Craft Recordingsis thrilled to announce the
release of a vinyl box set celebrating one of music’s greatest gospel and soul
groups, The Staple Singers. Set for a December 6th release date, Come Go With
Me: The Stax Collectionpresents all of the group’s studio albums released on
the iconic Memphis label, spanning 1968–1974, and features the Staples’ biggest
hits, including “I’ll Take You There,” “Respect Yourself” and “If You’re Ready
(Come Go with Me).” The six studio albums were cut from the original analog
masters by Jeff Powellat Take Out Vinyl. The final, seventh disc offers
rarities, non-album singles and several live recordings from the legendary 1972
Wattstax music festival. The seven discs come in heavyweight 180-gram
vinylpressed at Memphis Record Pressing. Housed in a slipcase, the collection
also includes a deluxe booklet with archival photos and new liner notes from
American music specialist and curatorLevon Williams(formerly of the Stax Museum
and the National Museum of African American Music), and folklorist,
ethnomusicologist and writerDr. Langston Wilkins. The complete collection will
also be released digitally, and the six studio albums will be available in
hi-res 24-bit/192 kHz and 24-bit/96 kHz formats for the first time. By the time that the Staple Singers signed to Stax in 1968,
the family quartet—helmed by patriarch Roebuck "Pops" Staples, with
daughters Cleothaand Mavis, and son Pervis (later replaced by his sister
Yvonne)—had long graduated from the gospel circuit. The Chicago group had
become well known in the counterculture and folk scenes and were performing
alongside major rock acts like Big Brother and the Holding Companyand the
Grateful Dead. The Staples had also become formidable voices in the Civil
Rights movement, and many of their songs preached a message of empowerment and
racial equality. In the fall of ’68, the group went into the studio to record
their first album for Stax, Soul Folk in Action, working with producer Steve
Cropperand songwriter Homer Banks. The sessions were set against a backdrop of
social and political turmoil, which climaxed with the assassination of Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr.in Memphis. The Staple Singers were known for writing
politically charged “message songs,” and the year’s events certainly inspired
many of the tracks on this album, including “Long Walk to D.C.” and “The
Ghetto.” In their liner notes, Levon Williams and Langston Wilkins write that
both of these songs “Truly tapped into the experiences and emotions of Black
America at the close of the ’60s. The former is a tribute to the 1963 March on
Washington told from the perspective of a poor yet hopeful African American
person willing to use their last dimes to make it to the rally … Conversely,
the somber and haunting ‘The Ghetto’ takes listeners deep into the isolation
and despair of inner-city life.” Also notable to this album are stunning covers
of The Band’s “The Weight” and Otis Redding’s “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the
Bay,” recorded in tribute to the fallen Stax star, who died tragically just a
year earlier in a plane crash. The Staple Singers returned to the studio with
Cropper the following year to record We’ll Get Over(1970). Highlights include
the standout message song “When Will We Be Paid,” as well as covers of tracks
like Sly & the Family Stone’s “Everyday People” and Gladys Knight & the
Pips’ “The End of the Road.”
Though both Soul Folk in Actionand We’ll Get Overcarried
powerful messages and tight-knit harmonies, neither had commercial success. And
so, for the band’s third album, Stax co-president Al Bell(who signed the band)
took the helm as producer. Williams and Wilkins note that “As a long-time DJ,
Bell’s ear for what moves Black listeners, both literally and metaphorically,
had been keenly crafted over several years. Bell hosted shows that had both
sacred and secular followings and had amassed a wealth of experience from
watching, noting and deeply understanding the impact music has on varied
audiences. His ear was essentially priceless.” With support from the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section(also
known as “The Swampers”), the Staple Singers found a winning team with Bell,
and the resulting album, 1971’s The Staple Swingers, would be their first
charting record, peaking at No. 9 on Billboard’stop R&B albums. The LP
offered a funkier sound from the group, with high-energy singles like “Heavy
Makes You Happy (Sha-Na-Boom Boom)” and the Smokey Robinsoncover “You’ve Got to
Earn It.”
The group reunited with the Swampers and Bell for 1972’s Be
Altitude: Respect Yourself, an album that transformed the Staple Singers into
mainstream stars. Peaking at No. 19 on the Billboard200, the groove-filled
album featured the Staples’ first No. 1 hit—the infectious “I’ll Take You There,”
and “Respect Yourself,” a song which Williams and Wilkins declare “Encapsulates
the Staple Singers’ entire career.” The powerful message song not only
resonated with African Americans but also with many women across the country as
they, too, fought for equal opportunity.
The group’s 1973 follow-up, Be What You Are, featured the
Top Ten hit “If You’re Ready (Come Go With Me),” popular single "Touch a
Hand, Make a Friend” and the sweetly harmonized “Love Comes in All Colors,”
while the Staple Singers’ final album with Stax—1974’s City in the Sky—includes
such highlights as the politically charged “Washington We’re Watching You,”
“Back Road into Town” and “Who Made the Man,” which marked a return to the
group’s gospel roots. The final disc in Come Go With Me: The Stax Collectionoffers
a selection of live tracks from the Staple Singers’ energetic performance at
Wattstax, as well as B-sides like “Stay With Us,” non-album singles like “Oh La
De Da” and rarities that include “Walking in Water Over Our Head” and “Trippin’
on Your Love.” Following their time at Stax, the Staple Singers continued
to tour and record throughout the ’70s and early ’80s. They were inducted into
the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1999and received a GRAMMY® Lifetime
Achievement Award in 2005. In recent years, Mavis Staples has been back in the
spotlight—headlining tours and reaching a new generation of fans with her solo
records. In 2016, she was the subject of a documentary (Mavis!)and ended the
year as a Kennedy Center Honoree.
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