Joy - The Time Is Right

Joy was a gospel group from southern California, San Diego to be exact. They recorded this pearl of an album and that was it. This is about the strongest tune on the LP, but they showed tremendous potential. This tune is pure magic, straight up good gospel groove with a very simple premise of positivity and action. The lyrics boast 'It's time we treat each other like true sisters and brothers' and i couldn't agree more. We need more songs like this in our world today. Again they proclaim 'It's time we forget denominations and come to the realization that god just wants us to show our love' and 'It's time to be strong and take a stand, reach out your hand and help someone when they fall'. Just how silly new music these days can be, and how vulgar and negative it can be, it truly makes you appreciate songs like this. Very Stevie Wonder-ish sounding vocals, brilliant simple production, and a smart little bass and drum 'breakdown' from this perfect title cut from this album. In the gospel scene, bands like this in the late 70's and early 80's turned towards making more straight soul records and moved away from more traditional sounds. Packing up the Hammond, and subbing in the Rhodes. Putting down the Tambourine and replaced it with slapping the bass. Basically it's a pop/soul record and I'm thankful for this trend during that time.

This sat firm at the top of my want list for over three years and last year finally came to me in the mail. Do you understand how hard it was searching for the key words 'Gospel' and 'Joy' on the interweb! It took me forever to track this one down, and it was a frustrating journey. But, now it's here like a ray of sunshine. I had every intention of posting this when I got it, but sometimes things slip through the cracks and after a few plays out in the clubs it was filed away. So good to be giving it it's proper due and sharing here on SB. I hope that somehow the band finds this post and sheds a little light on how this album came about and what the San Diego Gopsel scene was like in the early 80's.

This is actually our first 'actual' request for a song. A fellow artist and enthusiast just recently told me 'more Gospel please!' and I'm very happy to oblige. It's you, our readers and followers of this blog that make all the difference in the world to this music and the artists, and give me purpose to searching high and low for good music . The fact that I'm getting feedback and 'requests' for gospel here...is fabulous. So, here ya go...A special dedication to my homie Alika Cooper and hoping this track pleases her growing Soundboutique mix tape collection, and provides additional music for her while she's painting.




Check out her amazing work here...
www.alikacooper.com/











Joy - The Time Is Right