"Come Go With Me: The Stax Collection" by THE STAPLE SINGERS – Six US Studio Albums issued between January 1969 and August 1974 with a Seventh 11-Track Compilation Gathering Up "Singles, Live & More" (November 2020 UK/EU Craft Recordings 7CD Mini Box Set of Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

<iframe style="width:120px;height:240px;" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" src="//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=mabasreofcdbl-21&language=en_GB&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=B09FSCG6DQ&asins=B09FSCG6DQ&linkId=10de009d30f9dc514c881a8d146105b4&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true"></iframe>

 

This Review Along With 315 Others Is Available In My

SOUNDS GOOD E-Book on all Amazon sites

HIGHER GROUND 
70ts Soul, R'n'B, Funk, Jazz Fusion
Exceptional CD Reissues and Remasters  

Just Click Below To Purchase for £5.95 (Jan 2022 Update)

Thousands of E-Pages - All Details and In-Depth Reviews From Discs 

(No Cut and Paste Crap)

 

This Review and over 184 More Are Available In My

SOUNDS GOOD Music Books Series - An Amazon E-Book

SOUL GALORE! 
 

60ts Soul, R'n'B, Mod, Northern Soul, New Breed and More
Exceptional CD Reissues and Remasters  

Also Includes Harmony Soul, Rare Groove and Funk...
Just Click Below To Purchase for £6.95 (December 2021 Update)
Thousands of E-Pages - All Details and In-Depth Reviews From Discs 
(No Cut and Paste Crap)

 

<iframe style="width:120px;height:240px;" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" src="//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=mabasreofcdbl-21&language=en_GB&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=B08YQR7ZW2&asins=B08YQR7ZW2&linkId=f4622ebcffdb7aa3fc1fd0d03ef4f143&show_border=t

 

"...Soul Folk In Action..."

 

What a peach this is – and there's even a sought after (if not pricey) Vinyl variant. My passion for Roebuck, Mavis, Cleotha and Pervis Staples knows no bounds and I've reviewed many of their myriad CD reissues before. But this motherlode from their hugely revered STAX Records years is an embarrassment of riches (all in Stereo too).

 

Initially slated for a December 2019 release, the first version of "Come Go With Me: The Stax Collection" finally popped up 21 February 2020 in America-only as a 7LP Box on Craft Recordings/Stax CR00241 (Barcode 888072111592) on 180-grams vinyl. I figured the CD variant would follow soon, but it took until November of 2020 and then only in a Europe/UK version. Lots to discuss then, so let's have at the Soul Folk in Action...

 

UK/EU released Friday, 6 November 2020 - "Come Go With Me: The Stax Collection" by THE STAPLE SINGERS on Craft Recordings CR00364 (Barcode 888072207899) is a 7CD Mini Box Set of Remasters. It Contains 6 US Studio Albums issued in Stereo between January 1969 and August 1974 on Stax Records (all in Mini LP Repro Sleeves) plus a seventh disc Compilation of 11 "Singles, Live & More" tracks issued during that period and on later LP and CD compilations. "Come Go With Me..." plays out as follows:

 

CD1 "Soul Folk In Action" 1969 (32:31 minutes, 11 Tracks)

1. We've Got To Get Ourselves Together [Side 1]

2. (Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay

3. Top Of The Mountain

4. Slow Train

5. The Weight

6. Long Walk To D.C.[Side 2]

7. Got To Be Some Changes Made

8. The Ghetto

9. People, My People

10. I See It

11. This Year

Tracks 1 to 11 was their first album for Stax Records "Soul Folk In Action" and their fourteenth studio album overall since 1960 – released January 1969 USA on Stax STS 2004 and May 1969 UK on Stax SXATS 1004 in Stereo. Produced by STEVE CROPPER of Booker T & The MG’s – it also featured him on guitar with two other members of band as backing musicians – Donald “Duck” Dunn on Bass and Al Jackson, Jr. on Drums - Keyboards by Marvell Thomas and Horns by The Memphis Horns.

 

CD2 "We'll Get Over" 1969 (34:40 minutes, 12 Tracks)

1. We'll Get Over [Side 1]

2. Give A Damn

3. Everyday People

4. The End Of Our Road

5. Tend To Your Own Business

6. Solon Bushi

7. Challenge [Side 2]

8. God Bless The Child

9. Games People Play

10. A Wednesday In Your Garden

11. The Gardener

12. When Will We Be Paid (For The Work We've Done)

Tracks 1 to 12 are their 2nd album for Stax Records "We'll Get Over" (fifteenth overall) - released June 1969 in the USA on Stax STS 2016 and November 1969 in the UK on Stax SXATS 1018 in Stereo. Same Production and Backing Band as "Soul Folk In Action".

 

 

CD3 "The Staple Swingers" 1971 (45:10 minutes, 12Tracks)

1. This Is A Perfect World [Side 1]

2. What's Your Thing

3. You've Got To Earn It

4. You're Gonna Make Me Cry

5. Little Boy

6. How Do You Move A Mountain

7. Almost [Side 2]

8. I'm A Mover

9. Love Is Plentiful

10. Heavy Makes You Happy (Sha-Na-Boom Boom)

11. I Like The Things About You

12. Give A Hand – Take A Hand

Tracks 1 to 12 are their third studio album for Stax Records (sixteenth overall) "The Staple Swingers" – released March 1971 in the USA on Stax STS 2034 and June 1971 in the UK on Stax 2362 005. Produced by AL BELL – band includes The Bar-Kays on Horns with Terry Manning on multiple instruments.

 

 

CD4 "Be Altitude: Respect Yourself" 1972 (41:09 minutes, 10 Tracks)

1. This World [Side 1]

2. Respect Yourself

3. Name The Missing Word

4. I'll Take You There

5. This Old Town (People In This Town)

6. We The People [Side 2]

7. Are You Sure

8. Who Do You Think You Are (Jesus Christ The Superstar)

9. I'm Just Another Soldier

10. Who

Tracks 1 to 10 are the fourth album for Stax Records "Be Altitude: Respect Yourself" - released February 1972 in the USA on Stax STS-3002 and April 1972 in the UK on Stax Super 2325 069. Produced by AL BELL – band featured Eddie Hinton on Lead Guitar, Jimmy Johnson on Rhythm Guitar, Barry Beckett on Keyboards, David Hood and Roger Hawkins on Bass and Drums with Ben Cauley and The South Memphis Horns.

 

 

CD5 "Be What You Are" 1973 (52:23 minutes, 11 Tracks)

1. Be What You Are [Side 1]

2. If You're Ready (Come Go With Me)

3. Medley: Love Comes In All Colors

4. Tellin' Lies

5. Touch A Hand, Make A Friend

6. Drown Yourself

7. I Ain't Raisin' No Sand [Side 2]

8. Grandma's Hands

9. Bridges Instead Of Walls

10. I'm On Your Side

11. That's What Friends Are For

12. Heaven

Tracks 1 to 12 are their fifth studio album for Stax Records "Be What You Are" – released August 1973 in the USA on Stax STS 3015 and April 1974 in the UK on Stax 2325 103. Produced by AL BELL – same band as "Be Altitude: Respect Yourself" without Horns.

 

 

CD6 "City In The Sky" 1974 (42:11 minutes, 11 Tracks)

1. Back Road Into Town [Side 1]

2. City In The Sky

3. Washington We're Watching You

4. Something Ain't Right

5. Today Was Tomorrow Yesterday

6. My Main Man [Side 2]

7. There Is A God

8. Blood Pressure

9. If It Ain't One Thing It's Another

10. Who Made The Man

11. Getting Too Big For Your Britches

Tracks 1 to 11 are their sixth and last studio album for Stax Records "City In The Sky" – released August 1974 in the USA on Stax STS 5515 and September 1974 in the UK on Stax STX 1001. Produced by AL BELL - same band as "Be Altitude: Respect Yourself" with Raymond Jackson on Guitar, Clayton Ivey on Keyboards and The Memphis Horns added. NOTE: the running order for both sides is as above and not as per the rear sleeve of the original US and UK LPs, which show the tracks in a different order.

 

 

CD7 "Singles, Live & More" 2019 (45:25 minutes, 11 Tracks)

1. Stay With Me (August 1968 US 45-single on Stax STA-0007, Non-Album B-side of "Long Walk To D.C.")

2. Brand New Day (Theme From The United Artists Motion Picture "The Landlord") – Single Version (June 1970 US 45-single on Stax STA-0074, A-side)

3. Walking In Water Over Your Head (Previously Unreleased Album Outtake, first issued May 2011 as 1 of 2 Bonus Tracks on the 'Stax Remasters' UK CD Reissue for "Be Altitude: Respect Yourself" on Concord Music Group, Inc 0888072328761)

4. Oh La De Da (February 1973 US 45-single on Stax STA-0156, A-side – from the US 2LP Set "Wattstax: The Living Word" on Stax STS-2-3010 – B-side is "We The People" from the "Be Altitude: Respect Yourself")

5. I Got To Be Myself (October 1975 US 45-single on Stax STN-0255, A-side with "Be What You Are" track "Heaven" as the B-side. Note: this 45 isn't listed in many discographies because although allocated a catalogue number, promo and stock copies never show up so it was probably unreleased, hence its rarities inclusion here. The track later appeared on "This Time Around", an April 1981 US LP on Stax Records MPS-8511)

6. Trippin' On Your Love (April 1981 US LP "This Time Around" on Stax Records MPS-8511 while The Staples Singers were briefly signed to 20th Century. Produced by the legendary Al Bell – this 8-track vinyl LP is actually a compilation of old recordings from the 1970s reworked and reissued without the band's approval or even knowledge)

7. Heavy Makes You Happy (Sha-Na-Boom Boom) – Live

8. Are You Sure – Live (Tracks 7 and 8 from the October 2003 UK/EU 3CD set "Music From The Wattstax Festival & Film" on Stax 3SCD 4440-2, recorded 20 August 1972 at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum)

9. I Like The Things About Me – Live

10. Respect Yourself – Live

11. I'll Take You There – Live (Tracks 9 to 11 from the June 2LP set "Wattstax: The Living Word" on Stax STS-2-3010 – recordings same as Tracks 7 and 8)

 

 

As a longtime fan, you notice the tasty attention to detail – all Mini LP Sleeve Repro's are the American originals, so for us UK and Euro types there are advantages – for 1972's "Be Altitude: Respect Yourself" you get the US Gatefold Sleeve with the lyrics on the inside (the UK issue was always a single sleeve with no lyrics) - while "City In The Sky" came in a sort of silver foil effect sleeve (the UK variant distributed by Pye in the UK was a plain matt cover affair and not nearly as nice). The "Be What You Are" sleeve had embossed effects which is reproduced as well.

 

It’s a damn shame no one thought to include lyrics for all six albums (which to my knowledge has never been done) – so that's a wee bummer. But the 44-page mini-booklet more than makes up for this with loads of colour and black and white period photos for our fave Soul Foursome and in-depth liner notes from LANGSTON COLIN WILKINS and LEVON WILLIAMS – both writers steeped in the Stax Records label and Soul Music in general. Following that is track-by-track annotation for each of the six studio albums with musician/production credits (the Box set was produced by MASON WILLIAMS). 

 

All of that is cute and the outer slipcase tastefully presented, but the really great news is the brand new audio restoration and remastering from original tapes by CHRIS CLOUGH (Audio Supervision) and PAUL BLAKEMORE at CMG MASTERING (Mastering). I've had so many Stax and Ace CDs for this material before – most of which sounded great for the day – but they are firmly walloped by this Craft Recordings issue (Blakemore did the "Faith & Grace..." 4CD Box Set). I've played all six and the compilation and the AUDIO is mighty-mighty throughout – best ever for sure. The first two platters issued at the tail ends of 1969 are produced by Steve Cropper of Booker T. & The MG's fame (some minor hiss, but superb clarity) while the remaining four were helmed by the legendary Al Bell and sound glorious. I've loved the albums "Be Altitude: Respect Yourself" and "Be What You Are" for pushing on 50 years now and I've never heard either of them sound this good – a joy in every way.

 

Of the 21 singles Stax Records issued for The Staple Singers between August 1968 and July 1975 – all of them and their respective B-sides are here including chart hits like "Heavy Make You Happy (Sha-Na-Boom Boom)" (1971), "You've Got To Earn It" (1971), "Respect Yourself" (1971), "I'll Take You There" (1972), "This World" (1972), "Oh La De Da" (1972), "If You're Ready (Come Go With Me)" (1973), "Touch A Hand, Make A Friend" (1973) and "City In The Sky" (1974).

 

What gets the pulse racing though are those forgotten LP gems that veer off the well-established hits – deep funky LP cuts that never show up on compilations. Stuff like the guitar-flicking "Top Of The Mountain" on "Soul Folk In Action" (1969), the too-much-for-me brass and funk of "The End Of The Road" and the sublime "The Gardiner" both on "We’ll Get Over", the sirens and ambulances in the ghetto of "Something Ain't Right" or the nation-crippling problems of "Blood Pressure" on 1974's "City In The Sky". And there are so many more.

 

The "Singles, Live & More" CD compilation (Disc 7 of 7) is a far better listen than it had any right to be and smartly compiled. It gathers up stragglers like the five live Wattstax tracks recorded in August 1972 that appeared across various vinyl and CD compilations (tracks 7 to 11). I’d forgotten how good the sexily funky and righteous August 1968 B-side "Stay With Us" is – a plea for the good Lord to stay with us through times of war and hatred (the A-side was the equally brill and politically-charged "Long Walk To D.C."). As regards singles, the odd man out is "Who Took The Merry Out Of Christmas" issued on Stax STA-0084 in November 1970 in both Vocal and Instrumental form (A&B-sides) – but for some reason it didn't show on Disc 7. And with regard to Rarities, the only cut missing is the demo of "Respect Yourself" that showed up on the November 2015 US 4CD+Vinyl Single Box set "Faith & Grace: A Family Journey 1953-1976". Its exclusion by Craft Recordings here on a Box Set they themselves put out is an oversight for sure – but it's not exactly the end of the world because audio-wise, the Demo Version is only a curio at best really.

 

Speaking of singles. The stand-alone "Brand New Day" from The Landlord soundtrack (Al Kooper did a version too) is way better (Mavis and Pops share lead vocals) - as is the holding hands of "Walking In Water Way Over Your Head" outtake from the "Be Altitude: Respect Yourself" sessions that turned on the Stax Remasters CD Reissue as one of two new bonus tracks (a great find if not quite a classic). The six live cuts from the August 1972 Wattstax concerts that appeared across various period double-vinyl albums in 1972 and 1973 and later 3CD compilations are all here – Tracks 4 and 7 to 11 - tremendous energy with Mavis on top form (oh Lordy Lord) and dig that Pops Staples spacey guitar sound on "I Like The Things About Me". And UK Northern Soul fans have long dug the floor-shuffling sway of "Trippin' On Your Love" – a very cool addition to Disc 7.

 

Speaking of single rarities...Although the "City In The Sky" LP from 1974 and the eventual demise of Stax Records itself in 1975 is briefly discussed, the singles aren't mentioned in the booklet text. So the history surrounding the US 45-single Stax 0255 "I Got To Be Myself" still seems unclear. The song first emerged on the 1981 Stax scraps LP "This Time Around" and it’s been included as a rarity on CD compilations for The Staple Singers ever since (see my review of the stunning 2CD set "The Ultimate Staple Singers: A Family Affair 1955-1984" issued September 2004 on Ace/Kent Soul CDKEN2 240 - Barcode 029667224024 in the UK).

 

Running to 3:41 minutes (and having "Heaven" from the "Be Altitude: Respect Yourself" 1972 LP as its flipside), the fantastically good "I Got To Be Myself" was slated for an October 1975 US seven-inch single release, but you never see either demos or stock copies up for sale. October 1975 was also the same month of release for the monster Staples hit "Let's Do It Again" on Curtis Mayfield's label Curtom Records that of course provided The Staple Singers with their biggest ever hit – a US R&B No. 1 (the album bore the same title). So its most likely that STN 0255 was not just lost in the demise of Stax Records in 1975, but was probably pulled at the last minute as a pointless issue. The band's future clearly lay somewhere else and on another label. In fact in the liner notes to "The Complete STAX/VOLT SOUL SINGLES Volume 3: 1972-1975" issued back in December 1994 (reissued March 2015 as a smaller brick-block version) – even Mavis Staples says she's never seen copies.

 

So there you have it – I love this Box Set. And even when they were sounding slightly dated like The Association irrepressible optimism of "A Wednesday In Your Garden" in 1969 or the out-of-step overly-preachy vibe to "Getting To Big For Your Britches" in 1974 – every album from those six stunning years is chock full of Soul and R&B goodness and a sense of their Peace, Love and Happiness world view.

 

The Staple Singers have always been magical to me and on the last day of December 2021 as I write this, only the mighty vocals of Mavis Staples survives. But my God - what a legacy! 

 

Small, but beautifully formed, and with that first-class audio that's now become synonymous with releases from Craft Recordings for all things Stax re-releases - "Come Go With Me: The Stax Collection" by THE STAPLE SINGERS is actually my fave Box Set reissue of the last few years (never mind 2020) and there have been some doosies for sure. 

 

Buy it and enjoy...and thanks for the inspiring journey...