Gospel, arguably, has often been the "R" in R&B. A long list of soul icons, from Aretha Franklin to Gladys Knight to Otis Redding to Teddy Pendergrass, were greatly influenced by the African-American Protestant church music they grew up with (Franklin's father was the late Rev. C.L. Franklin, a well respected Baptist minister and civil rights activist). Sam Cooke and Johnnie Taylor were members of the Soul Stirrers (a major gospel group) before they became R&B stars, and Lou Rawls was a member of the Pilgrim Travelers (another major gospel group) before he made his mark in secular music. Clearly, gospel has a long history of influencing secular R&B. But that has worked both ways, and in the 1970s, R&B-influenced gospel grew in popularity thanks to the New York Community Choir (NYCC) as well as the Edwin Hawkins Singers, Rance Allen and Andraé Crouch, among others. NYCC were highly adventurous during the 1970s, combining the rhythms of soul, funk and disco with the choir vocals and Christian-based lyrics of African-American gospel. And that combination is alive and well on this self-titled album, which was originally released by RCA Records as a vinyl LP back in 1977.