Stax/Concord
Music Group will release the first-ever comprehensive, career-spanning overview
of The Staple Singers, one of the most important American musical acts of the
20th century. Due out November 13, this limited edition 4-CD box set--titled
Faith and Grace: A Family Journey 1953-1976--also includes a very special
bonus: the earliest known recording of the gospel, soul and R&B group,
housed on a 7” vinyl record, marking the first time that this track has been
available in any format since the Staples’ self-released edition of 500. The
box set is available now to pre-order on Amazon in the following formats: Deluxe
Box Set (4CD + 7” vinyl) and digitally.
Housed in a
deluxe, old-school “45-folio” package, the accompanying book features new liner
notes by Mavis Staples, James Miller, Opal Louis Nations and compilation
producer Joe McEwen, as well as rarely seen photos of the family band taken
over the course of their career.
The
long-lost recordings embodied on the 7” record, “Faith and Grace” and “These
Are They,” are the earliest known recordings of The Staple Singers and were
made in a friend of Pops Staples’ basement in Chicago in 1953. These have never
before been commercially available in any format except the 500 or so copies
the Staples pressed themselves on 78 RPM records. The box set also contains the
live recording: “Medley: Too Close/I’m On My Way Home/I’m Coming Home/He’s
Alright (Live).” This live performance from 1960 Clarksdale, Mississippi has
never before been available in its entirety.
The music of
the Staple Singers--best known for their 1970s hits "Respect
Yourself," "I'll Take You There," "If You're Ready (Come Go
with Me)," and "Let's Do It Again"--is richly embedded into
American history and culture. As James Miller writes in the liner notes:
“The Staple
Singers are American originals. Like Elvis Presley in the fifties, they took
the country gospel sounds of the Mississippi Delta and turned them into a brand
new kind of music, a fusion of blues form and raw feeling that was sui generis.
Like Bob Dylan in the sixties, they created their own kind of folk music, in
part to hymn the progress of the civil rights movement in America. Like Sam
Cooke, Curtis Mayfield and Aretha Franklin, they took the music of the black
church and made that soulful sound matter to anybody with ears and an open mind
in a series of exceptionally popular recordings that made them well-known to a
wide audience. And afterwards, even after their belated moment of fame in the
early 1970s, their principal members survived into a dignified old age,
becoming venerated solo troubadours, performing vernacular American music that
sounds as fresh today as it did a half-century ago…The consistency with which
this family made rapturous music–as documented on this box set–becomes ever
more impressive with the passage of time.”
Explaining
The Staple Singers’ special dynamic, notes Miller, “The group had two primary
leads: Pops, a tenor, and Mavis, a skinny girl with a thundering voice. When
the Staples harmonized, their blend was high and keening, with Pops singing
falsetto alongside his daughter Cleotha, a soprano, and Pervis, a high tenor like
his dad, making them sound more like the Carter Family than a conventional
black gospel group. Equally unusual was the instrumentation; instead of
performing a capella or with keyboard accompaniment, the Staples featured the
electric guitar playing of Pops. That’s the first thing you hear on their
classic early recordings: finger-picked arpeggios, amplified in a wash of
reverb and tremolo, anchoring the bottom of the sound. (‘Pop Staples and his
nervous guitar,’ quipped rivals on the gospel circuit.)”
The box set
is aptly titled Faith and Grace: A Family Journey 1953-1976 as these qualities
are hallmarks of The Staple Singers. Their music remains soul-stirring and
relevant – these songs bring hope in uncertain times. As always, The Staple
Singers take us there.
Faith and
Grace: A Family Journey 1953-1976
Track
listing:
Disc 1
1. It Rained
Children
2. I Just
Can’t Keep It To Myself
3. Each Day
4. God’s
Wonderful Love
5. If I
Could Hear My Mother Pray Again
6. I’ve Got
A New Home
7. Uncloudy
Day
8. Come On
Up In Glory
9. I Know I
Got Religion
10. Swing
Down Chariot (Let Me Ride)
11. I Had A
Dream
12. Help Me
Jesus
13. Low Is
The Way
14. This May
Be The Last Time [Alternate Take]
15. So Soon
16. I’m So
Glad
17. Pray On
18. Good
News
19. Downward
Road
20. Don’t
Drive Me Away
Disc 2
1. Will The
Circle Be Unbroken
2. Don’t
Knock
3. Medley:
Too Close/I’m On My Way Home/I’m Coming Home/He’s Alright [Live]
4. Swing Low
5. Calling
Me
6. Stand By
Me
7. Hammer
And Nails
8. Gloryland
9. Hear My
Call, Here
10. Nobody
Knows The Trouble I’ve Seen
11. New-Born
Soul
12. Dying
Man’s Plea
13. Great
Day
14. There
Was A Star
15. Use What
You Got
16. Let That
Liar Alone
17. I Can’t
Help From Cryin' Sometime
18. Blowin’
In The Wind
19. This
Land Is Your Land
20. I Know
I’ve Been Changed
Disc 3
1. A Hard
Rain’s Gonna Fall
2. Masters
Of War
3. What Are
They Doing (In Heaven Today)
4. Wish I
Had Answered [Live At Newport]
5. I’ll Fly
Away
6. Tell Him
What You Want [Stapleton Singers]
7. Be
Careful Of The Stones You Throw
8. Samson
& Delilah
9. As An
Eagle Stirreth Her Nest
10. Freedom
Highway
11. Why (Am
I Treated So Bad)
12. John
Brown
13. Waiting
For My Child
14. It’s
Been A Change
15. For What
It’s Worth
16. Let’s
Get Together
17. Crying
In The Chapel [Mavis Staples With The Staple Singers]
18. Long
Walk To D.C.
19. Got To
Be Some Changes
20. Slow
Train
Disc 4
1. I See It
2. The
Ghetto
3. When Will
We Be Paid
4. God Bless
The Children
5. The
Challenge
6. Brand New
Day [Theme From The Motion Picture The Landlord]
7. Heavy
Makes You Happy (Sha-Na-Boom Boom)
8. I Like
The Things About You
9. You’re
Gonna Make Me Cry
10. Respect
Yourself
11. I’ll
Take You There
12. This
World
13. I’m Just
Another Soldier
14. Are You
Sure
15. If
You’re Ready (Come Go With Me)
16. Touch A
Hand, Make A Friend
17. Back
Road Into Town
18. Let’s Do
It Again
19. The
Weight [The Band feat. Staple Singers]
20. Respect
Yourself [Demo]
7” track
listing:
Side A
Faith and
Grace
Side B
These Are
They
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