Sweet Honey in the Rock: Selections 1976-1988
Of course they're preachy--that's what preachers do. The long-running black women'sa cappellagroup (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.Selectionsdraws 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