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George Jones & Tammy Wynette - Songs Of Inspiration

This collection puts together two of Wynette’s gospel albums, one
with her ex-husband and most famous duet partner, the legendary George
Jones, and the other her 1969 album, Inspiration. This album
came hot on the heels of “Stand By Your Man,” released just months
before, and in some ways it makes sense that after her ode to doing a
women’s duty she would follow it up with an album of traditional
religious hymns that also harken back to her childhood singing in her
local church; Wynette herself often named it as her favorite of all her
albums.
You absolutely get the feeling that these are songs that meant a lot
to Wynette throughout her life and some may well have been among the
earliest songs she sang as a child. It opens with a belter, her stunning
rendition of “You’ll Never Walk Alone”, which begins quietly, Wynette’s
sob-in-her-throat voice at its most affecting, and beautifully builds,
her voice becoming powerful and emotive but at the same time never
overdone. It’s Tammy Wynette at her absolute best and an incredible
opening to the album.
Some may say the rest of the album doesn’t live up to this first
track but to me the rest is equally convincing and may well boast some
of her best performances on record. Her version of “Crying In The
Chapel” gives Elvis’ a run for its money, while her vocals on “I
Believe” are positively thrilling, and it’s hard to imagine anyone not
being stirred by her rousing, soulful version of “How Great Thou Art.”
These may be gospel songs but thanks to Billy Sherrill’s production,
they all have the sheen of the Nashville Sound complete with pedal
steel, fiddles, and plenty of strings. But it’s Wynette’s voice that’s
the star here (and it’s showcased at the height of its power). There’s
no doubt this was a true labor of love for her as it shows in every word
she sings. What a treat to have this lost treasure back in print.
Not quite as great, but maybe a little more fun, is the other album
featured here, Wynette’s second album with her then-husband George
Jones, amusingly but appropriately titled We Love To Sing About Jesus.
Again produced by Billy Sherrill, this is overall a more upbeat album
with more of a true gospel flavor thanks to the Jordanaires and the
Nashville Edition providing a chorus of clap-along-friendly backing
vocals, which sometimes do overpower those superb Jones/Wynette
harmonies.
The material here is more contemporary than Wynette’s album, with
many of the songs coming from one of Jones’ favorite songwriters, Earl
Montgomery, but the highlights actually come from some of the songs
written by other artists, most notably the excellent “Jesus And Me,”
penned by Nashville legend Tom T. Hall. There’s also a strange but
compelling re-write of the old Jack Greene single (which was later also a
big hit for Elvis) written by Dallas Frazier “There Goes My
Everything,” now re-titled “He is My Everything.” Although the lyrics
don’t quite gel, there’s no doubt it’s still a thrill to hear Jones’s
legendary voice bring on that heart-breaking tone especially as the only
slow song on the album that showcases this.
We Love To Sing About Jesus isn’t in the same league as Inspiration
and often you wish you could hear just Wynette and Jones harmonize
alone rather than their voices blending with a chorus of others, but
it’s still a great, feel good toe-tapping record, and it’s actually
great fun to hear old Jones tell the story of “Noah and the Ark.”
The CD also comes with a few bonus tracks including another Earl
Montgomery-penned track, “It’s A 10-33 (Let’s Get Jesus On The Line),” a
single for Jones in 1977 that sounds like it wouldn’t be out of place
on We Love To Sing About Jesus. Also included is both sides of a
1970 hit single by Wynette, “The Wonders You Perform” b/w “Gentle
Shepherd,” the latter from Wynette’s holiday album Christmas With Tammy
but strangely left off the CD release. But the real gem of the bunch is
also the oddest: “I’d Like To See Jesus (On The Midnight Special)”,
complete with references the show’s host Wolfman Jack and a plea to hear
Jesus “sing my favorite song.” This is from Wynette’s fantastic 1978
album Womanhood, another of her records long overdue a CD
release, but it’s lovely to find this quirky track here and it makes a
great, uplifting end to this superb reissue.
You may not know his name, but Ray Kennedy (who sadly passed away
last year aged just 67) certainly had a rich and varied career in music.
Starting off as a saxophonist in Dick Clark’s American Bandstand
house band, he went on to tour with a whole host of top names from Otis
Redding and Dizzy Gillespie to Little Richard and Brenda Lee. He also
enjoyed quite a bit of success as a songwriter, co-writing “These
Strange Times” on Fleetwood Mac’s album Time, “Isn’t It Time”
and “Every Time I Think Of You” — both big hits for the Babys — and,
most famously of all, the Beach Boys’ classic “Sail On, Sailor.”
Kennedy’s own career never quite took off in the same way though. In
the ’60s he was signed to Atlantic Records as one half of the duo Jon
& Ray and even recorded an album produced by Phil Spector, but
sadly, it was never released. He had a little more luck with his next
project, Group Therapy, releasing two albums with them in the late ’60s
before splitting to go solo. His debut Raymond Louis Kennedy
came out in 1970 and although it didn’t make a huge splash it did lead
to him becoming the singer in the short-lived supergroup KGB alongside
Barry Goldberg and Mike Bloomfield, with whom he recorded two LPs.
Which brings us to his second and final solo album, again self-titled but this time shortened to Ray Kennedy and
released 10 years after his debut in 1980. The cover featuring a
cool-looking smoking Kennedy basking in the purple glow from a fridge
looks more like a New Wave record than the rock album it really is. That
said, the music within certainly wouldn’t have been out of place in a
teen movie from that era — the first track “It Never Crossed My Mind”
with its driving riff and rousing chorus in particular is perfect
soundtrack fodder.
Kennedy also revisits a couple of the songs he co-wrote with others
such as “Isn’t It Time,” a big hit for John Waite’s band in 1977 which
is given a more updated 1980s sheen and, not surprisingly, the song he
co-wrote with Brian Wilson, “Sail On, Sailor,” which he turns into a
soft rock anthem the likes of Foreigner or Journey would be proud of. In
fact, the record boasts a few members of soft rock superstars Toto,
namely Jeff and Mike Porcaro as well as Steve Lukather, whose
distinctive guitar playing is heard throughout.
The album’s big hit (in fact Kennedy’s biggest hit under his own
name) was the big ballad “Just For The Moment,” which, with its rousing
orchestral backing, sounds like it should have been a bigger hit than it
was. In fact much of this record, which proved to be Kennedy’s last,
fits in so well with the AOR and soft rock sounds that filled stadiums
in the ’80s it seems strange that it was so overlooked in its day and
then apparently forgotten by many — this is its debut on CD.
Kennedy himself sounds like a cross between Sammy Hagar and Robert
Palmer, and the songs mainly alternate from riff-filled guitar anthems
with lots of female backing vocals to pleasingly cheesy power ballads
(which proudly build to the requisite guitar solo provided by Lukather
near the end). Kennedy’s album is by no means a classic but it is an
immensely listenable record and actually rather nicely evokes that era
when the likes of Toto and Journey ruled the day. Real Gone Music
has also added a few nice additions to the album including the single
version of “Starlight,” unreleased original mixes of “It Never Crossed
My Mind” and “Just For The Moment” and the unreleased track “Dance The
Night Away.”
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