One of the most successful groups that crossed over from gospel to secular/soul, The Staples Singers, has four of their last releases finally reissued. While the albums don’t have mega-hits like “I’ll Take You There” or “Respect Yourself”, there is plenty to enjoy and appreciate.
What needs to be remembered is that at this 
time the venerable Memphis R&B label STAX was slowly going bankrupt, due to musical, cultural and financial changes in the world. This resulted in The Staples Singers team ultimately changing labels and a bit of direction. The first move was in 1975 to take part in the Curtis Mayfield-produced soundtrack for the Sidney Poitier/Bill Cosby film Let’s Do It Again. They had a pretty good hit with “New Orleans” with Pops sounding in good form for the relaxed title track, Mavis in earthy tones for “Funky Love” and some Wacka Wooka guitar for more secular tunes such as “After Sex”.
In 1976, the dropped “Singers” from their title, stayed with Mayfield and changed to Warner Bros for their Pass It On album. Mayfield also plays guitar along with jazzer Phil Upchurch and The Memphis Horns are still with the studio band, as Mavis slinks through the title tune, and gets uptempo on “Sweeter Than The Sweet” and the soulful “Take Your Own Time”, still mixing socially conscious messages with romance.
From 1977, The Staples’ Family Tree are still with Upchurch and change with the times on “Let’s Go To The Disco” and the funky “Hang Loose”. Aretha Franklin’s sister Carolyn pens a handful of the tunes like the chunky “What You Doing Tonight” and the soul trainer “Boogie For The Blues” with some gorgeous voice and piano on a riveting read of “I Honestly Love You”.
Unlock Your Mind from 1978 has the family doing a creative version of the Electric Light Orchestra tune “Showdown” (which was actually a rip-off from Marvin Gaye’s “I Heard It Through The Grapevine”) and get back to their Memphis beginnings on a gritty read of Junior Parker’s “Mystery Train”. Classic soul stews on “Don’t Burn Me” and Mavis testifies on a heartfelt “God Can”. The roots ran deep.