‘He’s Able’: Inside the album recorded by the Jonestown cult
At the end of the 1960s, the counterculture started to become more dangerous by the day. As much as artists wanted to believe in freedom of expression, the heinous acts of people like Charles Manson cast a dark shroud over how much influence one person can have over their followers. While this would culminate in one of the most horrific moments of the 1970s with The Jonestown Massacre, the infamous cult did manage to spit out a record of original material before everything went belly up.
Then again, it wasn’t out of the question for people to get indoctrinated into cults through alternate means. Even when Manson was at his worst, he was typically caught hanging around various rockstars like Dennis Wilson as well as trying to get his own musical career off the ground, very nearly succeeding with songs like ‘Look At Your Game Girl’.
Compared to Manson’s attempts at ensnaring followers through the power of music, He’s Able would be released by the followers of the infamous Jim Jones as a collection of gospel tunes. Even though it’s difficult to revisit the album in hindsight, considering what happened with many of the followers, it remains a decently executed praise-and-worship album from the time.
Instead of the different warped platitudes that one might expect on the record, many songs fluctuate between universal truths anyone can take to heart. While a line might jump out as a bit off every now and then, most of the songs contain fairly surface-level Christian beliefs akin to what many of the followers were taught.
Even in a statement written on the back cover, the choir had meant for the album to be about a celebration rather than preaching from a pulpit, stating, “ Our choir consists of people from all walks of life. We are dedicated to one common cause — making the humanistic teachings of Jesus Christ part of our daily lives”.
This was not meant as a fly-by-night release by any of the followers, either. Orchestrated by former follower Jack Beam, most of the album consists of artists who know what they are doing, putting all their creative ingenuity into making the record stand out. The album also had top-of-the-line production as well, being recorded in the same studios that were once used to mix Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours and Steely Dan’s Aja.
As such, the record sounds immaculate, with much of the band’s enthusiasm about their music coming out in the final product. Even though the band could move decent numbers for the records and were invited around the state to perform at various venues, Beam would ultimately see things going wrong with Jones’s practices.
Not long after the album was finished, Beam would leave the faith, telling Rolling Stone, “I saw years of paranoid tyrannical personality behaviour building up in Jim and decided I wasn’t going to be associated with it anymore. Through the years, I saw what had started out as a great humanitarian effort turn into a living nightmare”.
While Beam would leave intact, many of his friends and family wouldn’t be as lucky, with his parents and sister both perishing when Jones convinced his followers to drink toxic Kool-Aid.
Although the album would still get remasters over the years, Beam would attempt to rewrite history when working on the arrangements, including tacking on a track at the end telling the cult’s despicable ways. Entitled ‘Mass Suicide’, the song is a 40-minute long audio tape of Jones preaching from a pulpit about the Kool-Aid, convincing his followers that what they are doing is part of God’s will.
Even though the track does its best to rewrite history, the songs before it serve as a disturbing epitaph for those who thought they were genuinely doing the right thing by preaching the words of a tyrannical religious maniac. Considering how well the original album turned out, He’s Able is a crushing piece of gospel music, both immaculate in its execution and a cautionary tale for what devotion can do to someone.
