Reviewed by Tony Cummings

Considering this was gobbled together from various gospel tracks Niecy has cut down the years on various 'secular' albums, 'From The Beginning' hangs together very well. Classy pop soul accompaniments throb in slinky multi-tracked while that astonishing pure-and-sweet voice purrs beautifully. The weaknesses are the two traditional black gospel numbers "Whiter Than Snow" and the recorded-live-in-church "God Is Amazing". Maybe in the context of a whole trad album they would have worked, but surrounded as they are here by soul gospel music crammed with Emulators and Fairlights, storefront authenticity sounds out-of-place and Niecy's admitedly stunning vocal acrobatics merely OTT. But if you're tired of waiting for a follow-up to the classic 'Special Love', there's enough grade A soul gospel here to make this collection worth checking out.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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