Freedom Highway

The Staple Singers | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 2, 1991)
• Original Release Date: July 9, 1991
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B0000027JX
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #263,257 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential recording

Recorded in the late 1960s, the strong gospel soul hymns and idealistic moral gospel folksongs on Freedom Highway represent the Staple Singers' artistic apex. Pops Staples's reverb-saturated guitar hangs alone in the air while Mavis and the other family members' voices encircle it with warm sounds and defiant words. All this music is 100 percent amazing--from Pops's poignant delivery of "Be Careful Of The Stones That You Throw" to the group's terrific, invigorating civil rights anthem "Freedom Highway" and a cover of Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth" that adds new dimensions of meaning to the hippie hit. Too poppy to be considered mainstream gospel but not as watered- down as the group became in their mid-1970s pop phase, the Staple Singers' late-'60s music easily ranks alongside the era's hit makers, far outstripping their talent with little flash and pure, lovely sounding conviction. --Mike McGonigal

Product Description

Digitally remastered reissue of 1965 album with original artwork packaged in a tri-fold digipak. CBS. 2004. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Where is the "ORIGINAL" Freedom Highway???, December 21, 2000

By 

---- J. M. Donabie (Scarborough, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Freedom Highway (Audio CD)

This CD is a fine Staple Singers CD; BUT IT IS NOT THE ORIGINAL "FREEDOM HIGHWAY RELEASED ON EPIC RECORDS!" I really get upset with record companies who try to re-write history. The original "Freedom Highway" was recorded live at a church in Chicago on Epic Records. It was the best and in my mind is the best "live" gospel album I have ever heard. Legacy put out this CD with the same title as the original and only put on a couple of tracks from it. Come on Legacy! You're great at what you do. Please, Please, Please release the original Freedom Highway!

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good album--but why not reissue the original one?, July 19, 2000

By 

"cory131" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Freedom Highway (Audio CD)

This is indeed the Staple Singers at their peak, a period crowned by the live recording of "Freedom Highway." But originally that song opened a whole album recorded live in a church, complete with Pops Staples' comments between songs, the handclapping and responses of the congregation, and so on. Hey, Epic Records: reissue the complete original "Freedom Highway" (with bonus tracks, if anything was left out!)! And if you ever see the original LP for sale, grab it! A real gem!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Incredible Gospel-Soul album, April 28, 2009

By 

ngaimoko (Zaire to Mississippi) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Freedom Highway (Audio CD)

I can thank Pandora.com for this purchase - I started a radio station for blues-Gospel (seeded with The Blind Boys of Alabama). Staple Singers songs started coming on, and I found myself turning up the volume and checking the artist every time. It's incredible music - passionate, powerful, profoundly musical and spiritual and relevant. This is before the Staple Singers moved to Stax and attained more mainstream success, and it is firmly in the Black Gospel tradition, but with clear social messages ("Why? Am I treated so bad," "Hammer and Nails," and "Freedom Highway") along with the more spiritual songs ("Will The Circle Be Unbroken," "Wade in the Water," "Nobody's Fault but Mine," "This Train"). Most songs feature Pops on guitar (rich, soulful lines) and vocals, along with three daughters (most famously Mavis) and son joining on vocals. Drums, bass, and other guitar sometimes join, but the vocal harmonies and Pops' guitar are at the forefront. A moving musical experience. Highly recommended for all listeners of soul, classic R&B, gospel, folk, or blues music.