AFTER flirting with lovers rock on For You , his 2018 album, George Nooks is back to the gospel sound that has defined the second phase of his career. Through It All , his latest effort, is scheduled for release tomorrow by Tad’s International Record.
The set has 13 songs, all produced by the veteran singer. Most of them, including Amazing Grace, are gospel standards.
Nooks told the Jamaica Observer that some of the songs reminds him of a special time.
“When I was a boy my grandmother was mother of the Mount Carmel Apostolic Gospel Church in King Weston (rural St Andrew), so I used to hear a lot of these songs. They mean a lot to me,” he said.
Like Ride Out Your Storm, his previous gospel album, Nooks went for a mix of uptempo tracks and soothing ballads. He also put a gospel spin to You Make me Feel Brand New, a monster hit for rhythm and blues group The Stylistics in 1974.
Nooks wrote three of the songs on Through It All on which he worked with musicians such as drummer Kirk Bennett and keyboardist Bowie McLaughlin. Two of those originals are Prodigal Son and Nuh Badda Worry.
A protégé of Dennis Brown, Nooks hit his stride in the late 1970s as a member of producer Joe Gibbs’ formidable stable which included Brown, Culture and Trinity. He had hits with Tribal War and Left With A Broken Heart, but also entered the charts as deejay Prince Mohammed with toasts to Culture’s Zion Gate (Fortyleg Dread) and Brown’s How Could I Leave (Bubbling Love).
Nooks’ career took a lull in the 1980s and 1990s. He was largely forgotten until 2001 when he made a remarkable comeback with God Is Standing By, a cover of a song originally done in 1971 by Al Green.
He has since established himself as one of Jamaica’s leading gospel acts.
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