takes, demos and unreleased studio recordings made in the early-to-mid '50s, and while the group's best work was yet to come, they'd already pulled far ahead of their earthbound competitors.