The Mighty Clouds Of Joy
★★★★
Kickin’
OMNIVORE. CD/DL/LP
Exultant gospel-disco from 1975.
Dubbed ‘The Temptations Of Gospel’ due to their choreographed dance moves and brightly coloured shirts and suits – they even used The Temptations’ tailor – LA’s Mighty Clouds Of Joy took gospel into new places with 1975’s Kickin’. Recorded at David Studios in Atlanta with producer Dave Crawford and arranger Mike Terry, it captures the group with finger on black music’s pulse, engaging in a thrilling dialogue between church and disco, most notably on Mighty High, the album’s show-stopping first single, a four-on-the-floor high-energy dance groove smothered in hi-hat and a US dance Number 2. An inspired shouldn’t-workbut-does medley comprising Kiki Dee’s I Got The Music In Me and Stevie Wonder’s Superstition provides another ecstatic stand-out, their voices rich, tough and harmonious, but everything here is touched by magic.