Pops Staples - Father Father

Ry Cooder, who produced two tracks on Pops's landmark '92 recording, "Peace to the Neighborhood," produces two more on "Father Father." Cooder's guitar and Jim Keltner's drums lock in with Pops's guitar and voice to negotiate the smallest shadings of tone and time on "Downward Road" and "Jesus Is Going to Make Up (My Dying Bed)"; the results are hypnotic. Pops's best-known daughter, Mavis (a.k.a. "Bubbles"), coproduced two of the album's best songs, the title tune and "Hope in a Hopeless World." Pops's thin, whispery, low moan conjures up a sense of dread on these two prophecies about a world falling apart, and Mavis joins her sisters Cleotha and Yvonne in full-throated, answering shouts. Elsewhere on the album Pops recounts his friendship with Martin Luther King, Jr., gives a nicely understated reading of Bob Dylan's "Gotta Serve Somebody," remakes Mack Rice's "Getting Too Big for Your Britches" from the Staple Singers' '74 album, "City in the Sky," and turns once again to his favorite pop gospel songwriter, Curtis Mayfield, for an exhilarating version of "People Get Ready." --Geoffrey Himes Amazon.com essential recording

One of the best - may he rest in peace!

Pops Staples is a rare combination of blues, R&B, and gospel, so he and this album are hard to categorize. But that's part of the beauty of it - no formulas, just pure good listening! It's hard to go wrong with the backup musicians and singers he has (see professional review), but Pops' very distinctive voice adds the finishing touches to a masterfully performed and recorded album.

If you don't know Pops Staples yet and saw David Byrne's film, "True Stories," Pops was the Santeria priest who sang the love spell song and did the ritual for John Goodman to help him find a wife.

If you're a "child of the 60's" like me or an admirer of Dr. Martin Luther King, just the story of his relationship with this great man is worth digging into this album. I feel inspired every time I listen to it, as well as a little sad, for the story tells of MLK's passing in a very heartfelt, personal way.

This is the first review I have ever done on Amazon, just to let you know how strongly I recommend this album! I have a huge collection because I love music and I get bored easily listening to any one genre or musician too much. But this album is one of the few I never really tire of. March 26, 2002

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