Mavis Staples – Sad And Beautiful World (Nonesuch) (13th Floor Album Review)
Rhythm-and-blues-meets-gospel-royalty Mavis Staples puts out her latest (and 14th) studio album Sad And Beautiful World this Friday. It’s a beautiful expression of the grim times we are living in and how love can bring us out of the fold.
Sad and Beautiful World is an impressive effort for a woman pushing an outstanding 86 years up the road each morning. Don’t worry, Mavis Staples has still got it vocal wise! There is certainly a little bit of dust in her pipes, but her performance across the LP is completely genuine. Each line sung reeks of experience. And for someone who has been in the game since The Staple Sisters in the sixties and then finding her own Grammy winning groove later on, she’s got a lot to talk about.
The album cover is truly delightful. Staples sitting at her table, with veiled curtains hanging behind her. Yep, I’ll say it; it reminds me of visiting my Grandma (rest her soul). I can still smell the peanut-brownies and rock cakes (that she would make especially just for me!) off in the kitchen. The visits were always highlighted by stories of vast experience, all littered with old-time-Grandma-sass. Sad and Beautiful World provides a vibe that will invoke pensive memories for the listener.
The LP is a mix of tunes from the great American songbook and some numbers penned especially for her. There’s a decent list of who’s-who on the press release for this one, with a number of famous names appearing on the album. Bonnie Raitt and Buddy Guy being two big names in their own right. There’s some lovely dirty slide/cigar box guitar, which I am going to take a stab in the dark and credit to one of them. Pedal-steel guitar rounds out the Americana vibe in spots.
Sad and Beautiful World kicks off with a cover of Tom Waits’ Chicago, and that’s probably as much ‘kicking’ as you’ll get in this LP. From there it goes into a remarkably soulful tone. Mavis Staples holds true to the gospel sound she has become famous for with the single Beautiful Strangers. Each tune paints rays of light on a black canvas. The effect is very positive to the ears.
I was also impressed to hear a Sparklehorse number on this one, in the album-titled track Sad and Beautiful World. And Staples has done more than just throw a key change in her performance. I found it really a really honest and sweet rendition.
The back end of the album does get a little slow and I personally became a little lost amongst the gospel-soulfulness. A Satisfied Mind, a reflective country/gospel number that has been done by many before her, tells us that ‘one thing’s for certain when it comes my time, I’ll leave this old world with a satisfied mind’.
Staples did well to pull me back out of the void for the finale, Drive-By Truckers’ Everybody Needs Love. And, personally, I think it’s a great way to go out. It’s been said a hundred times before, but still incredibly relevant in this day and age. It was nice to hear her chuckle as her last statement on this LP.
Mavis Staples sings out genuinely and honestly in her latest outing. She hasn’t reinvented the wheel in any way, but it’s a nice trip down a dusty trail on pensive thought and pleasantness. Think of it as a light ray of sunshine on a miserable afternoon.
Daniel Edmonds
Sad And Beautiful World is out Friday, November 7th on Anti- Records.
