William Bell & Mavis Staples – I Thank You
William Bell and Mavis Staples
Listen/Download William Bell and Mavis Staples – I Thank You
Greetings all
A couple of weeks ago, not long after I finished reading Greg Kots’ most excellent ‘I’ll Take You There: Mavis Staples, the Staple Singers, and the March up Freedom’s Highway’, it just happened to be Ms. Mavis’ 75th birthday.
I have been listening to a LOT of Staple Singers ish the last few years – especially the Epic era gospel stuff – and consistently marveling at the pure, soulful power of Mavis Staples’ voice.
It just so happens that a few months before (I’ve been reading a lot, you see) I had read Robert Palmer’s also excellent ‘Respect Yourself: Stax Records and the Soul Explosion’.
Palmer’s book is an indispensable guidebook to the history of that mighty soul label, especially his coverage of Stax’s late 60s rebirth.
Having been left in the lurch thanks to a shady deal with Atlantic Records, which cost the label their masters (and one of their top-selling acts, Sam and Dave), Stax, led by Al Bell, regrouped with the intention of reestablishing their market presence/dominance.
Part of Bell’s ambitious plan was a huge wave of new releases, which brought the label’s talent to the very edge of exhaustion.
One of Stax’s recent acquisitions, was the Staple Singers.
Having departed Epic records, the Staples came to Stax, already having loosened up a little bit.
Their catalog had already started to include non-religious (yet still inspirational) material, like their 1967 cover of the Buffalo Springfield’s ‘For What It’s Worth’, and their original songs, like ‘Why Am I Treated So Bad’ had been covered by the likes of the Sweet Inspirations, Bobby Powell and Brian Auger and the Trinity.
One of the cornerstones of Stax/Bell’s big push was a two-LP set composed of duets, mixing and matching the label’s male talent, like Eddie Floyd, William Bell, Johnnie Taylor and Pervis Staples, with its female stars like Carla Thomas, and Mavis and Cleotha Staples.
Composed of 22 tracks, the ‘Boy Meets Girl’ collection is, despite the daunting size (and the fact that these were all new recordings) actually quite good.
With the recording spread between Memphis, Detroit and Muscle Shoals, and a number of arrangers and writers, the resulting tracks are not consistently ‘Stax-like’ – there are a number of cuts that sound Motown-ish – but there’s lots to dig.
My favorite track from the collection is William Bell and Mavis Staples funky duet on ‘I Thank You’.
Originally recorded the previous year by Sam and Dave, the 1969 recording – produced by Al Bell and Isaac Hayes – is a something of a lost classic.
The arrangement is unusual – the first 45 seconds consist of Bell and Staples trading lines over just congas and tambourines – but when the band kicks in things get funky.
The clavinet from the OG is still there, but it gets some company from fuzz guitar, and the drums keep up the heat through the whole record.
Bell sounds great, and it’s cool to hear Mavis in one of her earliest purely soulful outings.
The power of her voice was always a revelation, but especially so here. She never soars, or showboats, choosing instead to add subtle but perfectly chosen turns here and there.
She really is a singer that demands your attention, and her performance here ought to be better known.
Unfortunately – though Stax released six singles from the collection – ‘I Thank You’ was not among them.
It doesn’t help that the reissues (including the version currently on iTunes) of the ‘Boy Meets Girl’ collection have often been changed to exclude some of the original tracks and add new ones.
Fortunately for those of you with turntables, the original vinyl version of the set seems to be in plentiful supply and can usually be scored for less than twenty bucks.
I hope you dig the track, and I’ll see you all on Friday.
Keep the faith
Larry
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Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived! The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock. They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US). Click here to go to the ordering page.
Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).
Themocracy
Hey Larry
Interesting post. I’d never heard of this album before, but I see that Ace Records here in the UK have reissued the original album on CD https://acerecords.co.uk/boy-meets-girl?update
Mark
That’s the good one, the exact reissue of the original album. There’s another reissue out there that leaves out a number of cuts and adds some substitutes.