When Rosie Rozell joined the Statesmen, they quickly released this album. What was the label on the first batch of these records?

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The label was the old yellow Statesmen label with the five stars also the front was just slightly different in that in the little Skylite box on the one with the Statesmen label has Skylite in print writing and the letters SQLP-5965 and the Skylite one has Skylite in cursive on the front and the letters on the back slightly different, SRLP-5965.

I'd put a picture on but still have not been able to get my pictures to this site. Maybe I can get my son to help me with that tonight as he eats with us most Mondays and he does computer work.

Statesmen label.

If that album was a rush job, listening to the stereo copy confirms the hurry-up. The engineering was bad...really bad.

The Statesmen label is correct. If I'm not mistaken, it actually says "The Statesmen Quartet with Houie Lister".

Danny, I don't know that the LP was actually recorded as a stereo project or if it was later "enhanced".

It has long been one of my favorite Statesmen recordings.

I bought my copy in 1969, and I believe I bought it from the Oak Ridge Boys.

I started going to gospel concerts in the early 70s and don't recall groups selling albums by other groups. Was that common back then?

The lp "Hymns By The Statesmen" was also released on the Statesmen label and the Skylite label. The first 2 lp's on Skylite by the Blackwood Brothers were initially released with blue labels and then black. The first 2 lp's by the Speer Family on the Skylite label were also released on Sing And Stateswood.

I guess in the initial stages of the Skylite label they had trouble making decisions.

Danny, I think the mono version of this album sounds great, have never heard a stereo copy so can't say on it.

It wasn't very common, but once in a while a group would have recordings by other groups that they would use in their 3 for $5 or 3 for $10 specials. For example, I bought the two earliest Sons of Song lps from the Statesmen in the late 1960s.

I remember the Oaks having several old Skylite recordings on their table for a "deal". Seems like that day I purchased "Sing and Shout", "Go Out to the Program", and "Get Away Jordan" from the Oaks.

The record company must have had their semi-annual fire sale and the Oaks stocked up.

A Picture of the label

And, Hovie's name is misspelled.

Thanks, I never noticed that the name was wrong, wish it worked like baseball cards where a mistake sometimes makes them worth a bunch.

The stereo version is real, 2-track stereo. If memory serves, the right channel (Chief and Doy) is dull and muted compared to the left channel...much less upper end frequencies. Summed to mono the tonal disparity might not be noticeable.