Review: Mavis Staples – Livin ‘On A High Note – Blues Magazine

Mavis Staples – Livin ‘On A High Note
> Format: CD / Label: ANTI –
Release Date: February 19, 2016

Text: Jan Marius Franzen (http: // purplehaze.rtvkatwijk.nl/)

Je immediately heard already tight intro to the first song Take Us Back you’re going to listen to a gift CD with great songs which best songwriters are attracted like Valerie June, Ben Harper, Justin Vernon, Aloe Blacc and Nick Cave

Mavis Staples said of her album ‘Livin’On A High Note’:. “I’ve been singing my

freedom songs and I wanted to stretch out and sing some songs That were new. I told the writers I was looking for some joyful songs. I want to leave something to lift people up; I’m so busy making people cry, not from sadness, but I’m always telling a part of history that brought us down and I’m trying to bring us back up. These songwriters gave me a challenge. They gave me That Feeling or, ‘Hey, I can hang on! I can still do this! “There’s a variety, and it makes me feel refreshed and brand new. Just like Benjamin Booker wrote on the opening track, “I’ve got friends and I got love around me, I got people, the people who love me.” I’m living on a high note, I’m above the clouds. I’m just so grateful. I must be the happiest girl in the old world. Yes, indeed. “

Take Us Back is an instant highlight. Sturdy yet subtle, and it is amazing to hear how well the voice of Mavis Staples is still there and that her music sounds so contemporary. Do not Cry and MLK Song (unplugged) are very special songs written by M. Ward who also signed for the gift production. Moreover, the country-bluesy MLK Song using words from a sermon by Martin Luther King in 1968. All 12 songs are gems in this unique nearly 40-minute CD, who had been allowed to take longer.

in short
Mavis Staples has again delivered a quality product that stands head and shoulders above what is today under the heading of r & amp; B and soul is released. Fine musicians, songwriters, and of course that great voice of Mavis Staples. All produced with great feeling. What more do you want

Tracks:
01. Take Us Back
02. Love And Trust
03. If It’s A Light
04. Action
05. Highnote
06. Do not Cry
07. Tomorrow
08. Dedicated
09. History, Now
10. One Love
11. Jesus Lay Down Beside Me
12. MLK Song

Website: Mavis Staples