Before creating one of the signature sounds for STAX Records with popular hits like “Respect Yourself,” the family of Roebuck “Pops” Staples along with children Cleotha, Pervis and Mavis created some of the most earthy and truly soulful music that reflected their church background. All they did after this was make the lyrics more palatable to the secular masses, but on these three discs of their early albums from Vee Jay, Gospel and Riverside, you get the unvarnished TRUTH!
Most of these songs are traditional spirituals that would have been heard on any given Sunday Morning, with most of the others from the inspired pen of father Roebuck. The signature sound of the family was the haunting strums of Pop’s guitar, serving like a fiery cloud in the introduction to lead into the sanctified lead of Mavis and siblings. Pieces like “Uncloudy Day” and “Help Me Jesus” from the earliest sessions have a visceral pull, while later period material such as the two part “Hammer and Nails” and “Hammer and Nails” feel like you’re in a Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting. Even if you’re a die hard agnostic, you’ll recognize some of the songs here, such as “Nobody Knows the Troubles I’ve Seen” and “Revive Us Again,” but the Staples family has a way of pureeing the material to give make each song sound like a fragrant love offering. Uplifting and spiritual in the truest sense of the word; this is essential music for those who want more “soul” in their soul music.