Love, Peace & Soul

Love, Peace & Soul is the fourth and final studio album by American R&B/Soul/Funk Girl group the Honey Cone. It was released by Hot Wax/Invictus Records in 1972 (see 1972 in music).

Album information

At the time of this album's release, Hot Wax was experiencing troubles in their operation. This time period marked a downward spiral that would eventually put the freshly developed record label out of business permanently the following year. A few sources report the reason for this pending expiration being that the independent distributors weren't paying up when it came to royalties from radio play and record sales. Whatever the reason, the album proved to be the groups biggest failure both critically and commercially becoming the groups lowest charting album since their sophomore release 1971's "Sweet Replies."

Despite the dismisal of both the group and their final album at the time, the legacy of Honey Cone was reaffirmed when Common sampled the distinctive lead vocals of Edna Wright from the track "Innocent 'Til Proven Guilty" for his 2005 single "Testify" lifted off of his commercial breakthrough album "Be." Edna Wright also made a cameo appearance in the video.

Not much different from their prior releases, this album contains cover versions of The Miracles' staples Ooo Baby Baby, Who's Lovin' You?, and the 1965 R&B hit "Stay in My Corner" by the Dells. The group stay true to their tune of female empowerment and cleaverly penned cliche-based messages with standouts "Ace in the Hole" and the afformentioned "Innocent 'Til Proven Guilty." The group disbandanded shortly after the release of this album.

Track listing

1. "O-O-O Baby Baby" (W. Robinson, and P. Moore)
2. "Stay in My Corner"
3. "Who's Lovin' You?" (W. Robinson)
4. "A Woman's Prayer"
5. "Sittin' on a Time Bomb"
6. "Innocent 'Til Proven Guilty"
7. "I Lost My Rainbow"
8. "Ace in the Hole"
9. "Woman Can't Live My Bread Alone"
10. "Don't Send Me an Invitation"