3 April 2013 (Day 93) – A Couple Of Staples And A Lack Of Logic

Sometimes I do things that defy any rational thought.  Take today for instance.  I knew that an in house seminar was going to account for half of my day at work so I thought taking three CDs and the iPod should do.  After attending the seminar, I sat down at my desk and played a most wonderful album;

(# 255) Pops Staples – Peace To The Neighborhood (released 1992)

This was one of a very few albums released under Pops’ name during his lifetime.  Working with a number of producers including Al Green’s long time producer Willie Mitchell and Ry Cooder, it is a clever mixture of Pop’s originals, traditional gospel/soul numbers and more contemporary covers. In the latter category are wonderful versions of Jackson Browne’s World in Motion (including vocals from the songwriter and typical guitar work from track co-producer Bonnie Riatt) and Los Lobos’ (Peace To) The Neighborhood. Mitchell produced most of the Pops’ numbers which are all of a high standard including the wonderful Pray On My Mind with his daughter Mavis on lead vocals.  But the highlights are undoubtedly the two Cooder produced tracks, Down In Mississippi and I Shall Not Be Moved.  Cooder contributes guitar to both and his unmistakable vocals to the latter.  None of these collaborators though deflect the attention away from Pop’s vocals and understated guitar work.

The next album was a logical choice:

(# 256) Mavis Staples – Have A Little Faith (2004)

This is a rousing gospel influenced album that shows off Mavis’ incredible voice to best effect.  Events that occurred in the considerable period from its predecessor provided her with appropriately powerful material including the death of Pops (Pop’s Recipe) and the events of 9/11 (In Times Like These and the title track which is not the John Hiatt tune). Wisely, most of the musical backing is not allowed to overwhelm Mavis’ voice without detriment to the songs.  A beautiful version of the standard Will the Circle Be Unbroken? rounds things up nicely.

Having played this, you would have thought the next task would have been to play something by The Staple Singers.   The Freedom Highway compilation is on my iPod and it doesn’t even occur to me to play it until I sit down to write this post.  Instead my mind casts about for something different and I achieve that with:

(# 257) Mogwai – The Hawk Is Howling (2008)

Scotland’s most accomplished sculptors of mostly instrumental, melodic noise continued the process of developing a more accessible sound that was initiated on Mr. Beast with this release.  It starts off with the superbly titled and sounding I’m Jim Morrison I’m Dead which maintains a coiled tension for its duration.  Batcat increases the intensity which is maintained over the next couple of numbers.  An extremely quiet Kings Meadow leaks into the epic I Love You I’m Going To Blow Up Your School which eventually explodes into a glorious sustained blast of sound.  Closing track The Precipice is aptly named.

After this I think I’ll need something quieter tomorrow.