Live: Hope At The Hideout [LIVE]

Mavis Staples

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 4, 2008)
• Original Release Date: November 4, 2008
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Live
• Label: Anti
• ASIN: B001GJ2ZI4
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #6,012 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Chicago is Mavis Staples' hometown so she is in exceptionally fine spirits on this 2008 live set, her first solo concert recording, at the Windy City's Hideout venue. Backed by a stripped down yet phenomenal three piece band of veterans featuring guitarist Rick Holmstrom, drummer Stephen Hodges and bassist Jeff Turmes along with a trio of backing vocalists, Staples comes to "bring joy, happiness, inspiration and some positive vibrations." Mission accomplished on this hour long set that borrows liberally from her 2007 civil rights oriented album We’ll Never Turn Back, but ups the energy and commitment for the live show. Her group burrows into a deep, dark swamp groove led by Holmstrom's shimmering guitar perfect for Staples' husky, gospel voice to pour into. On "This Little Light" she vocally riffs off the repeated lick, bringing intensity to the song only hinted at in its studio version. She digs back into her catalog to revive the traditional "Wade in the Water," here given a slight funk backbeat and brought to shore by Staples' gutsy, churchy reading. She's practically forced into a closing encore of the Staples Singers' signature tune "I'll Take You There," a sing-along for the audience played against skeletal guitar and enough joyous handclaps to raise the club, and now the listener, a little closer to heaven. -- Hal Horowitz

Product Description

Mavis Staples, who marched and sang and protested alongside Dr. Martin Luther King during the Civil Rights movement of the 1960 s, saw her steadfast dedication to equality and unwavering sense of hope validated on Tuesday, Nov. 4th 2008. She writes: "To come up in a time when there was slavery, racism, the KKK, and Jim Crow, I'm just so grateful to still be here to enjoy this historical time in our lives. It is so surreal, so completely overwhelming.
This young black man has inspired and brought the country together. There's something about him that makes me feel he is the chosen one. There's something about his leadership that makes people feel calm and safe. He has inspired hopes and dreams of all people - black, white, brown or yellow. Doctor King and Pops I just know are so happy. "The Dream" is alive.
Staples new record -- Mavis Staples Live: Hope At The Hideout, which also came out on Tuesday -- takes on a whole new significance in the wake of this historic win for equal rights. Recorded in June in an intimate bar in her hometown of Chicago, the record is filled with freedom songs like We Shall Not Be Moved and Down In Mississippi, gospel classics like Will The Circle Be Unbroken, and her biggest hit, I ll Take You There. Since the record was recorded in the uncertainty of the run-up to the election, it could, on one hand, be taken as another token to the struggle that Staples has devoted her career, and life, to. Yet in the wake of Tuesday s decision, the songs are suddenly a testament to the uplifting hope and certainty of success that has marked Staples work over the past 50+ years. On June 23, 2008 at Chicago's legendary roots club The Hideout, Staples played with a stripped down, raw, and swampy three-piece band and just a handful of backup singers, providing a rare opportunity for fans to get close to a figure who has led a five-decade long musical charge towards equality. This release comes off her critically lauded "We'll Never Turn Back", and is a potent mix of her classic civil rights freedom songs alongside some fiery new compositions co-written with producer Ry Cooder. Staples is a Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inductee, and has appeared with the likes of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Bill Cosby, Presidents Kennedy, Carter, and Clinton, Janis Joplin, Pink Floyd, Santana, Bonnie Raitt, and Tom Petty. She's recorded with Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, Marty Stuart, Los Lobos, and many more.



In addition to her work in the trenches, the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer is also no stranger to political celebrations. Staples has performed at inaugural events for John F. Kennedy, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Swamp, Soul, Roots, Life to the MAX!!!!!!, November 5, 2008

By	Michael Boguslawski "bigmikelaw" (CT) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Simply an amazing night of music caught on tape. Small club but a HUGE sound. Mavis and background singers in tiptop form. Holmstrom, Hodges and Turmes crankin' out the TONE.

From Hodges backwards grooves and percussion to Holmstrom and Turmes TONE and then over to Mavis's stories. This record is a MUST HAVE in my book. My current favorite band does not disappoint here.

A+++ sound quality for a live record too! Don't wait, if you are a fan of anyone on this record, a fan of Mavis's, a fan of DEEP SOUL....do yourself a favor and pick this cd up.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mavis - Need I Say More?, November 24, 2008

By	Music Maven "R Keating" (Southern California) - See all my reviews

In the entire history of Soul Music, only two people can get down deep and grab your soul; twist and turn it inside out; then, hand it back to you thoroughly cleansed, steamed, pressed and awakened to a new consciousness of the struggle African-Americans have wrestled with for the past 400+ years. They are Sam Cooke and Mavis Staples.

It's all there in this 'live' CD - the pain, frustration, sorrow and joy of a people who refuse to give up the fight. Mavis brings it all together with her incredibly rich alto to contralto intonations from her gut-wrenching delivery on "Waiting For My Child" to her eerie rendition of "Down In Mississippi" and the jubilantly hopeful "I'll Take You There". It's all there - Mavis at her best!

With just a trio of fine musicians - especially guitarist Rick Holmstrom - 3 super backup singers - including sister Yvonne Staples, Mavis delivers a cornucopia of some of the finest music reflecting "The Struggle". Simply put, Mavis Staples is a living-breathing-singing piece of 20th Century American History. Mavis was THERE; and, thankfully, she's still here to share it all with us.

"The Voice" still shines though any cloudy day. Simply magnificent!

5.0 out of 5 stars It doesn't get any better., August 18, 2009

By	James E. Anderson - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

More swampy than Creedence Clearwater Revival - and that's saying a lot. Kudos to all the musicians, especially guitarist Rick Holmstrom and Mavis.

Just put it on and luxuriate in the groove and the feel-good factor of the lyrics as delivered by a bona fide civil rights hero.

Hell, just thinking about this recording makes me feel good! Classic!