Mavis Staples is (horrible pun intended) a staple in the soul/gospel arena of music, dating back to the 1950's and her Chicago based family band The Staple Singers. Mavis started her career as a lowly figure, performing in churches and gritty Chicago alleyways for anyone that cared to listen to her voice. She eventually acquired fame through various acts of music, performing on television shows, festivals, and concerts, making a name for herself in the soul community. While she hasn't been at the fron of the music world in today's times, Mavis' message, if anything, has been timeless, where regardless if she has been performing or not, her portrayal of poverished life, hope, triumph, and loss rings true to this day, maybe even more so than ever. That is why the Jeff Tweedy produced
You Are Not Alone is a near-groundbreaking release. Musically, it is similar to Staples' past affairs; blues-oriented soul music with a gospel choir thrown into the mix and a wonderful variety of arrangements and tempos; ballads, uplifting, triumphant songs, and quiet soul-searching tunes all encompass
You Are Not Alone just as it did in her past works. But where most artists today are reflecting themselves through their music, Mavis Staples is looking at the bigger picture and instead expressing humanity as a whole, as one thing, whether it be hope or sadness (or a little bit of both) and it comes off as nothing more than masterful and honest.
Now, her voice can carry a tune; she can get up there with the highest of highs and down with the lowest of lows, but she does not overdo it on
You Are Not Alone. Instead, Staples allows her backing musicians flourish over her beckoning voice, allowing both compositions to form together in unity and the result is a heartbreaking and heartwarming album that twists and turns through Staples' knack for soul and blues. Most of these songs are real winners and would be just as valuable in the 50's as they are in present times; 'Downward Road" is a foot-stomping wonderous tune that reaches for the soul, "Creep Along Moses" is a truly catchy tune with Staples' backing vocalists repeating
"creep along Moses / Moses, Moses / creep along, I'm going home" with a charged guitar solo in the middle to add some flair, "I Belong To The Band" could be a radio single with its addicting verses, handclaps, and groovy basslines.
But the real winner is title track "You Are Not Alone", where Staples decides to slow it down and allow Jeff Tweety to provide some acoustics. It's the most affectionate and sorrowful track on the album, yet it has undertones of hope and peace. It's Staples lyrics that really shine here with lines like
"A broken home / a broken heart / isolated and afraid / open up this is a raid / I wanna get it through to you / you're not alone" that shine and resonate long after the song is over. While Staples may be quite religious as she tells stories of Moses and Joshua, the beautiful thing about it is she understands it's her beliefs and doesn't attempt to convert or conform. Instead, her lovely voice portrays faith as a religion we can all get accustomed to, hope as its God, and morality as its code of ethics. A religion for all of mankind and even if that doesn't sound like your cup of tea, that's allright, she won't mind, just try to have some hope in your life.
A soul album for this day and age, Mavis Staples has taken all of her past influences and works and created an album that is not only complementary to all the misery in the world right now, it is essential, almost an aid to try to be competent and hopeful for the future, no matter how bleak the present may be. Because no matter what happens in life, there will always be darkness, and Staples knows that. But just when you're about to be down and out, hanging on by a thread, remember there is always hope. Forever.
