::ALBUM REVIEW::

The legend that surrounds the Staple Singers’ #1 pop/R&B hit “I’ll Take You There” is one that generates strong mystical beliefs by most music critics and continues to mesmerize historians due to its mesh of Memphis soul and Southern interpretation of reggae while incorporating lyrics pointing to a paradise filled with joy, peace and prosperity. There’s no way in the world one could ignore the joyful pleas of Mavis Staples’ gritty vocals, Eddie Hinton’s infamous guitar solo and Pop Staples’ unforgettable guitar plunks. This probably was the reason why the hit single spent fifteen weeks aloft the pop charts and climbed to its number one position. The five-minute track, anchored by the Muscle Shoals rhythm section, rests in the middle of the Staple Singers’ 1972 album, Be Altitude: Respect Yourself, released on the Stax music label and was produced by label executive Al Bell after being inspired to take the them to higher heights beyond their past success in limited gospel markets. This kind of transformation made Be Altitude: Respect Yourself the group’s finest single album ever - yielding three top ten R&B hits.

The album starts off with the funky infectious “This World”; set to a riveting horn section and a booming bass fired up by the song’s pulsating rhythms. It’s a track you hate to hear fade out, but one that literally explains the Staples’ influence even on pop music. Songs like this explains the pre-disco developments to come in pop music and heralds as one of the group’s most invigorating uptempo songs. The album then leaps forward into Luther Ingram/Mack Rice’s protest song, “Respect Yourself.” A funky slice of Southern blues and featuring an engaging set-up of back-and-forth vocals from Pop and Mavis Staples, the song is set up in the fashion of most message/protest songs of the seventies. It is apparent that the Staples’ aim is to take a convincing social gospel filled with wisdom and self-empowerment to the masses while using their familiar gospel backbone - especially with Yvonne and Cleotha Staples delivering soulful background duties - as the music’s obvious musical force. The lyrics, eloquently penned by two of Stax’s strong writers, speak of the group’s dissatisfaction with the conditions of the world and can be felt when Mavis Staples utters out: “If you’re walking round thinking that the world owes you something ‘cause you’re here/You’re going out the world backwards like you did when you first come here.” The style and demeanor of her tone is full of sass and explains why the song remains one of Gospel’s biggest crossovers.

There are other mighty inclusions tucked into this stellar collection, including the Aretha Franklin-sounding “This Old Town (People In This Town)” and the gospel-tinged “I’m Just Another Soldier” - the latter using the familiar congregational chorus of “I’m A Soldier In The Army” with a cute military lyric of “hut-two-three-four” in the chorus. Pop Staples goes into familiar gospel territory while directing listeners to God with “Who Do You Think You Are (Jesus Christ The Superstar).” Songs like “Name The Missing Word” and “Who” attaches itself to Isaac Hayes-like grooves and finds Mavis Staples riding on more fiery preaching.

Without the Staples Singers entering into the fold of gospel greats would have been a natural disaster. Al Bell made sure that the group landed on good material and a satisfying brew of musicians to match their crossover sound. That all happened on Be Altitude: Respect Yourself and, to this day, remains one of gospel music’s pride and joy.