Customer Reviews

Estelle, Myrna and Sylvia

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When you think of girl groups of the 70's u think of First Choice, The Emotions, Three Degrees, or even The Honey Cone. A group that made several strong showings in the late 60's and early 70's is the Sweet Inspirations!

Minus Cissy Houston(mother of Whitney) on this 1973 release on STAX records the Sweet Inspirations manage to put together a winner of an album. With lush ballads("Wishes & Dishes", & "The whole world is out") and groovy blues tinged singles("Slipped & Tripped" and "Pity Yourself") this group deserved a better showing from the southern label.

The sweet inspirations also lay it down on the hauting "You roam when you dont get it at home!". The notorious bass-line groove of "All it takes is you & me" is pure soul.

Their harmonies could have only been rivaled by LABELLE in their hey-day. Check out the lovey-dovey "Why marry?" and you wont ask why they were the most in demand background vocalists for two decades........just listen to ELVIS PRESLEY, VAN MORRISON, ARETHA FRANKLIN, DUSTY SPRINGFIELD, AND OTHERS AND SEE IF YOU DONT HEAR THIS GROUP ON THE LPS???

Any fan of 70's soul should pick up this release. Essential!!!

If you like the girl-group music featured on "Ally McBeal" or "Boston Public", you'll love the Sweet Inspirations - this is music from the source.

This disc has wonderful examples of 60's soul as well as 70's funk. The harmonies will melt your heart, and the rhythm will move your feet.

This album was recorded at Stax records three years after founding Sweet Inspiration member, Cissy Houston, left the group for a solo career. The other three girls Estelle, Myrna, and Sylvia was able to carry on. These girls was mainly employed as Elvis Presley background singers for the rest of his life and career. The album itself is great. You roam the second song is my favorite. Call me when all else fails is a slow bluesy staxy song. Also on this cd is their signature song Sweet Inspiration featuring Cissy Houston.

Oddly enough, I found my way to this CD by listening to a song by "Diddy Dirty Money" (Someone to Love Me) which sampled The Sweet Inspirations' "You Roam When You Don't Get It At Home." This immediately piqued my interest and I ordered the CD.

When I received it and popped it in my car's player, I was mesmerized by the first track "Wishes and Dishes" which tells of a woman's desire to be more than a background in the marital home.

The second track, the one I purchased the whole CD for, certainly didn't disappoint, it stated, boldly and with much body and bounce that you tend to look elsewhere for what you wish you were getting at home.

I love the song "Call Me When All Else Fails" and thoroughly enjoyed "Pity Yourself."

I'm assuming the group is defunct now, but I'm certainly on the lookout for more work by this wonderful trio. This CD is definitely a winner. I won't even let my husband or mother, an avid blues listener, borrow it.

I must admit I was a little apprehensive about the Sweets' first post-Atlantic, post-Cissy outing. But then again, I wasn't really crazy about their last Atlantic album, "Sweet Sweet Soul", which suffered from some pretty indifferent Gamble/Huff material, so I was willing to give it a go. The results are, by and large, excellent. The Stax team embedded the three remaining Sweets firmly in their distinctive seventies sound - slow grooves, super-funky arrangements, meandering song structures far exceeding the three minutes of their Sixties heyday. While it doesn't quite supplant their first album in my esteem, this album is worthy of the Sweet Inspirations and Stax Records at their best and gives a tantalizing glimpse of where the Sweet Inspiration might have gone in the seventies with the right material.

One final remark: Whilst I understand the commercial rationale for including two of the most popular tracks from the debut album, it doesn't really make sense artistically - they're not even re-recordings, just the originals tacked on. Not that they aren't magnificent songs in their own right, but their sound doesn't quite match that of the later album. Still, I guess you really can't hear them too often.

I love this type of music the songs have very good meaning.I bought this cd really to sample a few songs

This cd is so incredibly beautiful. Wow, where has all the talent gone these days. These ladies are much more than just a backup group for Elvis, Aretha, and Dusty Springfield. They were the top "Girl Group" of that time even though they did'nt have the well known hits like other groups. They were matched in vocal power by Patti Labelle and The Bluebelles...In the 70's Patti and The Bluebelles collaborated with the Sweet Inspirations to record a song called TIME AND LOVE..It is a rare treat for the fans of the two groups...