Deluxe
The Café of the Gate of Salvation

I spent a fair bit of time some years ago sitting in draughty churches being swooned by The Café at the Gate of Salvation.

I still maintain it's best to hear this wonderful a cappella choir live. However, you could grab a copy of Deluxe and listen to it in preparation for attending one of their fabulous concerts.

Deluxe has 13 original tracks mostly written and arranged by Tony Backhouse plus the quirky "Make My Day" by Judy Tihany.
My favourite track was "There is a Rose" featuring the creamy-voiced soloist Jo Maunsell. The song comes together with a smooth beauty. Words like "its thorns are what we feel when we forget that there is a bird singing alleluia in our souls" marry finely with swelling gospel harmonies.

"Praying for rain" lyrics memorably begin, "It's like a heatwave, all this dog eat dog hate we're living in" and there's a pretty groovy version of "The Lord's Prayer" that had me do-wopping.
Musical director Tony Backhouse and the five other conductors, as usual, have the choir eating out of their hands and singing from their hearts.

On first listen I felt there was a thinness to one or two soloists' voices but this concern faded with repeat listening. The full choir, inspired by the African American musical tradition, has an enviable, single-organism feel.

The frisson of the embodied choir in live performance is missing, but the expertise in the genre is clearly there. This is gospel that gleams.

Marjorie Lewis-Jones

$25 plus postage and handling ($5 within Australia and $9 outside Australia) Order online at www.cafeofthegateofsalvation.com.au