The Blind Boys of Alabama are one of the longest-running popular music ensembles on earth--vocalist Clarence Fountain has been leading their exuberant gospel harmonising since 1939. However, Spirit of the Century sounds anything but a museum piece. It is, in fact, as fresh and vital a record as could be imagined. This is partly down to a judicious selection of material--just as Johnny Cash has reaffirmed his worth by turning his hand to material by relative upstarts such as Nick Cave and Will Oldham, so the Blind Boys of Alabama cover Tom Waits ("Jesus Gonna Be Here", "Down in the Hole"), Ben Harper ("Give a Man a Home") and The Rolling Stones ("Just Wanna See His Face"). Splendid though their versions of all of these are, the real strength of Spirit of the Century is the impeccably delivered gospel standards. The venerable antiques "Motherless Child", "Good Religion" and "Amazing Grace"--the latter arranged to fit the guitar riff from "House of the Rising Sun"--all sound as sprightly and vigorous as if they were written yesterday. --Andrew Mueller