Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Didn't It Rain
2. My God Is Real
3. Walk over God's Heaven
4. If I Can Help Somebody
5. Come on Children, Let's Sing
6. What a Friend We Have in Jesus
7. I Found the Answer
8. It Is Well With My Soul
9. Great Gettin' up Morning
10. You Must Be Born Again
11. Elijah Rock
12. Jesus Met the Woman at the Well
13. Satisfied Mind
14. Keep Your Hand on the Plow
15. Roll Jordan Roll
16. Calvary
17. In My Home over There
18. I Will Move on up a Little Higher

Disc 2:

1. In the Upper Room
2. Christian's Testimony
3. If We Never Needed the Lord Before (We Sure Do Need Him Now)
4. City Called Heaven
5. Trouble of the World
6. Without God I Could Do Nothing
7. Take My Hand, Precious Lord
8. Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho
9. His Eye Is on the Sparrow
10. God Put a Rainbow in the Sky
11. He's Got the Whole World in His Hands
12. Rusty Old Halo
13. Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen
14. Dear Lord, Forgive
15. I'm Going to Live the Life I Sing About in My Song
16. Search Me Lord
17. If I Could Hear My Mother Pray Again
18. Walk on by Faith

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4631 in Music
• Brand: Sony
• Released on: 1998-08-18
• Number of discs: 2
• Format: Box set
• Dimensions: .41 pounds

Amazon.com essential recording
If the bazillion packagings and repackagings of Mahalia Jackson's music confound you and you don't know where to start, this expertly compiled, carefully annotated double-disc box set is for you. Jackson wasn't just gospel music's first international superstar--she was among its earliest adherents and inventors. Working with the great composer and former blues singer Thomas A. Dorsey in the late 1930s, Jackson gave a distinctly blues-trained, jazzy sass and grace to Dorsey's material and the other hymns and spirituals she sang. More than any other performer, she helped to define gospel music itself as a transcendent, rootsy, melismatic, and heady spiritual sound. Culled from her sides for Columbia in the 1950s and 1960s, some of the arrangements in the set are not ideal and may sound quite a bit dated, but that voice shines and soars and dives straight to the center of your heart. Whether backed by a simple organ or piano or with full studio accompaniment, Jackson's booming, instantly recognizable contralto is indescribable, exciting, and forever a wonder to behold. And if you think that's an exaggeration, you don't own this record. --Mike McGonigal

Customer Reviews

WOW!! After All These Years...
...she is still considered the "Queen of Gospel". She has been dead for about 30 years and NO gospel artist can compare to her. Not even the late Rev. James Cleveland can get this much respect. When you hear Mahalia sing, it's like GOD singing. That's how powerful her voice was. Even when I have my doubts on life, I depend on Mahalia to pick me up (and she does). This collection is the best collection out there (IMO) on Ms. Jackson. I recommend this to all. I wished I was alive to have heard her sing live, but at least I have this collection.

What's not to love about a Mahalia Jackson CD?..
I bought this CD and Volume II back in 2002. My mother loved Mahalia Jackson, so I grew up listening to her in vinyl round the clock it seemed. I actually thought I couldn't stand to hear another Mahalia Jackson song as long as I lived. But as an adult, I found myself humming some of the songs my mother had played over and over, and one day I realized I missed Mahalia's voice. When I bought these collections of hers, I actually went searching specifically for Mahalia Jackson music. Imagine my mother's surprise when I told her I had Mahalia Jackson blasting in my house the way she'd done when I was growing up! :-) There are still more Mahalia Jackson songs that I'm looking for that, in all the songs on these collections, weren't included. That's my only disappointment with these. But the quality of the recordings -- classic Mahalia!

Would have loved to been in the audience...
About a year ago, I was looking to expand my Gospel collection. I remembered hearing Ms. Jackson's version of "Go Tell it on the Mountain" when I was young -- and I remembered that I liked that song, liked it a LOT.
Thinking back to my younger days, I took a chance and invested in this CD, and Volume II, at the same time. WOW!! Suffice it to say that those two Mahalia CDs now receive more playing time than any of my other CDs.
One drawback; however, I learned not to play these on my stereo when it was time to go to sleep -- I just couldn't keep still -- my feet kept moving to the music -- the music is just too powerful, too stimulating -- had to limit it to daytime use only.
I would have loved to have been in the live audience to hear Ms. Jackson sing while she drew breath upon this earth.
Does it get any better than this ... I think NOT.
I hope I run into Mahalia and Elvis when I make it to heaven, and I hope that I get to hear them belt out those gospel tunes with their heavenly voices -- definitely something to look forward to! Wow, again!