Film Review
Amazing Grace, the documentary film recently-released having been archived for 47 years, is a treasured masterpiece of historical significance.
During this period of the African American social and cultural trajectory, there were many lessons which were being summed up and pioneering trends initiated.
This concept of Aretha Franklin recording and releasing a double gospel album in 1972 was bold and timely. It turned out to be the largest selling gospel album in United States history.
What many people were not aware of was that the two nights of music with arrangements by the Rev. James Cleveland, Alexander Hamilton the youth director of the Southern California Community Choir and the appearance of the Rev. C.L. Franklin, Aretha’s father and longtime Pastor of New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit, Clara Ward, the renowned gospel legend and her mother, Gertrude Mae Ward, were all captured on film by Warner’s Brothers. The film was recorded at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles, located in an area which has striking similarities to the city of Detroit where the Franklin family made their mark during the post-World War II era.
Listening for years to the album Amazing Grace it seems as if this was a gospel concert that was professionally recorded. The film reveals that the Church was turned into a recording studio in which the audience could have been there through invitation only, considering its size. The grand entry of Aretha both nights, and on the second night, Rev. Franklin and Clara Ward, was theatrical in nature.
This was 1972 and many people in the choir and audience wore their hair in the natural style, including Aretha, Rev. Cleveland and director Alexander Hamilton. The discipline of the Southern California Community Choir was notable adding to the atmosphere of a staged drama…. https://bit.ly/2JtAKAq
Wisconsin Bail Out the People Movement 