The Best of the Staple Singers

The Staple Singers

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 7, 1991)
• Original Release Date: October 17, 1990
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Fantasy
• ASIN: B000000XGX
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #4,924 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential recording

After making their mark in the early '60s with gospel, folk, and social-protest songs, the Staples joined the Stax label in 1968. These 16 cuts find the Staples straddling the sacred and secular worlds, offering positive-message songs that aren't explicitly religious. Backed by the rock-solid grooves of Stax's urgent soul, the Staples produce a series of buoyant, infectious numbers. With Mavis's gritty, emotionally charged lead vocals in command, they roll through horn-driven celebrations such as "I'll Take You There" and "We'll Get Over" plus superb covers of "Dock of the Bay" and "The Weight." Pops's warm lead vocals grace earthy self-affirmations including "Respect Yourself" and "Be What You Are." These "secular spirituals" deftly combine socially conscious lyrics with joyous melodies. --Marc Greilsamer

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ready for the City in the Sky, May 10, 2000

By	happydogpotatohead "happydogpotatohead" (New Orleans, LA USA) - See all my reviews

My friends, if my mother's prayers are somehow heard by the Main Man Upstairs and by some unbelievable chance I make it to Heaven, I do not expect to hear the sounds of orchestras playing Mozart or choirs singing Bach. I know in my heart that the Staple Singers' music will infiltrate every micrometer of Heaven.

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.

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent. Deserving of A Double 5-Star Rating., December 1, 1999

By	yygsgsdrassil "yygsgsdrassil" (Crossroads America) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Not only does this have powerhouse top 10 singles "Respect Yourself" and (General Motors favorite) "I'll Take You There", also it has the feelgood tune "If You're Ready(Come Go With Me)" and that Sha-na-Boom song. In "Sitting At the Dock of the Bay", we find Mavis at her stirring best--her voice, in my opinion, always sounds as if she was either one step from either being hurt or one step from hurting somebody else--understand? In any case, Mavis is great. Check her out in the Prince produced CD "Time Waits For No One"...In the meantime, get and enjoy this great CD, and believe me when I tell you--you cannot go wrong by purchasing the Staple Singers' best.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential Music (6 stars) - Poor Quality( 4 stars), January 27, 2003

By	LOUIS F IACUEO (Covina, Ca USA) - See all my reviews

The Staple Singers, finally in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, are one of the most important acts of the Rock And Roll era. They not only come from Gospel routes, but they took those roots and used them in the lyrics, music and style of their great hits. The messages, though gritty at times (e.g. "Put your hand on your mouth when you cough, that'll help the solution" from "Respect Yourself") are always very positive. They made such uplifting music in the early 1970s, a time when our nation was in such turmoil over issues like Vietnam and Watergate. Indeed "Heavy Makes You Happy".

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.