Saaty T.l.

Before his songs would be incorporated in the creation of Kanye West’s “Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1” and before being charged with encouraging his members to participate in a pyramid scheme, Rev. T.L. Barnett, Jr., was riding the rippling momentum of his 1971 debut album ahead of a 1973 release on Gospel Truth. On “I Found the Answer,” Barrett boasts that in his Youth for Christ Choir he’s “made something from nothing,” finding his own talent for music without any formal training and harnessing his leadership enough to shepherd a sprawling, young choir to success in the recording industry.

Pastor T.L. Barrett led a youth choir out of Chicago during the late '60s and early '70s, just a few years after he got on the straight and narrow path, which may help listeners understand the unique power of the material on Like a Ship… (Without a Sail). Self-released by Barrett in 1971, it communicates many things, foremost being adoration and praise and, on the title track, the lost, aimless feelings that were undoubtedly shared by many a youth in the late '60s.