{"id":6893,"date":"2017-01-08T11:45:40","date_gmt":"2017-01-08T16:45:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/?p=6893"},"modified":"2017-01-08T11:45:40","modified_gmt":"2017-01-08T16:45:40","slug":"two-more-by-the-staple-singers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/?p=6893","title":{"rendered":"Two (more) by the Staple Singers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Example\"
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\"Example\"
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Listen\/Download – The Staple Singers – Nobody’s Fault But Mine MP3<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Listen\/Download – The Staple Singers – I Wish I Could Hear My Mother Pray Again MP3<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Greetings all.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was recently gifted (in conjunction with Christmas) with the absolutely amazing Staple Singers<\/strong> boxed set, \u2018Faith and Grace, A Family Journey 1953 \u2013 1976\u2019.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

First released in 2015, and compiled by Joe McEwen,<\/strong> it is the first collection cover the Staples\u2019 entire career, from their very first record in 1953 to their commercial heyday at Stax in the 1970s, with stops at VeeJay, Riverside, D-Town and Epic along the way.<\/p>\n

Gospel has become a collectible genre among soul fans over the last ten years or so with some of the deeper cats \u2013 like Greg Belson<\/strong> \u2013 mining the depths for the soul, funk and even disco iterations of the genre.<\/p>\n

While I have never collected gospel records in earnest (I still have a lot to learn), it is nearly impossible to listen to soul music from the classic era and not yearn to investigate the wellspring from which so many of its greatest practitioners came.<\/p>\n

Gospel music is at least as big a contributor to what we know as soul music as was R&B, in both its style \u2013 brought forward by countless singers who spent their childhoods (and often adulthood) singing the music \u2013 and its repertoire, much of which made its way into the soul catalog via osmosis, theft and homage.<\/p>\n

The mighty Staple singers are a perfect bridge for those with a taste for soul music who want to find a way into the gospel realm.<\/p>\n

The group was in many sui generis, in that their approach to the genre was unusual (becoming even moreso as the years passed), with Roebuck \u2018Pops\u2019 Staples<\/strong> Delta blues inspired guitar style and Mavis Staples uniquely powerful voice.<\/p>\n

They were deeply influential, inside and outside of gospel, and work as a touchstone to pure, gospel quartet singing, and socialy conscious soul music.<\/p>\n

As a listener of music, I have always been more attuned to the overall sound, as opposed to lyrics, effected first by the feel of things, and the Staple Singers had a sound that was remarkable.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not that elements of their music blend can\u2019t be found in earlier performers. Pop Staples grew up near the Dockery Plantation in Mississippi and learned to play the guitar while listening to Charley Patton, Robert Johnson<\/strong> and Son House<\/strong>, and Mavis\u2019s<\/strong> voice has echoes of both secular (Patton) and sanctified blues (Blind Willie Johnson<\/strong>). However nobody combined the sounds of the Delta and gospel harmony like the Staple Singers did.<\/p>\n

Their sound \u2013 and it\u2019s interesting to listen to how its power persisted through the different production styles over the years \u2013 was unique, spiritual (in every way) and at times almost ghostly, in its ability to carry the voices of the past into the present.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve spent a great deal of time since Christmas listening, and relistening to \u2018Faith and Grace\u2019, and diving deep into the sound of the Staples\u2019 music.<\/p>\n

Though I was already familiar with much of the second half of the set (the late Riverside, Epic and Stax periods), the earlier recordings were a revelation.<\/p>\n

To listen to their earliest recordings, like \u2018It Rained Children\u2019 (from 1953) and their first hit \u2018Uncloudy Day\u2019 (from 1956) and realize that Mavis\u2019s booming, richly layered and masterfully controlled voice was coming from a teenager, verily boggles the mind. And it must be acknowledged that even that supreme instrument was only one component of the group\u2019s sound. Pops\u2019 high, keening voice, tremelo-soaked guitar, and the harmonies and call and response of Pervis, Cleotha<\/strong> and Yvonne<\/strong> (the line up changing frequently over the years) all came together to make something remarkable.
\nThe two tracks I bring you today hail from the Staples 1965 and 1966 Epic LPs, \u2018Amen!\u2019 and \u2018Why\u2019, and are both included on \u2018Faith and Grace, A Family Journey 1953 \u2013 1976\u2019.<\/p>\n

The first, \u2018Nobody\u2019s Fault But Mine\u2019 is a gospel standard that was first recorded by the aforementioned Blind Willie Johnson in 1927 as \u2018It\u2019s Nobody\u2019s Fault But Mine\u2019. It should also be familiar to listeners of Led Zeppelin<\/strong> as just one (particularly egregious<\/em>) example of their thievery.<\/p>\n

The Staples take advantage of a small-band backing to add a brisk, rolling propulsion to their version of the song, with Pops\u2019 guitar edging right up to an almost rockabilly sound (a recurring motif in songs like \u2018Swing Down Chariot\u2019 and \u2018I\u2019m So Glad\u2019), and his vocal in the lead, with response from his children.<\/p>\n

The second tune, \u2018I Wish I Could Hear My Mother Pray Again\u2019 is another gospel chestnut, which was recorded over the years by a variety of performers, many of the coming from the white\/country gospel sound. You can hear traces of that sound in the Staples\u2019 version.<\/p>\n

The astounding quality of the music on \u2018Faith and Grace\u2019 will blow away the most jaded listener, and certainly spur many of you to head out and find as many of the original releases as possible. There are a few omissions (I wish that they had included the Larry William<\/strong>s produced reworking of \u2018Why Am I Treated So Bad\u2019) but there are so many great moments (including a couple of rare live recordings) that nobody outside of pedantic record collectors will find any reason to quibble with the selection.<\/p>\n

So dig the sounds, and go out and find yourself a copy of this collection, and settle in for several hours of amazement.<\/p>\n

I hope you dig it, and I\u2019ll see you all on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Keep the faith<\/strong><\/p>\n

Larry<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Example\"<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong> \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived!<\/strong> The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock.<\/strong> They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US).<\/strong> Click here to go to the ordering page.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Listen\/Download – The Staple Singers – Nobody’s Fault But Mine MP3 Listen\/Download – The Staple Singers – I Wish I Could Hear My Mother Pray Again MP3 Greetings all. I was recently gifted (in conjunction with Christmas) with the absolutely amazing Staple Singers boxed set, \u2018Faith and Grace, A Family Journey 1953 \u2013 1976\u2019. First […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[43,14,82,12],"tags":[171,166,181,164],"class_list":["post-6893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chicago-soul","category-funky16corners","category-gospel","category-soul","tag-chicago-soul","tag-funky16corners","tag-gospel","tag-soul"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMKgo-1Nb","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6893"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6893\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6898,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6893\/revisions\/6898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}