Mavis Shall Not Be Moved

07Aug07

There was a doddering old hippie — serious Cheech & Chong material — at Mavis Staples’ wonderful show in a Manhattan park close by the Hudson River the other night. His greying ponytail drooping out from under a handkerchief whose chief purpose seemed to be for keeping his addled brains in place, he arrhythmically banged a tambourine, vandalizing the sultry, fatback groove Staples’ band so expertly plied. Now and then, he’d holler out inane comments, like “WOODSTOCK!” What a metaphor for the baby boomers and their lapsed ’60s ideals – a decrepit, narcissistic laughingstock. The boomers wound up selling out on just about every stand they took back then: the environment, war, racism, sexism, the whole nine yards. Mavis Staples was here to say that the dream has not died.

Staples’ excellent new album, We’ll Never Turn Back is a collection of civil rights anthems, arranged by her and Ry Cooder, using the groove of gospel-flavored vintage Memphis soul and an atmospheric sense of space a la Daniel Lanois. A lot of it reminds me of the Stones’ “Just Wanna See His Face” or Leon Russell’s “Out in the Woods” – a swampy gumbo of humid second-line syncopations, arid guitar stabs and righteous call-and-response choruses. A little raspy but still plenty sassy, Staples sang stirring stuff like “Eyes on the Prize,” “Jesus Is on the Main Line,” and “This Little Light of Mine,” reminding us of the close link between the African-American church and the civil rights movement, emphasizing the latter as not just a Constitutional matter but a moral, even spiritual one. She even located that connection in ’60s rock chestnuts like the Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth,” interjecting some sly anti-war commentary along the way, and the Band’s “The Weight.” Then again, Staples could have sung “Mary Had a Little Lamb” and it would come out as a soulful, defiant declaration of independence.

The best r&b of the ’60s and ’70s often confronted the big issues of our time, and artists like James Brown, Marvin Gaye, the Temptations, Stevie Wonder and Curtis Mayfield made social consciousness cool; that almost entirely evaporated in the ’80s, when an overwhelming conflation of materialism and carnality won out, thoroughly opiating the masses. Although r&b has been all about getting paid and/or laid for quite some time, the struggle is far from over. We haven’t yet reached the mountain top. And in the most uplifting, life-affirming way, Mavis Staples won’t let us forget it.

michael.

Filed under: concerts, music, r&b |

12 Responses to “Mavis Shall Not Be Moved”

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1 Autoclamp on Aug 8th, 2007 said:

The last two paragraphs are quite informative, and an excellent editorial and primer to Mavis Staples’ album.

But I can’t think of a less life-affirming opening to a Mavis Staples article than to make fun of a hippy. I think your metaphor comment is way off. I’m sure he was disruptive, and perhaps even really sad, but an aging hippy (in my experience) is hardly narcissistic and certainly a poor representative of the national turn towards banality that occurred in the ’80s. This guy, for whatever reason, certainly doesn’t give a damn about appearance or status, which were concerns of the highest order in the 1980s.

I wouldn’t have cared if the last part weren’t so well written. Whatever your intentions, the first part comes off as a bit of mean-spirited hippy-bashing. Perhaps I’m misreading this, but my gut reaction is “hey man, that’s not cool!”

In general, though, I enjoy your work, and I’m glad you’re at eMusic.
2 boyvscar on Aug 8th, 2007 said:

No really, Where is the best of tuesday list ???

for those who want to hit it up.

Mirah has a new one about insects.

Magnolia Electric Co. have a 4 disc set out with a dvd, but the emusic only has two discs worth so far. Download at your own risk.

anyone else want to add their list to the unofficial tuesday list???
3 Michael on Aug 8th, 2007 said:

It is narcissistic to holler out impertinent comments at a public performance, assuming others will relate to, or even tolerate, your inane outbursts, and it is narcissistic to bang a tambourine (which is a loud instrument), particularly if you have absolutely zero sense of rhythm, thereby annoying not only the entire crowd but the performers as well. That guy didn’t care about anybody but himself. Which is a neat metaphor for an entire cohort of people who once sanctimoniously professed progressive ideals and then became rapacious, selfish, and yes, narcissistic yuppies who sold out everything they stood for, except one thing; “If it feels good, do it.”
4 yancey on Aug 8th, 2007 said:

the best of tuesday list will come on friday. sorry — a very busy week here at hq has kept me from listening to as much stuff as i might like.
5 Autoclamp on Aug 8th, 2007 said:

Fine, I’ll leave my tambourine at home next time.
6 Michael on Aug 8th, 2007 said:

Ha, I KNEW it was you! Hey man, don’t trust anyone over 70.
7 jmac on Aug 8th, 2007 said:

What, did you not get the Steinhorn memo?

http://www.amazon.com/Greater-Generation-Defense-Baby-Legacy/dp/0312326408
8 boyvscar on Aug 8th, 2007 said:

No problem Yancey,

I use the tuesday list as a kind of filter, the same way I use the pitchfork site. I use to just go through like 20 lists each day seeing if anything sweet came out.

I think you guys should do an article on James Chance / James White and his albums out on Ze records and various recordings it would be a sweet article on a post punk legend.

just an idea.

thanks brothers.
9 Michael on Aug 9th, 2007 said:

We did do an eMusic Dozen on Ze Records, so you might be interested in that: http://www.emusic.com/lists/showlist.html?lid=23032026 It’s written by long-time Village Voice pop critic Barry Walters, who was right there when Ze was happening.
10 Mark on Aug 9th, 2007 said:

I’ve been an eMusic subscriber for years, but this blog illuminates nothing, and your smarmy self-righteous rant, Michael, is more than any reader should have to put up with. Do those of us born early enough to have been eligible for the draft have any obligation to tolerate you publically conflating your parents’ generation with one mentally-ill guy who annoyed you at a show? No, we don’t.

Besides, the hippies were right. Right about Vietnam and every US war since, right about the environment, right about reproductive rights, right about draconian drug laws, right about — you name it. What can you youngsters boast about in your collective CV? iPhones? If you haven’t been drafted to serve in Baghdad and get paid to gaze at your navel and muse about rock music instead, you can thank a hippie.
11 joe on Aug 9th, 2007 said:

also, Douglas Wolk’s great column touches on James Chance and No Wave in general.
12 Daniel, Esq. on Aug 9th, 2007 said:

“[T]his blog illuminates nothing.”

That’s not so. Look, you’re entitled to your opinion, and I can see where that one line in that one post upset you (it didn’t bother me that much), but 17 Dots is an outstanding blog. It and eMusic’s online magazine have steered me toward a lot of new music I now love, and that I wouldn’t have been exposed to otherwise. It actually analyzes the music it describes, it doesn’t shill for everything available on eMusic (when an album doesn’t inspire the contributors, they say so), and it’s very well-written.

Mavis Shall Not Be Moved

12 Responses to “Mavis Shall Not Be Moved”

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