1978 Robert Chatman “Holy Ghost Trip” on Robcha Records

Man, I have such a heavy soft spot for exactly this slice of vinyl. Found in the wild in deepest Oaktown, priced for a song, total flyer on content but clearly gospel, local church private press, ROBCHA the telltale self-named label, a piece of seventies history with the potential for being awful or banging or somewhere (perhaps the most disappointing) in the heart of yawning mediocrity. Bring it home, sits on the Chartwells in a bag for a week, remember it’s there, gloss it up in the Ultrasonic, set it on the platter with no real expectations and….it’s great. Sort of a garage-blues soulful hard gospel recorded on a dime, some it possibly church-live, with one track of just Chatman on the organ in a Guitar Red style, the rest with a full choir, gorgeous melodies, heavy organ, one side of pure metaphysical bliss. That’s taking into account that the entire second side, which is just Chatman’s spoken word sermon, which I enjoyed as well (once, anyway), not through the embrace of a syllable of dogma, but just the crackling earnestness of his voice, imagining him leaning close to a cheap Sears mic, testifying in a pale blue Rayon suit. It’s enough for me to believe in his depth of belief, if not his beliefs. And the music side bangs! Amidst the grail hawking and flipping and tariffs and market insanity and spatter wax RE’s, to me this is where the real fun in vinyl now lays.