The Best Of [CD]

This is powerful stuff. Every single word that Mavis sings, every thought expressed in these songs, is still absolutely relevant to our times, as relevant as they were in the 70's. People still can't get along. The races are still fighting with each other. There ain't enough love in the world. This world would be so much better if we would all work together for the good of each other. Those messages have not dated. And those are the messages that the Staple Singers give.

A lot of people say those messages are corny in these days of Nine Inch Nails and the desperate empty mechanical clamor that is most of the music of our time. The Staple Singers' music puts the lie to all that, it makes post-modern cynicism and mean-spiritedness seem weak and irrelevant.

But not only is this deeply spiritual music on a level that few artists ever reach; it is also a deeply funky music, with roots in the Delta fingerpicking bluesmen that Pops Staples learned his craft from and the burning gospel choirs of Mississippi churches where the Staples learned their art. Ray Charles took church music and made it funky; the Staples took funky music and put it back in the church. Christianity has lost so much by divorcing the mind from the body, the heart from the spirit, and insisting on a bland asceticism that profits no one. The Staples Singers come from a tradition where everyone is granted the same compassion, where the body of the worshiper and the urge to move and dance is accepted, where the whole human is God's and not just the socially acceptable, "nice" aspects. Mavis' voice is alluring and soulful, not "heavenly" as it is commonly percieved - which only means that our perception of heavenliness is all wrong.

Every single song on here is a gem. The vocal arrangements, powerful multiple call and response statements between the band, the singers, and Pops' guitar, the bass and drums that vibrate you on an irresistible level where you have to move; there really isn't much like this music anywhere else on earth.

I don't care if you're a Christian, a Pagan, a Buddhist, Jewish, or a flat-out stonewall atheist. This is some of the best music humans have ever made, and it contains a profoundly positive spiritual message that is completely free of exclusivity or schmaltz. This music is a vision of a better world and encouragement to make it happen.

Or as Mavis Staples says, "Are you ready? Come go with me." Where to? "The city in the Sky." Listen to this and you'll be ready to head there too.

The voices are magnificent. Compare the phrasing and range of Mavis, Cleo and Pops to some of the lightweight R&B singers of the 21st Century.

There are only two disappointing things about this CD. The first is the absence of "Let's Do It Again", the Curtis Mayfield movie tune that got to #1 on the pop charts in 1975. I would guess that the reasons are contractual, as that music was on the Curtom label, rather than Stax. The second disappointment is the sound quality. The fidelity is relatively poor, as it is on similar Stax collections on Fantasy from Johnnie Taylor and the Emotions. It is not as bad as the early pressings on a well known Philadelphia reissue label. As I bought this CD when it first became available, I would hope that the problem has been corrected.

In summary, enrich your spirits and buy this CD.