During the 1960’s and 1970’s, it wasn’t uncommon for the Inspirations (or any other group, for that matter) to release multiple albums within a year’s time. During the 80’s and 90’s, most groups generally released only one recording per year, with a few exceptions. With that said, people had come up to Martin Cook telling him that they wanted more music by the Inspirations, and that the group should release more than one album per year. With that thought in mind, just as soon as “He Brought Me Out” hit the market, the group was already gathering material for another recording, mainly built around the title song, “Cry for the Children”. While “He Brought Me Out” was released by Canaan Records, this latest recording would be released independently by the Inspirations, as well as all the forthcoming releases for the remainder of the 90’s and into the beginning of the new millennium.

Naturally, “Cry for the Children” was produced by Martin, and in an unusual move for the Inspirations, the tracks and vocals were recorded in 2 separate studios. The music tracks were recorded in Hendersonville, Tennessee at Otis Forrest’s recording studio, and the vocals were done at Lifter Studios in Asheville, North Carolina. Musicians lending their talents for this recording are Otis Forrest on piano, David Smith playing the bass, Bryan Sutton and Kevin Williams on guitars, along with David Johnson being the utility musician playing the steel guitar, fiddle and mandolin.

The recording kicks off with the title song, “Cry for the Children”, which was written by Lois Gail and published through Tuckaseigee Publishing. Featuring Archie, this was the only song that charted from this recording, peaking at #17 in the Singing News chart for October 1994, ending an almost 2-year drought in the Top 40 (“One Day” was their last Top 40 song in December 1992), as well as a 4-year drought for the Inspirations in the Top 20 (“What’s That I Hear” was their last Top 20 song, which was in October 1990)! For many years leading up to the release of this song, the nation had been embroiled in a battle over abortion rights, and the Inspirations were never afraid to sing and stage songs aimed squarely at social issues such as this, and this song was their rallying cry over the issue, and it resonated loudly with their audiences. This is one of only a handful of songs that were recorded by gospel artists over the previous 10 years or so that addressed this matter, including “Sometimes They Cry” by Gordon Jensen and “Only God Knows” by Gold City, both recorded back during the mid-80’s.

Next, we come to the song, “Nails in the Carpenter’s Hands”, which was written by Ben and Robin Durr and published through Inspirations Quartet Music. Ronnie does a good job singing the song, before Eddie is featured on one of my personal favorite Jerry Goff penned tunes entitled, “Tears will Stop Just This Side of Heaven”. This was actually a top 10 hit for Jerry’s group, Jerry & the Goffs, in the spring of 1982, who had included it on their album, “Personally Yours”, which was released earlier that year. The song was a perfect fit for Eddie, and it was a nice inclusion for this recording.

One of the unique aspects of this recording is the number of tunes the Inspirations revived from their earlier days, and the first song we come to is the campmeeting classic, “The Lights of Home” (aka-“I Can Almost See the Lights of Home”). Written by Ray Wafford, the Inspirations originally recorded it on their third album, “Just As Long As Eternity Rolls”, released in late 1966. Another song they revived from this same album is the quartet classic, “Hide Me, Rock of Ages”, which continues to be a hugely popular concert favorite for the Inspirations. This particular version of the song, which features Mike dragging the bottom with some ultra-low bass notes, makes it the third time they had recorded the song, and with 3 different bass singers, as the first time was with Troy on bass back in 1966, then again with Marlin Shubert on their 1971 album, “Keep Your Eyes on Jesus”, and then this version with Mike Holcomb. Interestingly, the Inspirations recorded the song one more time in 2010, on their “Live…45 Years of Favorites”, which featured a fun live performance of the song.

The tempo finally picks up for the bouncy, “Roll on Jordan”, which the Inspirations first recorded on their 1972 album, “Old Time Singin’”, when Marlin Shubert was singing bass for the group. Here, Mike shows off his fantastic rhythmic timing and it’s a highlight of the recording, before the tempo slows back down a bit for the medium tempo campmeeting feel of the song, “I Have a Hope”. Featuring Archie and written by Irma Williams, this was one of the newer songs included on this recording, as was “Still Enough Blood”, which was written by Mark Brainard and Gary Cook. Featuring Ronnie, the Inspirations always tried to find good “blood songs” to sing and record, and this is a highlight of the recording. Stylistically, the song was a little different for the Inspirations, but it’s actually my favorite song from this recording, as well as one of my favorite Ronnie features during this time period. When it comes to “blood songs”, I know “It’s Still the Blood” would win the popular vote, but I’d really love to hear the current group tackle this tune, as I feel it’s such a great song.

Next, we come to the Vep Ellis penned classic titled, “I’m Free Again”, which was published through the Stamps Music Company. This was a popular quartet classic during the 50’s and 60’s, previously recorded by such groups as the Plainsmen Quartet, Blackwood Brothers, Florida Boys, Couriers and others. The song has continued to be a much-recorded quartet favorite, having been recorded in the last 20-25 years or so by such groups as Gold City, Melody Boys Quartet, Kingdom Heirs, Down East Boys, and others. This was another excellent bass feature for Mike, showcasing some nice low notes, before the album closes out with the Albert E. Brumley classic, “If We Never Meet Again”. The Inspirations first recorded the song on their 1969 album, “The Next Step You Take”, which featured a much slower tempo, and they only did one verse on that original version, but on this new rendition, they picked up the tempo a bit and included a second verse. The song is nicely done and it’s an appropriate close for this recording.

If memory serves me right, I bought “Cry for the Children” on cassette, back when I saw the Inspirations at Dominion Valley Park in Stuart, Virginia in 1995 or 1996. Recently, I was thrilled to find a CD version on eBay, as I’ve been slowly working to replace many of my cassettes that I bought during the 90’s with a CD version. Overall, “Cry for the Children” was a much slower paced recording, with only one song that I would consider to be up-tempo. With this release, it appears the Inspirations latched on to one great new song, “Cry for the Children”, and built the entire recording around it, throwing in a couple of new songs, then filling in the rest with mostly familiar tunes, along with several songs from the Inspirations’ early days. Along with the success of the title song, many fans of the Inspirations loved the recording, as it featured several songs that their fans were very familiar with, and they pretty much stayed true to how they originally recorded them. Since both Archie and Ronnie were on those original recordings (Eddie was a part of a couple of those original recordings as well), it’s interesting to hear how their voices had changed over the years, but the truths found in those classic tunes still rang true, and they were all very well done! Additionally, “Cry for the Children” features 3 excellent bass features, allowing Mike to dig deep on some of those rich bass notes, which fans of the Inspirations always seem to thoroughly enjoy!

While “Cry for the Children” is not one of my top favorite releases by the Inspirations, and it may not rank as one of their greatest recordings, it’s still a good listen overall, featuring some solid singing by the guys. Since “He Brought Me Out” and “Cry for the Children” were released in the same year, I do tend to compare both recordings, and in my opinion, the overall quality of “Cry for the Children” doesn’t quite seem to match what I heard on “He Brought Me Out”. Additionally, while the band does a great job here, it just doesn’t have the musical punch, or variety, that “He Brought Me Out” had either. I don’t know if that was the intention when they recorded “Cry for the Children”, recording something a little more low-key, or if it’s because a record company wasn’t pushing to ensure the quality of the product was “up to snuff” or not, but it does give me the “feels” of a “B” line recording. With that said, let me add this final thought…the quality of a recording is not (and should never be) the “end all, be all” of a recording, because there are tons of less than stellar sounding recordings that I enjoy immensely and receive a spiritual uplift from. In fact, many times I prefer listening to something that may be lacking in quality, over a slick, high quality sounding project. Even though this may not be a top 10 favorite of mine by the group, I truly enjoy listening to it, and hearing them rehash some of those older classics. Part of me wishes they had done an entire recording of older Inspirations’ tunes with this iteration of the group, because, as I had mentioned in a previous article, I would have loved to have heard them refresh some of the songs from their 1972 “We Shall Rise” album, as well as a few others from their deep, rich well of songs. But nonetheless, “Cry for the Children” was a good recording overall, and it is one that I do find myself pulling out and listening to every once in a while, just for the pure enjoyment of it!

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