eMusic Review
The Staple Singers 'second album consists of songs recorded in 1959 and 1961, and there's not a dud in the bunch. The Staples were a seasoned group by 1961, of course. Over the course of almost a dozen singles and the 1959 LP Uncloudy Day, the Chicago-based family gospel act had built a powerful bridge from the sanctified blues of the '20s and '30s to the mournful vocal stylings of contemporary acts like the Blind Boys and Highway QCs. But the Staples 'sepulchral yet bluesy sound was so original that their songs are instantly recognizable as theirs, and theirs alone.
For years now, some of the Staple Singers 'greatest music has inexplicably been out of print or suffered from dubious reissues. Until now, their recordings from the late 1950s for Vee Jay were often issued on sketchy, crummy-sounding albums that hardly gave information as to what these tracks were, or where they were originally from. Their early 1960s Riverside back catalog remains a total mess, and their recordings for Epic have only been anthologized. What makes this extra strange is that the Staples were so important musically and socially long before they hit the big time with their… read more »
