Best known in the mid-70s as a dangerous opening act specialising in a brand of funky hard rock fronted by the raucous Joyce “Baby Jean” Kennedy, Atlanta’s Mother’s Finest were left stranded when hard-core dance and hip hop made them seem redundant, though, as their album Black Radio Won’t Play This Record stated, they wouldn’t go down without a fight.
With the central core of the original MF still around, their latest disc retains the old blend: deep soul grooves and lashings of guitars that make them sound like an R&B Marshall Tucker Band on Shut Up and spiritual renegades on Cling To The Cross.
The remainder is passionate if seldom as engaging, but Kennedy remains a force of nature./o:p
