We (Deerhoof) took Delta to the east coast a couple weeks ago, and on Delta a movie is $6, so forget that. But they had a bunch of albums to listen to for free, and I found some doozies. Probably everyone else on mog has heard them already, but it takes a few plane flights for me to catch up.Caetano Veloso "Ce" was such an inspiration, sophisticated deep down but so simple on the surface, it ma...
By Mark Hinson, Tallahassee Democrat Amazon.com WidgetsIt's the voice. That husky contralto that packs so much depth and authority. It'll stop you cold. Mavis Staples suddenly burst into song when she started talking excitedly about recording her jaw-dropping 2007 album We'll Never Turn Back with producer-guitarist Ry Cooder. "Ry didn't want do it (record 'Jesus Is On the Main Line') so I...
As the hours fly by, certain members of the MOG-telligensia have been bandying around an interesting premise: If you could somehow bring together two artists to perform a duet on a specific song, who would they be, and what would they sing?I decided to confine my conjecture to performers who were still alive and well, and could actually do my bidding, rather than imagining one of those digitall...
This track was released in 1977; written by Curtis Mayfield (who probably plays guitar here), sung by Mavis Staples, it comes from the soundtrack of the Sidney Poitier directed movie "A Piece of the Action", starring Sidney hisself and Bill Cosby, and was, as you would expect, released on the Curtom label.Will Smith's attempt to remake the film with Eddie Murphy appears not to have got off the ...
Picked up the new Mavis Staples CD, "We'll Never Turn Back," the other day - expected to like it a lot, am currently totally loving it. Her voice and phrasing are still among the marvels of popular music, but what makes this set special are the songs - all associated with the civil rights stuggles of the Sixties, in which her family's gospel group, the Staple Singers, played a pivotal role - an...
How come Mavis Staples wasn't invited to Obama's Inauguration? I'm so shocked... she is a civil rights era icon and an amazingly moving performer. PLUS he used her song during his campaign. I think this is a huge oversight. She deserves the honor. Hmm.