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One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism

Aretha Franklin - One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism Audio CD

A fair review of the Aretha Franklin "One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Aretha Franklin reviews here, or go back to the Aretha Franklin tabs.

Band: Aretha Franklin
Title: One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism
Rating:

Release Date: 2003-05-06
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Walk in the Light - Aretha Franklin 2: Prayer Invocation - Aretha Franklin 3: Introduction of Aretha and the Franklin Sisters 4: Jesus Hears Every Prayer - Aretha Franklin, Aretha Franklin 5: Surely God Is Able - Aretha Franklin, Aretha Franklin 6: Lord's Prayer - Aretha Franklin 7: Introduction of Aretha and Mavis Staples 8: Oh Happy Day - Aretha Franklin, Mavis Staples 9: We Need Power - Aretha Franklin, Mavis Staples 10: Speech 11: Ave Maria - Aretha Franklin 12: Introduction to Higher Ground 13: Higher Ground - Aretha Franklin, Mal Williams 14: Prayer Invocation 15: I've Been in the Storm Too Long - Aretha Franklin, Joe Ligon 16: Packing Up, Getting Ready to Go - Aretha Franklin, Aretha Franklin, Joe Ligon, Mavis Staples 17: Be Grateful [#] - Aretha Franklin 18: Beams of Heaven [#] - Aretha Franklin 19: Father, I Stretch My Hands to Thee [#] - Aretha Franklin 20: Packing Up, Getting Ready to Go [Alternate Version][#] - Aretha Franklin, Aretha Franklin, Joe Ligon, Mavis Staples

Not "Amazing Grace" Caliber, But It Has It's Moments!!

Not to say that The Queen still couldn't work her mid and lower registers well enough
to upset the church as she always had when she took to the mike at her home church
of New Bethel Baptist, but you could still hear that her best days were behind her by then. By the time this album came out in 1987, entitled "One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism",
the long anticipated follow-up to the fantastic and iconic 1972 gospel double album
"Amazing Grace", Aretha's once unparalleled vocal instrument was weathered from
years of hard singing, weight fluctuations, age, and a 20 year smoking habit
which left it raspy and not as clear in it's higher register as it once had been.

There are some great moments on here, like the arrangement of "Ave Maria",
which Aretha gives a baptist singer meets metropolitan opera diva treatment!
She also does "The Lord's Prayer" with a pretty good measure of finesse, but again. . .
the raspy highs wear on the ears after awhile.
Then there's the Clara Ward tribute of "Surely God Is Able" and
"Jesus Hears Every Prayer", where she muses in tone about the good old days of
her childhood growing up in her father's old church (New Bethel had an old church down
on Hastings & Willett which had been rebuilt by the time this album was recorded,
just three years after her father's tragic death. ) and seeing all of the old gospel
greats like Clara & The Ward Singers, The Swan Silvertones, The Gospel Harmonettes,
The Dixie Hummingbirds, etc. , and she is joined onstage by her cousin Brenda,
baby sister Carolyn, who wrote some of her most soul-stirring soul ballads
and who would succumb to cancer just a year after this album was released,
and also her older sister Erma (now deceased) for some good old time gospel harmony!

Other highlights are a few of the sermon's given by her late brother/manager and
ordained minister, Cecil Franklin, who would also succumb to cancer two years
after this album was released, as well as a few of the other guest ministers
who were asked to speak during the three day gospel program which served as the
recording sessions for this album. The duets between her and the legendary Joe Ligon
of the fabled Mighty Clouds Of Joy, who Aretha herself hails as "One of the most soul-stirring
voices of the 20th Century!" are particularly rousing as well!
"I've Been In The Storm Too Long" and the later released on this digitally remastered
20th anniversary commerative of this album as a bonus track, "Beams From Heaven",
which is an old black gospel staple, are both "raise the rafters" quality in the
vein of the "Amazing Grace" album. But there again, Aretha's voice, though effective
for the occassion, is not at it's clearest. Overall, I give this album 3 stars because
with exception of the songs I mentioned, the rest of the album is just okay, and even
some of the keys of the songs seem weird to me.
I guess it was just hard for The Queen of Soul to even live up to the high standard
that she set on "Amazing Grace". . . . but even a slightly off her game Aretha is better
than a whole lot of today's so-called singer's at their best!
For her, I know this album is special because it is the first album she produced herself
as well as a time capsule of her and her siblings, all of who are deceased now,
singing, shouting and praising GOD in the way they had done since childhood.
.

Not her usual stuff.
There wuz quite a bit of preaching on it which I feel decreased the momentum. It's an entertaining album without the oomph of her previous gospel albums.

excellent vocals
doesn't compare to the Amazing Grace recordings but this is still an excellent example of moving, soul stiring gospel music.

Fair to fine
Check out this album (Amazing Grace) before buying Aretha Franklin's One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism. Aretha Franklin's Amazing Grace with James Cleveland and The Southern California Community Choir is far (100 times) better.

Sister Re
It's hard to top that album, but this is a nice collection nonetheless. This album was recorded 15 years after AMAZING GRACE, Aretha Franklin's groundbreaking gospel album. You can tell that Aretha loves this kind of music. I wish she would do another album like this! Guests on the album include Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rev. Jasper Williams, and Rev. C. L. Franklin, plus Mavis Staples, Joe Ligon, and her sisters, Carol and Erma.

I have to say my absolute favorite is her rendition of "Ave Maria". It's breathtaking, and one of the best versions I have heard of this song. Aretha sings standards like "Surely God Is Able" and "The Lord's Prayer,", and a scorching version of "Higher Ground. "

Overall a really nice return to Gospel. Every Aretha Franklin fan should hear this cd!.

You can see a complete list of all Aretha Franklin discography, or go back to the Aretha Franklin tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.