With the Oak Ridge Boys in the spotlight this week as part of the ten on ten feature, I thought I would include a classic quartet clip as part of the smack down feature. Listed as public domain, “One Of These Mornings” is a classic up tempo Southern Gospel style quartet song. While there are other groups that recorded this song, I decided to use a classic version from the Oak Ridge Boys and a more recent version from the Palmetto State Quartet.
The Oak Ridge Boys recorded “One Of These Mornings” on their 1965 recording I Wouldn’t Take Nothing For My Journey Now. The group on this recording consisted of Willie Wynn, Smitty Gatlin, Jim Hamill, Herman Harper and Tommy Fairchild.
As the song enters the verse you can hear to big vocals of Jim Hamill take over this song. Listen to the Oak Ridge Boys take the first half of “One Of These Mornings”.
In 2001, the Palmetto State Quartet recorded a themed album honoring the legacy of classic quartet music. When He Blessed My Soul is one of the best albums the group released. The vocal line-up on this particular album was Brion Carter, Kerry Beatty, Tony Peace and Jeff Pearles.
Kerry Beatty takes the lead on this fun concert song that the Palmetto State Quartet staged a lot during this time period. Listen to the group take the second half of “One Of These Mornings”.
This week’s smack down is all about classic quartet music. Classic version vs. modern version; who takes it?
I have to give it to the Oaks (even though this isn’t my preferred version or era of the Oaks). I love Fairchild’s piano work and even though the guitar sounds ’60′sish, the tempo is better and I like the trading off of vocalists (even though Harper was left out.
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From a production standpoint, the more recent one is more modern, but it seems too busy and the tempo too fast.
Cast my vote for the Oaks as well. The PSQ version was very good, to be sure, but it just doesn’t have the same energy that the Oaks version has. I love Jim Hamill’s verse on the Oaks cut. Like I said on your Ten on Ten post, that ORB album is one of my all time favorites. The best version of “I Wouldn’t Take Nothing” I’ve ever heard (yeah, that’s a sacrilege, I know!).
Of these two I would choose the Oak Ridge boys, however both versions can’t compare with the Statesmen rendition.
My vote is with Dean on this one. No comparison. Add a spoken Hovie Lister introduction and you have classic quartet music at its finest.
Wow, nice haircuts for the ORB… my how they changed.
Well, first of all this was nearly 50 years ago and secondly none of the guys there are the current Oaks. Nonetheless, even the current Oaks had what you would call “nice haircuts” at one time, but they just aren’t in this picture.