Mavis Staples Albums (8)
'Live: Hope at the Hideout'
Release Date 1/1/2008
Tracks 13
Label Anti
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What The Critics Say
The occasion for recording this live album was Mavis Staples' return visit to Chicago's legendary Hideout in June of 2008, on a Monday night. (It is not necessarily the best evening for club-going or concert-attending audiences.) Accompanied by a basic rock trio and three backing vocalists, Staples dug deep into her repertoire; many of the songs came from We'll Never Turn Back, a collection of songs from civil rights era rock, gospel, and Staple Singers material. Recorded and released by Anti, it is a warts-and-all performance. The sound is pristine, the energy from the stage is kinetic from the second tune forward, and the audience participation is rather sparse until the end, but it's obvious they get it. The set commences with Stephen Stills' "For What It's Worth." To be honest, it's not the best version Staples has ever delivered, but it's adequate and gives the crowd something to hold on to. She digs a little deeper on "Eyes on the Prize," and is full bore by the album's third cut, "Down in Mississippi." Staples is in fine voice, but to be fair it is not the voice of her younger years. She is 69 years old, and some of the high notes are no longer available to her, but what she lacks in her legendary range she more than makes up for in both grit and passion. Her transposition to lower keys suits her well and she uses it to maximum effect -- check out her growling version of "Wade in the Water," with a call and response from her backing vocalists. Rick Holmstrom's Telecaster guitar lines are drenched in warm bluesed-out reverb throughout the set, but here they help put the song over the top. In fact, the trio here -- completed by bassist Jeff Turmes on bass and Stephen Hodges on drums -- feels like some lost incarnation of Creedence Clearwater Revival at their most spooky and meandering. The groove is constant and hypnotic, and Staples draws from them, putting the song across better than she has on any album. If this music were played in churches this way, they'd all be full. Other performances are starker, relying as much on Holmstrom's guitar as they do on Staples' voice, such as "Waiting for My Child" and a smoldering, funky version of "This Little Light of Mine," which is all rhythm. The reading of her father Pop Staples' "Why Am I Treated So Bad" is fully supported by the handclapping crowd and her backing chorus, and its subterranean blues, though slow and purposeful, is full of determination. "Freedom Highway" is the most uptempo thing here, walking a line between gritty soul and roots rock. Staples offers a long rambling intro to "Will the Circle Be Unbroken," but it's worth the wait. She explains that it's the first song her father ever taught her how to sing; the arrangement sticks close to his, but the voice is all Mavis, and she and the chorus dig into it like they were trying to defeat death itself. Ultimately, though this set has a few rough spots -- you had to be there to get the full power and rough-hewn majesty of it all -- it's a better offering than listeners had any right to expect, and Mavis Staples more than keeps up her end of the bargain. It is at once a celebratory and inspiring recording. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
'We'll Never Turn Back'
Release Date 1/1/2007
Tracks 12
Label Anti/Epitaph
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What The Critics Say
When Mavis Staples issued Have a Little Faith in 2004 on the Alligator label, there was no doubt she was back. While the recording was subdued in places, it also showcased her ability to get so far down inside a song that it had to bubble up and be completely reinvented by her voice. It wasn't just a soul and contemporary gospel recording; it also touched on her earliest days with her family singing the blues gospel, and there was a bucket of hope in each track. Several of the songs from the recording were used in television and film. Her 2007 follow-up, We'll Never Turn Back, focuses on another kind of hope: the hope that the men and women who engaged in the civil rights struggles of the early '60s brought to a hostile America and changed its laws -- and some of its attitudes, but not nearly enough -- forever. Staples has enlisted the help of the original vocalists of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Community, who were called the SNCC Freedom Singers, Ladysmith Black Mambazo (no strangers to the struggle for basic human rights) in a couple of places, and Ry Cooder and his roots band to accompany them. Cooder produced the set, but his gift is the ability to retain in their entirety the voices of the performers when he works with them. Mavis may not have the shouting power she once had, but the conviction and expression in her voice have not wavered an inch. She's still got plenty in her pipes, and We'll Never Turn Back is the proof. Cooder's compadres are son Joachim on percussion, drummer Jim Keltner, and bassist Mike Elizando. The song choices are quite remarkable, as the album kicks off with J.B. Lenoir's "Down in Mississippi," which echoes the spooky, eerie Pops guitar sound as the voices hover all around it. The arrangement Cooder chose for the traditional "Eyes on the Prize" accents his funky, nasty slide guitar as much as it does Mavis' voice. The song is offered not as an anachronism, but as a spiritual with contemporary -- even necessary -- instructions. Ladysmith Black Mambazo's backing vocals fill the refrains with a necessary sound of lineage as if this were the sound of antiquity coming forward to broadcast once more that it is necessary. Keltner and Joachim, with their contrapuntal rhythms, offer an organic take on breakbeats as well. The Freedom Singers begin their contribution on the album's fourth track, "In the Mississippi River," with Charles Neblett offering the call from ages past before the band gets inside it and makes it downright snaky. Mavis soon digs into her low register and the drums and slide guitar pump that backbeat with purpose, mean and slow. The shuffling swamp rock version of "This Little Light of Mine" makes it a new song. Mavis lays out pure Southern soul in her vocal and the band shuffles and soft-shoes it, making the tension rise in the singer's voice. On the popping gospel-funk of "99 1/2 Won't Do," they let her lead it and she goes down into the drum groove for inspiration and finds it there. Cooder's guitar playing asserts itself everywhere, but gradually and gently, preferring to let Mavis lead him. The gorgeous backing vocals by the Freedom Singers kick it. The longest cut here is "My Own Eyes," where Mavis performs a tune she wrote -- it's an emotional reverie, recounting her own family's journey through the civil rights movement as inspired by the late Dr. King. Her message is not necessarily poetic, but it's deeply moving and urgent. When she raises her voice to proclaim "I saw it with my own eyes/So I know it's true," there's no doubting. When she indicts politicians on their failure in New Orleans, one can feel the bile rise in her throat. The final track is "Jesus Is on the Main Line," a tune Cooder himself recorded on Paradise and Lunch so long ago. This arrangement is completely different, but it's even more effective. His guitar is a slim, slow-sliding companion to Mavis' voice, full of distant reverb and in-your-face presence even as it pushes her vocal to the front. When the band enters a minute or so later, the tune cracks wide open and begins a kind of mariachi song as it meets gospel. The Freedom Singers egg on the percussion and it responds in the backbeat, and Mavis lets the graininess in her voice shine through. It's a rough-and-ready tune that is not only inspirational but fun. In sum, We'll Never Turn Back is the kind of album we need at the moment, one that doesn't flinch from the tradition but doesn't present it as a museum piece either. Mavis Staples has done it again. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
'Have a Little Faith'
Release Date 8/17/2004
Tracks 12
Label Alligator
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What The Critics Say
If ever there were a time for Mavis Staples to return to recording, 2004 is it. Her tenure with her family's group the Staple Singers led by her late father Pops offered a steadying, positive presence on the pop scene during the late antiwar unrest and civil rights struggles of the 1960s through the 1970s. They offered up notions of personal responsibility, dignity, and spiritual hope in a heady and uncertain time. Have a Little Faith is a stellar collection of bluesy folk gospel and classic soul grooves recorded for modern times. Staples co-produced with Jim Tullio, who has also worked with John Martyn (who makes a cameo here) and Richie Havens. The album is subtle, laden with beautiful dark grooves, moody guitars, organic percussion, and B-3 and Rhodes piano. One can feel the presence and influence of Pops on these sides. He was a musician who understood that the empty spaces left on a record were as important as the music. Tullio gives Staples' gorgeous, grainy contralto a lot of room to weave its own magic amid the wonderfully warm, down-home swirl of the band. The album opener, "Step into the Light," was written by Robi Draco Rosa, Tullio, and Staples and features Martyn on guitar. The Delta blues acoustic slide feel that accompanies Staples at the beginning of the tune is counteranchored by Chris Cameron's clavinet and the backing vocals of the Dixie Hummingbirds. The title cut comes right from Stax/Volt in its beautifully articulated guitar lines and a combination of B-3 and Wurlitzer. But it's Staples' voice with its welcoming conviction and certainty that soars: "There's evil all around us/We got to rise above/Got to fight the good fight/With that war with love/Hold on, hold on/Help is on the way/There's a better tomorrow/I can feel it today." What's amazing is that you believe her. Her reworking of the great Delta tune "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" (with additional lyrics by Pops) is as storefront church as it gets. The message tunes, like "Ain't No Better Than You" and "At the End of the Day," are the gritty soul and funk tunes that are desperately needed right now, and the kind of songs that used to come bursting from the AM and FM dials by major and marginal artists alike. A Chicago choir aids Staples and the band on "In Times Like These," written by Tullio and LeRoy Marinell; even R. Kelly couldn't deliver a tune as inspirational as this one. There's nothing overblown about it's all-heavy, heart-lifting soul. The set ends with the first tune the Staples ever sang and recorded, a bare-bones, deep blues rendering of "Will the Circle Be Unbroken," with acoustic slide guitars, a bass harmonica, and hand percussion with a Wurlitzer backing Staples' understated yet devastatingly emotional performance. Have a Little Faith is a glorious return for Staples and is capable of inspiring those who are lucky enough to encounter it. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
'Spirituals & Gospel: Dedicated to Mahalia Jackson'
Release Date 11/5/1996
Tracks 13
Label Verve
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What The Critics Say
The music of Mahalia Jackson is celebrated on this Mavis Staples solo gospel outing, which features a guest appearance from Lucky Peterson. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide
'Time Waits for No One'
Release Date 5/19/1989
Tracks 8
Label Warner Bros.
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What The Critics Say
Prince took a great interest in Mavis Staples after she provided him rousing background vocals and appeared in the 1990 film Graffiti Bridge. He signed her to his label and wrote and produced some of the tracks on this disc. Unfortunately, it enjoyed little impact sales-wise, although Staples soared, shouted and roared with splendor. But her sound and approach were so soulful that it seemed out of place in the detached setting of urban radio. There were both fiery message tracks and blistering love songs, with Staples' assertive, tender and intense vocals. However, not even Prince's name could break the embargo on acts considered too old-school for modern audiences. ~ Ron Wynn, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Music by Curtis Mayfield is featured on the soundtrack album from the 1977 movie A Piece of the Action, which starred Bill Cosby and Sidney Poitier. After composing scores for Superfly, Let's Do It Again, Claudine, and Short Eyes, movie scores were old hat to Mayfield, but nothing clicked this time around. Supposedly, this was originally Roberta Flack's project (or this was told to Mavis Staples to motivate her). Staples got a call to add her vocals to tracks Mayfield had finished except for some sweetening. But it's hard -- no, impossible -- imagining Flack singing these funky songs, so the story about her cancelling out of the project because of personal problems seems far-fetched. In addition, Mayfield's manager, Marv Stuart, told Staples he was paying her half what was promised Flack; this was intended to further ignite Staples, who insisted on and received what was (supposedly) offered Flack. These were mind games to get Staples chomping at the bit. As further motivation, Mayfield insisted that the vocals be completed in only three days. Artistically, the psyche job worked; the album is one of the '70s overlooked gems. Warner Bros. (Curtom's distributor) simply fumbled the ball. They soured on the project when the title track only managed a scrawny showing of 47 on the R&B chart. Though a commercial failure, the album is loaded with funky joints ("Chocolate City," "Orientation") and sexual innuendo pieces ("Getting Deeper," "Koochie, Koochie, Koochie," "Good Lovin' Daddy"). For eye candy, the album features a Vogue quality picture of Staples that's so sweet you'll kiss the cardboard cover. ~ Andrew Hamilton, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
A powerhouse soul belter and wailer, Mavis Staples doesn't have to play second fiddle to anyone, including Aretha Franklin, when it comes to pure, house-rocking, testifying authority. She's seldom gotten a complete album of quality material, but on this 1969 debut, she took half-baked material and made it memorable. "I Have Learned To Do Without You" wasn't a classic, but her vocal made it mighty close. ~ Ron Wynn, All Music Guide
