Many of you know that in January of this year we signed a distribution deal partnering with Lamon Records to get our new CD, “The Imperials”, out to the public. While the CD has been available on our website and at our concerts for a few months now, the “street date” for the CD is April 10, 2007. This is the first nationally distributed new recording by The Imperials in more than 10 years! Check to see if your local Christian bookstore has it and if not, ask them to order it.
In light of the new CD being released on a broader scale and in recognition of the fact that we are marketed mostly in the Southern Gospel community right now, we thought it would be good to mention a little bit about our mindset in creating this album.
First, we want to say how honored and humbled we are to be carrying on the great legacy that has been passed on to us (specifically by Armond Morales, but also by all of the Imperial members who have gone before us). We are in awe of what our predecessors accomplished and we recognize that anything God enables us to do now or in the future is simply building on the great foundation that has been laid. We are forever indebted to those who have gone before us!
We also want to mention the vast number of Imperials fans around this nation as well as around the world. Imperials fans have been so faithful and supportive of The Imperials over many years of membership changes and stylistic variety. It seems that they’ve caught the heart of the group through the years - starting with the original group of Jake Hess, Armond Morales, Gary McSpadden, Sherrill Nielson and Henry Slaughter and continuing up through the current group the focus seems to have remained on glorifying God and reaching people wherever they happen to be through the medium of excellent and relevant music, regardless of the style. And even though each incarnation of The Imperials put their own spin on the way this mission was carried out, the fans have been wonderfully supportive. One of the things that have been so encouraging to us in recent years is that the fans have really embraced this “new generation” of The Imperials with open arms. That means so much to us and with all of our hearts we say, “Thank you”!
So it was with great respect for the “Imperial legacy” and the “Imperial sound”, as well as for the wide spectrum of Imperials fans that we put this recording “The Imperials” together. More than anything, we wanted to say “The Imperials are still here with the same commitment to God; the same dedication to excellent music; and the same heart to reach as many people for the Kingdom as possible.” Therefore there was no way this recording could be dedicated to any one genre of music. All of the fans needed to know that The Imperials still had something for them. People have asked us over the past several years what we would call our style and the best thing we can come up with is that we are still The Imperials. We will always do our best to bring excellence to any songs we sing and record whether they are Southern Gospel, Praise and Worship, Inspirational or Adult Contemporary (that pretty much covers what’s on this album). We’re not sure what box “the industry” will want to put us in but mostly we just want to be faithful to the legacy we’ve been entrusted with and the calling that God has placed on our lives.
A quick word about our next planned recording: we are making plans for a “Back to the Roots” album in which we will record several of the classic Imperials songs probably spanning the first 25 or 30 years of the group’s history. We’ve narrowed the potential songs list down to about 30 or 40 of our favorites. Actually, we’re thinking about doing a poll and letting the fans decide at least some of what they would like to hear on this CD. At this point it looks like about 75% of the CD will lean more Southern Gospel and Inspo with maybe 25% of the songs leaning a little more Adult Contemporary. We’d love to hear your thoughts about this recording and also what great Imperials songs you’d like to hear again.
One final thought, this article has focused mostly on the “business” of Gospel music but honestly, the thing we are most excited about is that after more than 40 years, people are still meeting Jesus and having their lives changed at Imperials concerts! So many times over the past few years we’ve had people come up to us and say, “I met Jesus at an Imperials concert many years ago” or “I met Jesus while listening to an Imperials album”. It’s still happening today!! We recently heard about a man who was healed of cancer while listening to our new CD and especially recently, the presence of Jesus has been very real in our concerts and people are “marinating” in that presence. Of course, we can take no credit for any of that – it happened before we got here and it will happen long after we’re gone – but we’re truly grateful to be a part of it. We would really appreciate your prayers as the Lord brings us to mind.
Humbly in Jesus,
THE IMPERIALS
Ian, Jason, Jeremie, and Shannon
http://www.theimperials.com
Author: AGM
| Author's Website: http://absolutelygospel.com/
Written: 04/01/2007
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Category: The Imperials
Comments: 3
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I was privledged to attend your concert around Christmas and it was truly amazing the power of God that flows through each one of you and your music ministry. Keep up the good work and may God continue to bless.
I APPRECIATE YOU TALKING ABOUT YOUR NEXT ALBUM...ONE THING THAT I DO MISS AS AN IMPERIALS FAN IS THEIR ABILITY TO DO AN ALBUM ABOUT ONCE A YEAR OR YEAR AND A HALF. WHEN THINGS STARTED SLOWING DOWN IN THE 90S AND THEN ALMOST COMING TO A COMPLETE CRAWL WITH ALBUM PRODUCTION IT MADE IT A BIT LESS ENJOYABLE BEING AN IMPERIALS FAN...BUT WE HAVE ALL ENDURED THE MANY CHANGES AND YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST...AND GOD WILLING YOU WILL BE ABLE TO PRODUCE ALBUMS A LITTLE FASTER THAN EVERY 4 YEARS OR SO LIKE IT HAS BEEN RECENTLY!
Record "OH BUDDAH" Great Imperials Classic!
Skull
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