The Sweet Inspirations: Songs of Faith & Inspiration / What the World Needs Now Is Love (1968)

As an Atlantic recording act, The Sweet Inspirations cut some fine sides that rank among the clearest illustrations of the close links between soul music and gospel harmony. Usually sticking to material by famed soul and pop songwriters, they had about a half-dozen moderate R&B hits in the late '60s; the biggest, ‘Sweet Inspiration,’ was a Top 20 pop single in 1968. Within a month of that chart climb, the group began to work on their second album - a gospel record entitled Songs of Faith & Inspiration, which was released under the name Cissy Drinkard & The Sweet Inspirations and included, amongst others, ‘What a Friend’, ‘Swing Low’, ‘Down by the Riverside’ and ‘Without a Doubt’. Shortly after cutting that gospel set, the group was back in Atlantic’s studios to record their third album, What the World Needs Now Is Love. The record was the group's first secular album for Atlantic and it was a gem of female soul, with the same classic sound you'd hear on Aretha's Atlantic late ‘60s LPs, but with a different twist because of the girls' amazing talent for harmony vocals. Tom Dowd produced the album with a sweet southern-ish sound, and Arif Mardin provided some lofty string arrangements that take the girls' voices to the heavens! The late April session yielded a version of The Bee Gees’ 'To Love Somebody', which became the group’s fourth R&B chart hit, and a soulful version of The Righteous Brothers' 'Unchained Melody,' which surprisingly gave the group a charted, though minor hit. It also included some fine numbers written by Cissy Drinkhard Houston, like 'I Could Leave You Alone', 'You Really Didn't Mean It', and 'Where Did It Go', plus pop numbers like 'Alfie' and 'What the World Needs Now Is Love', all completely transformed by the group's style! Both albums are included here in one single set. This really is heavenly soul, don't miss it! http://www.dustygroove.com/, http://www.answers.com/. Once more, I must thank Martin for providing me with such a great record. Cheers, mate!! ;-)

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