Listen: Sweet Inspiration / The Sweet Inspirations
Sweet Inspiration / The Sweet Inspirations

Listen: That’s How Strong My Love Is / The Sweet Inspirations
That's How Strong My Love Is / The Sweet Inspirations

Cissy Houston, Lee Warrick with daughters Dee Dee and Dionne Warwick, Judy Clay, Doris Try – they were all members of The Sweet Inspirations at one time or another. Even if you haven’t heard these classics by them – you have heard these voices many times, contributing to endless sessions by Solomon Burke, Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin, Esther Phillips, Van Morrison’s ‘Brown Eyed Girl’, The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s ‘Burning Of The Midnight Lamp’, even Elvis. Ahmet Ertegan finally decided in 1967 to record them as their own entity. Not only cutting an initial album, but in a one year window, they recorded three. Their versions of current hits became hits again – this time for themselves: ‘Why (Am I Treated So Bad)’, ‘To Love Somebody’, ‘Unchained Melody’. They really hit pay dirt with The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section in Alabama during the early months of 1969 – from which these singles come. Their theme song is a classic. And the gospel purity of ‘That’s How Strong My Love Is’ makes for difficult upstaging.

Listen: Sweep It Out In The Shed / Tobi Lark TobiLark.mp3

This one’s from the latest batch of Kent 7′s, released by parent company Ace Records on a regular basis. Roger Armstrong has kept me up to date on these since single number one. They’re all still shelved together as a series – I’ve yet to have the courage of filing them separately like just about every other single I own.

Hey, this is the third Tobi Lark Kent single to date. In the current world, that’s a configuration privilege reserved for superstar artists. Does Beyonce even get three singles on 7? No.

‘Sweep It Out In The Shed’ was a very favorite from the DETROIT DANCERS comp CD, and it’s an absolute joy to have on a single. Not expecting it made for even more fun when I opened the package. It’s the kind of song someone should have found Aretha back in ’66 during her hitless Columbia streak. Or it could have worked just as perfectly being a Muscle Shoals production had Atlantic made the suggestion a year or so later. But to be honest, I’m glad no one did.