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Pastor Mitty Collier

Friars Point, Inc. & Bright Echoes, Inc./P-Vine (2011)

By Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel Blog.

“I had a talk with God last night…”

Her voice may be a little lower these days and more pointed than poignant, but there’s no mistaking Pastor Mitty Collier when she sings the re-gospelized version of her 1964 soul hit, “I Had a Talk With My Man.”

You can hear her sing James Cleveland’s “I Had a Talk With God Last Night,” as it was written, on I Owe It All to the Word.  The album is a collection of live and studio tracks by Pastor Collier who, according to soul music expert Robert Pruter, “must be counted among the best soul singers of all time.”  

Collier sang secular until getting saved, and has stuck to gospel ever since.

Most of the songs on I Owe It All to the Word were written or co-written by Collier’s music director, the estimable Calvin Bridges, whose oeuvre includes “I Can Go to God in Prayer,” made popular by Albertina Walker.  Bridges provides an accomplished assembly of vocalists and musicians for Collier, who also performs “No Cross, No Crown,” another Clevelandcomposition that Chess Records had her record as “No Faith, No Love” in the 1960s.

Although Collier delivers most of her lyrics with a preacher’s unhurried deliberation, “He’ll Make It Happen” and “If You Understood My Past” are rhythmic and up-tempo.  The audience shouts in nostalgic delight when she begins “Talk with God.”

As “If You Understood My Past” suggests, a theme running through Collier’s selection of songs is triumph over life’s troubles through belief in God.  This becomes even more of a topic on the DVD.  Japan’s P-Vine label has manufactured and distributed a deluxe version of I Owe It All to the Word, which includes a 90-minute performance video, taped at Greater Walters AME Zion in Chicago, as well as a sermon delivered by Pastor Collier.

The DVD includes a couple of songs not on the album, including Collier’s gospelization of Stevie Wonder’s hit, “For Once in My Life,” and live performances of two studio tracks from the CD.  Collier shares the story behind her big hit—“when I got saved, I went back and got it!”—and other tidbits of her testimony, which help transform the second half of the gospel program into a praise party.  

The audience is enthusiastic, if sparse, but when Collier walks the aisles at the conclusion, she is embraced and showered with love by her fans and supporters.

2012-12-31 18:00:59

Source: http://www.theblackgospelblog.com/2012/12/pastor-mitty-collier-i-owe-it-all-to.html