''Good News in Hard Times'' is the album released by American

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

group The Sisters of Glory, released on August 22, 1995, by

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

. The set included solo performances by five female singers from different musical backgrounds:

Thelma Houston Thelma Houston ( Jackson; born May 7, 1946) Retrieved . is an American singer. Beginning her recording career in the late 1960s, Houston scored a number-one hit record in 1977 with her recording of "Don't Leave Me This Way", which won the Grammy ...

CeCe Peniston Cecilia Veronica "CeCe" Peniston (; born September 6, 1969) is an American singer and former beauty queen. In the early 1990s, she scored five number one hits on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot Dance Music/Club Play. Her signature song "Finally" rea ...

Phoebe Snow Phoebe Snow (born Phoebe Ann Laub; July 17, 1950 – April 26, 2011) was an American roots music singer-songwriter and guitarist, known for her hit 1974 and 1975 songs "San Francisco Bay Blues", "Poetry Man", "Harpo's Blues", and her credited g ...

, Lois Walden, and

Albertina Walker Albertina Walker ( – ) was an American gospel singer, songwriter, actress, and humanitarian. Early years Walker was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Ruben and Camilla Coleman Walker. Her mother was born in Houston County, Georgia, and ...

. The concept of their modern gospel ensemble was initially created by Lois Walden. For the first time, the vocalists performed together on April 25, 1994, at the

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benefit concert named "Gospel Music: From the Church to the Charts". The next gig for the gospel quintet was at the

music festival A music festival is a community event with performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme such as musical genre (e.g., rock, blues, folk, jazz, classical music), nationality, locality of musicians, or h ...

Woodstock '94 Woodstock '94 was an American music festival held in 1994 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the original Woodstock festival of 1969. It was promoted as "2 More Days of Peace and Music". The poster used to promote the first concert was r ...

on August 14, 1994. Later that year, on December 16, they appeared before

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

at the Christmas at the

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Vatican City, the city-state ruled by the pope in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum The Holy See * The Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church and sovereign entity recognized ...

II concert in

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. After receiving an offer from Warner Bros management, the Sisters also recorded a studio album in common. The album, produced by Jennifer Cohen in collaboration with Walden, earned positive to mixed reviews from music critics. With no song released in support either on promotional single, ''Good News in Hard Times'' charted on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Top 40 Gospel Albums at number twenty-nine. 'CeCe Peniston, The Sisters of Glory, Good News In Hard Times, Chart Positions'All Music

Critical reception

''Good News in Hard Times'' received positive to mixed reviews from critics. Dimitri Ehrlich from ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

'' graded the album with A−. Describing the product as "the funky, inspiring tour de force of classic black gospel", he highlighted

's performance on the roof-raising "

His Eye is on the Sparrow "His Eye Is on the Sparrow" is a gospel hymn written in 1905 by lyricist Civilla D. Martin and composer Charles H. Gabriel. It is most associated with actress-singer Ethel Waters who used the title for her autobiography. Mahalia Jackson's recordi ...

." ''

People A person (plural, : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of pr ...

'' acknowledged the Sisters for sticking to gospel tradition, instead blending their music with

contemporary pop Pop music is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the ...

or R&B elements. The magazine praised the Walker's version of "He's Right on Time" for presence of "the glorious spirit of

Mahalia Jackson Mahalia Jackson ( ; born Mahala Jackson; October 26, 1911 – January 27, 1972) was an American gospel singer, widely considered one of the most influential vocalists of the 20th century. With a career spanning 40 years, Jackson was integral to t ...

", Peniston's sassy soul strut on "

How I Got Over "How I Got Over" is a Gospel hymn composed and published in 1951 by Clara Ward (1924–1973). Notable recordings of this work have been made by Mahalia Jackson (1961, winner of the Grammy Award for Best Soul Gospel Performance in 1976), and th ...

" and, especially, "the touching, tear-jerking way of maternal love" provided by Walden on the song "

No Charge "No Charge" is a country music song, written by songwriter Harlan Howard. It was first recorded by country singer Melba Montgomery, whose 1974 version was a #1 country hit in both the US and Canada, as well as making #39 on the US pop charts. I ...

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

gave the album three (out of five) stars with no particular comment.

Chart performance

On September 9, 1995, the album entered the U.S. ''Billboard'' Top Gospel Albums Chart, debuting at number thirty-four. After three weeks at the same position, plus one week at number thirty-nine, the set topped its chart run on July 10 at number twenty-nine, eventually. Overall, the album spent six weeks in the chart.

Track listing

Charts

Weekly charts

References

;General * * ;Specific

External links

* * * * * {{Authority control 1995 debut albums Warner Records albums Sisters of Glory albums