Atlantic's great early soul singer delivers 2 sides of fairly traditional material – both in her own gutsy R&B style. Precious Memories features LaVern singing 12 gospel tunes like "Didn't It Rain", "Too Close", "Without A God", "Touch Me, Lord Jesus", and "Journey To The Sky". LaVern's fine, but the real treat is the backing by Alex Bradford and his singers, one of the most soulful gospel groups of the late 50s! The next set of 12 tracks are all older
Bessie Smith numbers – performed with small group backing that includes Sahib Shihab, Paul Quinichette, Buck Clayton, and Jimmy Cleveland. LaVern's versions are a bit jazzier than
Bessie's – and titles include "After You've Gone", "preaching The Blues", "Empty Bed Blues", "Back Water Blues", and "Gimme A Pigfoot".