Published on Oct 8, 2013
For almost fifty years, there has been a Southern gospel group named the Inspirations. Dozens of singers have come and gone through this group, and it has risen and fallen in popularity, but the brand and the enduring founder and piano player Martin Cook continues. With No Two Ways About It, the group redoes some of their old standards while still appearing fresh in a changing gospel scene.
Like it or not, Southern gospel music is changing. Some have even taken to calling it “American Gospel” to break out of a regional stigma that the word Southern has placed on the music. For some groups, onstage antics and theatrics appear to be far more important than the content and message of the music. The Inspirations is one of the few remaining groups who eschew that approach and still remain relatively popular. No Two Ways About It goes over some familiar territory with solid versions of old Southern gospel songs like “I'll Be A Friend To Jesus,” “Jesus Is Coming Soon,” and “On Heaven's Bright Shore.” Another old quartet favorite is “Just A Little Talk With Jesus” which features four-decade group member Mike Holcomb singing bass. Holcomb has got to have one of the deepest bass voices in the world, and certainly in Southern gospel music where the bass voice is a critical part of the quartet form. On “Just A Little Talk With Jesus,” he reaches a full three octaves below middle C! And my unscientific investigation with a tuning app I have on my phone shows that he may have dipped below that at one point. Outstanding work, even if you don’t care for the slow pace of the song.
Apart from the old favorites, the disc also places some new songs out there to become favorites. Of these, the rousing “Saved, Sealed And Going” and “He Made A Change” stand out. And above all, “I’ll Never Get Over” eloquently encapsulates the positivity and hope that is in the Christian belief in redemption.
The Inspirations puts out a new album on a nearly annual basis, and they keep up a brisk touring schedule. This kind of production can lead to a sense of staleness or “phoning it in” for some groups. Even for the Inspirations, it seemed in recent years that they were beginning to fall into that trap. Yet No Two Ways About It disproves any notion that they are in decline. “