Can we reach a final consensus here? Was "Stand On the Word" by The Joubert Singers or Celestial Choir?

as far as i know, the celestial choir is the original version which the joubert singers covered with a slightly different production behind it. the joubert singers version sounds a lot more dated and has more clunky 80's drums. according to francois kevorkian, larry levan had nothing to do with this at all -

As far as I know, Larry never had anything to do with "Stand On The Word" (except that the person who is bootlegging it is making more money using his name)

here's some more info -

The original version of 'Stand On The Word' was an album cut on a private press out of Brooklyn by First Baptist Church of Crown Heights, which Bobby Shaw, then a promotions guy at MCA and a big Loft and Garage aficionado, heard, loved and introduced to Walter Gibbons. Walter Gibbons then played it to Steven Harvey (the guy responsible for the legendary Behind The Beat article in Collusion magazine) who went to the church and got a box of them to distribute to other DJs.

As a result of this, it was re-recorded for Next Plateau, though the production is different. On the original it's much simpler and clean.

hot coins remix of this on the tirk 02 sampler is... not really necessary per se, but nice enough.

this song's growing omnipresence - friday night was the first time i HAVEN'T heard it out this year - is an unexpected development.

So, does anyone know the full history of this tune, and Larry Levan's supposed remix of it? As mentioned above, the song was originally an ultra-limited gospel release... Then, later on, the vocals were re-recorded for a dance version, produced by Tony Humphries... But I can't find any info on when and where the Levan "remix" came out. Also, the Levan "remix" is usually credited to "Celestial Choir", while the Humphries mix is credited to "The Joubert Singers". Is Celestial Choir the original name of the choir, and The Joubert Singers the name they used for the re-recording?

Also, like Stirmonster says, it's been said the "Larry Levan mix" was not by Levan at all, it was simply a bootleg to which someone added his name, so it would sell more. If this is true, does it mean that the "Larry Levan remix" is actually the original gospel version? Or is it a remix by someone else? Has anyone ever heard the original version?

If tune was originally discovered by Walter Gibbons, who included it into his DJ sets, is the "Larry Levan remix" actually by Gibbons? Here's another quote from that thread:

“…ever since Bobby “DJ” Guttadaro, Francis Grasso and David Mancuso started to push Dorothy Morrison’s “Rain” [a rhythmic gospel song] at the turn of the 1970s, gospel had demonstrated its ability to heighten the celebratory mood of the dance floor, and [Walter] Gibbons continued to unearth the occasional treasure, including “Stand On The Word“, which was recorded live in the First Baptist Church in Crown Heights in 1982.”

“‘Stand On The Word’ was Walter’s biggest record at the time,” says [Colin] Gate, who visited the church in order to track down the origins of the song. “The record was recorded in his local church — the Jus Born studios were only a couple of blocks away.”

“Walter played this record after the church pressed up a couple of hundred copies for the congregation.” The song soon became a Garage, Loft and Zanzibar classic, and Tony Humphries went on to remix the record — which was attributed to the Joubert Singers, after Phyllis McKoy Joubert, who penned the song for the Celestial Choir – for Next Plateau.”

[Note: Jus Born was the mini-label of Walter Gibbons, which only produced 3 hit recordings: "Set It Off", by Steve "Strafe" Standart; "Searchin" by Arts and Crafts, and "Set It Off" again, but this time, Tim Lawrence writes "the idiosyncratic evangelist [Gibbons] teamed up with Barbara Tucker, then an unknown gospel vocalist. Released in 1985 under the moniker Harlequin Four’s, the record was the third (and probably last) issue on Jus Born Records]

So, we can conclude that the very original recorder of that great live song ‘Stand On The Word’ was not Levan, as originally Lowe thought, and was not Humphries, but the great and unique Born-Again, newly Saved Christian DJ, Mr. Walter Gibbons!"

However, whoever wrote that says the tune was originally recorded live, but the "Larry Levan remix" doesn't sound like a live version to me.

Can't we just credit this to God?

Wow, I was just playing this song today and now this thread revive.
How uncanny.

And I was having this exact problem with Joubert/Celestial while trying to find it yesterday. Tuomas, were you looking at my last.fm feed or something? ;-)

Can't we just credit this to God?

― boxedjoy, Monday, May 13, 2013 10:05 PM (Yesterday)

We must not question the good Lord.

Dimitri From Paris played his new remix of "Stand On The Word" on Beats In Space this week, and spoke about how he asked Phyllis Jourbert (of the Joubert Singers) about the origin of the song. Joubert said Larry Levan's Grandmother was a member of her parish, and Larry came along one day to the show where "Stand On The Word" was recorded, and then Larry started playing it afterwards.

http://www.beatsinspace.net/playlists/812

So it had nothing at all to do with Walter Gibbons?

He wasn't mentioned at all! But there was no mention of Larry actually remixing the record either.

I discovered a while back that it wasn't a Levan remix, but I still was under the impression Gibbons slipped him the recording. If Larry went to see it performed/recorded with his grandma, I like that story even more!