Be Altitude: Respect Yourself [Stax Remasters]

Despite the fact that they spent two decades releasing inspired folk-gospel music, it was when the Staple Singers embraced R&B and soul that they gained mainstream success. The second album cut at Muscle Shoals, Be Altitude: Respect Yourself defined the Staples for a new generation of secular listeners. Backed by the Swampers, the Staples catapulted no less than three songs onto the charts, with the beatific “I’ll Take You There” ascending to No. 1. No wonder why David Fricke called it “epitome of the Muscle Shoals Sound.”