Title: Gospel is important, but let's not get carried away. .
Review: This book, in my opinion, was written from the perspective of a fan. There are numerous books written on music by music scholars (e.g., Early Jazz by Gunther Schuller) which I prefer to this type of writing because the authors ideas are backed up by examples that include musical knowledge and music history knowledge. Heilbut make many statements about the importance of Gospel music as an influence on US pop music that are untrue and not backed up with any facts or examples. I did enjoy the stories about some the key architects of the gospel sound, but the "religious fanatical" perspective of the author turned me off. I know enough about music and US music history to know when the author was getting emotional about a music that touched him personally. This is a problem if the reader is not educated in music and US music history, they may take the many fantastic claims that Heilbut makes about Gospel music as truth.
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