In 1973, while based out of San Francisco, California, the Peoples Temple of the Disciples of Christ led by Reverend Jim Jones released their own 12-track, private-press LP titled He’s Able. An inscription on the reverse side of the jacket reads:

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. Our inspiration is a lifestyle demonstrated by our pastor, James W. Jones.

In the years following the release of He’s Able, many members of the People’s Temple Choir would move to the “Peoples Temple Agricultural Project,” better known by its informal name “Jonestown,” a remote settlement in Guyana established by the Peoples Temple.

He’s Able gained moderate attention after the 1978 tragedy at Jonestown, where a total of 918 people died of either murder or suicide at the settlement, the nearby airstrip in Port Kaituma, and a Peoples Temple-run building in Georgetown, the capital of Guyana.

The lasting notoriety of the 1978 Jonestown massacre would spawn exploitation-styled reissues of He’s Able with an additional 13th track; the infamous Jonestown “Death Tape” (FBI No. Q042), an audio recording made on November 18, 1978, at the Peoples Temple compound in Jonestown immediately preceding and during the mass suicide and murder.

In 2018, surviving members of the People’s Temple Choir recounted the creation of their gospel LP and the tragedy that followed in a Rolling Stone article titled “He’s Able: Inside the Jonestown Cult’s Forgotten Gospel Album.”