Staple Singers – Be Attitude: Respect Yourself 6.17.11

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Staple Singers

Be Attitude: Respect Yourself

Concord Music Group Stax

BluesWax Rating: 8

A Definite Staple for Your Collection

In 1968 the Staple Singers signed onto the Memphis-based Stax Records, which is now owned by the Concord Music Group. The first two Staple albums on Stax,  Soul Folk In Action and We’ll Get Over, were produced by Steve Cropper backed by Booker T & the MGs.  This album, Be Attitude: Respect Yourself, originally released in 1972, is sort of a singles collection where the backing musicians were Muscle Shoals’ best: guitarists Eddie Hinton and Jimmy Johnson, bassist David Hood, Barry Beckett on keyboards, and drummer Roger Hawkins. All ten of the original songs were produced and arranged by Al Bell. Unfortunately, the two bonus tracks make no reference to the production credits, but the musician credits are revealed within Rob Bowman’s outstanding liner notes. These two previously unreleased bonus tracks also were recorded by the Muscle Shoals crew. More on this later.

I’d forgotten how great these songs were, how meaningful they still are, and learned about the outstanding decision Al Bell made to utilize the Muscle Shoals house band as the entire band marches and storms their way through “This World.” Once again, Joe Tarantino’s twenty-four-bit remastering techniques are sparkling. Never before do I recall hearing such audio detail on “Respect Yourself,” still a powerful tune that all of us have heard countless times. We’ll forgive the commercial missteps (with strings and all) on “Name the Missing Word” and move along, even though David Hood’s booming bass lines are fascinating.

Other songs, like the classic “I’ll Take You There” radiate, lesser known tracks like “This Old Town (People In This Town)” glow, Mavis rolls, and Pops’ guitar growls. This tune powers like a locomotive, especially when the horns are added near the conclusion. The light and trite “Are You Sure” never worked for me, same for “Who Do You Think You Are (Jesus Christ Superstar)?,” “I’m Just Another Soldier,” and “Who.”

There are two previously unreleased bonus tracks. The track listing doesn’t indicate it, but thanks to Rob Bowman, we now know that one of these two tunes, an alternate cover of “Heavy Makes You Happy (Sha-Na-Boom-Boom),” was the first where the Muscle Shoals musicians were used, and that the Staples clan were added later on McLemore Ave. in Memphis.

This ambitious experiment obviously worked as the ten original album tracks. The other bonus track is “Walking In Water Over Our Head.” The two bonus tracks were recorded several months later in similar fashion. O the two,  the remake of “Heavy Makes You Happy” works best for me. It also was the first Staples single produced by Al Bell, and the original charted well.

Timeless music by the Staples indeed. What also makes owning a compilation like this worth it is all the background work Concord/Stax has been putting into these Stax Remasters series.  The sound clarity is undeniable, and the liner notes teach us facts unknown to most of us previously. In the end, it’s all about the music, and on that note, I will let this disc speak for its itself, it’s almost all good!

Bob Putignano www.SoundsofBlue.com is a contributing editor to BluesWax. He may be reached by commenting below.