Ralph Stanley - I Can Tell You The Time
(Rebel REB 1637) 1985
Average Album Rating: 4
(Total votes 7)
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This Gospel album was recorded on the 6th Feb 1985 at Maggard Sound Studio in Big Stone Gap, Va. Sadly, it hasn't been reissued on CD.
I Can Tell You The Time was one of the first songs The Stanley Brothers recorded for Rich-R-Tone in 1947. Ralph: "we got them two tunes 'I Can Tell You The Time' and 'Death Is Only A Dream', we got 'em from old songbooks that we found somewhere."[1]
Three of Ralph's compositions Sometimes I Sing, Thy Will Be Done and Jerusalem, My Happy Home are performed a cappella, with the latter song being 'lined out' by Ralph. At 5:12 it is one of his longest tunes.
Ralph's other composition on the album Over There is pretty decent and there are several other catchy songs on the album like Two Men A Praying and Man In The Middle. The latter was later recorded by Delia Bell and Bill Grant, The Hotmud Family and Tony Trischka and Skyline.
The two old chestnuts Oh Daniel Prayed and He Will Set Your Fields On Fire, were also in The Stanley Brothers repertoire, although He Will Set Your Fields On Fire was never recorded by them in the studio.[2]
Arvil Gearheart who provided I Want A Clear Record had earlier co-arranged Going Up Home (To Live In Green Pastures) which Ralph also cut on Over The Sunset Hill and I Want To Preach The Gospel.
- Ralph Stanley: banjo, vocals
- Junior Blankenship: lead guitar
- Curly Ray Cline: fiddle
- Jack Cooke: bass
- Charlie Sizemore: guitar, vocals
| Track: |
Title: |
|---|---|
| Side One: |
(17:04) |
| 1 |
Oh Daniel Prayed |
| G.T. Speer |
|
| 2 |
I Want A Clear Record |
| Arvil Gearheart / R. Stanley |
|
| 3 |
Sometimes I Sing |
| R. Stanley |
|
| 4 |
The Man In The Middle |
| Tom Harly Campbell |
|
| 5 |
Thy Will Be Done |
| R. Stanley |
|
| 6 |
Victory In Jesus |
| E.M. Bartlett |
|
| Side Two: |
(18:22) |
| 1 |
He Will Set Your Fields On Fire |
| P.D. |
|
| 2 |
The Little Old Church By The Road |
| L.D. Laminack |
|
| 3 |
Two Men A Praying |
| Randall Hylton |
|
| 4 |
Over There |
| R. Stanley |
|
| 5 |
I Can Tell You The Time |
| Adger M. Pace |
|
| 6 |
Jerusalem, My Happy Home |
| R. Stanley |
[1] Liner notes to The Stanley Brothers - Earliest Recordings: The Complete Rich-R-Tone 78s (Rounder 11661-1110-2) 2004. (p.7)
[2] There are live versions by The Stanley Brothers on: The Legendary Stanley Brothers Live Vol. 1 (Rebel SLP 1487) 1970 (aka On Stage (Seven Seas SR 287-288) 1969); On Radio (Rebel REB CD 1115) 1991; Live At The New River Ranch CD (No label) and Stanley Series, Vol. 3 No. 3 (Copper Creek CCCD-5511) 1990.