CD Review

Sweet Honey In the Rock
Freedom Song
(Sony Classical, 2000)

Classic Honey. Sweet Honey in the Rock created and performed the soundtrack to the feature film, Freedom Song, and whatever the movie might offer, this is one soundtrack that stands up in its own right as a work of art. The liner notes credit them with writing the music, but in fact all but one of the songs are traditional spirituals and songs from the Civil Rights movement. So I guess it's the group's distinctive vocal/body-sounds arrangements that they are being credited for, as well as the several moody incidental interludes which provide wonderful segues on the disc.

The tracks include "Woke Up This Morning with My Eyes Stayed on Freedom," "Eyes on the Prize," "This Little Light of Mine," and "Ain' Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around."

The final, title track, "Song of Freedom," was written by Carole King, who joins the group in singing it. It may be quibbling, but.... why? King's lyric is an amalgam of freedom song clichés, resulting in a generic message full of mixed metaphors. And her voice doesn't stand out in this crowd - clearly it was a marketing move based on King's name and her success at film soundtrack finales (the beautiful "New Jerusalem" of Working Girl comes to mind). The other bad idea is the inclusion of a few scattered clips from the movie. There are not enough of them to give a sense of the movie's narrative and yet more than enough to interrupt the flow and magic of the music. Just slightly exasperating.

Still, it's great to hear these powerful women singing these classics.
-HB