Selections 1976-1988

Selections 1976-1988

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com essential recording
Of course they're preachy--that's what preachers do. The long-running black women's a cappella group (plus an extra member who signs the songs in American Sign Language) is absolutely serious about their historically researched narratives of women and liberation: the struggle against oppression is serious business. But Bernice Johnson Reagon and the group she's led since 1973 also sing like the angels, with harmonies drawn from black American gospel and African traditional music, and when their voices fall to a charged hush, wailing and humming in solidarity, they're incredibly powerful. Selections draws on the group's first eight albums, including their long-out-of-print second disc, and it's almost all richly soulful and uplifting. --Douglas Wolk

Tracks:

Ella's Song
Wade In The Water
Denko
On Children
Echo
Joan Little
Beatitudes
Peace
Sitting On Top Of The World
More Than A Paycheck
Crying For Freedom In South Africa
They Are All Falling Around Me
Mae Frances
I'm Gon' Stand!!!
Feel Something Drawing Me On
In The Upper Room
Seven Principles

Tracks:

Testimony
Oughta Be A Woman
Fannie Lou Hamer
Meyango
Run Mourner Run
As Long As I Have Breath In My Body
No Images
Sometime
The Gift Of Love
Biko
My Way
State Of Emergency
Cape Fear River Chant
Rivers Of Babylon
Stranger Blues
Oh Death
Breaths

Amazon.com essential recording

Of course they're preachy--that's what preachers do. The long-running black women's a cappella group (plus an extra member who signs the songs in American Sign Language) is absolutely serious about their historically researched narratives of women and liberation: the struggle against oppression is serious business. But Bernice Johnson Reagon and the group she's led since 1973 also sing like the angels, with harmonies drawn from black American gospel and African traditional music, and when their voices fall to a charged hush, wailing and humming in solidarity, they're incredibly powerful. Selections draws on the group's first eight albums, including their long-out-of-print second disc, and it's almost all richly soulful and uplifting. --Douglas Wolk

Customer Reviews:

Rich a cappella brew close to the soul of the human condition.......2006-03-23

True originals, with African, gospel, country blues, folk all mixed deep in their rich a cappella brew. Rough and sometimes raw interplay of voices has the resonance of a more desperate than joyful revival. Studio and live tracks.

Disk 1. Polyphonic voices coalesce into communal rhythms, passion, determination, and remarkable beauty. Didactic, but who cares-everything else in the mix quickly shoves that aside. Raw cries from somewhere down deep and primeval, close to the soul of the human condition. Standouts: tr 4--Children; S: tr 11-Crying for freedom (full-tilt, high-energy gospell); tr 15--In the upper room (stately doowop gospel) [65:24] [66:03]

Disk 2. Strong flavor of rural blues, chants, field songs, and moans. S: tr 1-Testimony. tr 4-Meyango (Kahlil Gibran). tr 6-As long as I have breath in my body. tr 7-No images. tr 10-Biko (Caribbean lilt in justice song). tr 17-Breaths. [64:57]

Underrated Accapella.......2005-01-12

Arguably, the best accapella group, ever. Period.

This retrospective of this dynamic group reflects their extensive vocal range (even sounding like ambulances on one track!) and their righteous goals: reaching back to honor and remember the past, while pushing feminist and peace-loving values foward.

Absolutely, incomparable.

If you've come upon this group's section by chance or Amazon recommendation, you are in luck. Please, pick them up. You won't be disappointed.

Delicious, perfect, and powerful.......1998-10-29

Oh those voices.....deep harmonies, heavy rhythms, and rich timbres--just like angels. Sweet Honey in the Rock gives any song, both new and old, its own charm and artistry. I'd recommend this to anyone with a taste for beauty and strength.

Touches your soul........1998-07-04

If you were touched by the civil rights movement, if you feel you are living in the 90's with a 60's political spirit, this album will touch you like no other. Sweet Honey kept, and keeps, that spirit alive. A wonderful retrospective of their work. "We who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes" says it all.

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