OK, if you are easily offended or you are the greatest George Younce fan in the known Universe, then please quit reading right now. I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings and it will save you many points on your blood pressure if you just turn away. I know many who do read further will consider much of it heresy.
You were warned.
That being said, well, it's not quite that bad. I just wanted everyone to know what they were getting into up front, and to get rid of anyone who just can't stand to read anything slightly critical of The Cats and former members.
One thing I've been
noticing more and
more lately is the
almost "god-like" worship that has been thrown on George Younce. Maybe it's been there all along and I just let it wash over me unnoticed. But really, everywhere you look it seems like someone is talking about the Cathedral Quartet and George Younce.
For full disclosure purposes here, I loved George Younce and I am a big fan of his voice and singing. On top of that, there was something magical about the way George handled an audience, especially later in his career.
No, what I'm talking about now is the "glorification" of George to the near exclusion of Glen. In many places I looked in researching this article, the group was referred to as George Younce and The Cathedral Quartet. Obviously, these must be individuals who never saw them live or are teenagers, or something.
If you are a Cathedral fan at all, you must know that Glen Payne WAS The Cathedral Quartet. (OK here comes some heresy) In my opinion, you could replace George with any number of bass singers and still have the same basic, great, Cathedral sound. If you try to replace Glen, you don't have The Cathedrals at all. Perfect example... Old Friends Quartet. Not a bad group by any means, but NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES the equivalent of The Cathedral Quartet, and that's with The Legend Jake Hess at lead.
Again, before your blood pressures gets any worse, George Younce was a very good bass singer. He was a very good SINGER, period. However, he wasn't even the best singer in The Cathedral Quartet, much less the best bass singer ever. Here is an
article by John Scheideman that makes the point much clearer than I would every be able to do.
So, what are the reasons for this seeming "revisionist history". Was it because Glen passed first? Is it because George was Ernie's F-i-L and so was promoted by him and SSQ? Is it because people have short to no memories? All of the above? None? You tell me.
Personally, I see it the same way I see modern sports figures compared to legends. Someone who never saw Babe Ruth play has no way to compare him to Barry Bonds or Albert Pujols. Someone who never saw Kareem Abbul Jabbar in his prime can have no comprehension of how dominant he was and so think Michael Jordan (or now Kobe Bryant) invented the game.
George was very good, but there are giants in the past at singing bass. Chief, JD, and Big Jim Waits come readily to mind.
Well, if you suffered through till the end, let me have it.