I just found my old cd and I've been playing it non-stop! It is funky, soulful and SLAMMIN'!

Maybe this should be in the related artists forum, but it felt like a Prince album with Mavis vocals to me.

My question is, what was the reaction to this when it came out? I don't think it did all that well, which is a mystery. It's GREAT!

I agree that Mavis' albums with Prince are underrated and, sadly, ignored. Imagining Patti LaBelle as Prince's mother... and then Mavis Staples as Princes grandmother is certainly not unreasonable in the music world of the late 80's and early 90's because both ladies really seemed to understand, respect, and give kuddos to Prince. (Think about the appearances on Arsenio with Patti and the Ryde Divine concert as examples.) He really helped expand their own musical genres and audiences too!

In recent years Mavis has not been playing anything from her releases with Prince, and that includes "Melody Cool" from Graffiti Bridge -- a song that re-introduced many of us to Mavis and Pops. When I saw her perform live a couple of years ago, and had a chance to ask her why she was not singing songs from 'The Voice' and 'Time Waits for No One," she replied that she did not want to do the songs without the old musicians and then she laughed and said, "Besides, most people forgot that I recorded those albums." Of course she was on tour promoting new CDs of her own at the time - having no connection to Prince, so it made sense. But I did have an opportunity to tell her I especially liked those albums and thought it was great that she was in the movie and made a period of pop music with one of my idols. She then said, "Why thank you, honey," and gave me a hug. It was one of the best experiences of meeting a celebrity in my life and - you know what - Prince or not, I have since gone out and bought EVERYTHING I can get my hands on from Mavis Staples! Her stuff today sounds just as good, even without Prince, and I am so happy that her most recent album has finally earned her the acknowledgement (including a Grammy) that she deserves. At 72, she is still sharing HER music... traveling the world and putting out new records. She's proving that "time waits for no one" and she definitely has "the voice."

Thank you for posting props to Mavis!

Thanks for the nice and informative reply-I enjoyed reading it : ) That's a perfect analogy-Patti as the Mother and Mavis as the Grandmother. It is a mystery as to why those collaborations weren't so popular-Patti's "Love 89" and "Yo Mister" had hit potential. They were almost as good as Mavis' "Train" and "Jaguar." ; )

You've got me curious to find out more about Mavis. Oddly, the only things I'm really familiar with are the Time Waits CD, Melody Cool, and-this will sound goofy-The Theme from Christmas Vacation, which I love!

That's really cool that you met her-it sounds like a great experience!

dorianlord said:

Thanks for the nice and informative reply-I enjoyed reading it : ) That's a perfect analogy-Patti as the Mother and Mavis as the Grandmother. It is a mystery as to why those collaborations weren't so popular-Patti's "Love 89" and "Yo Mister" had hit potential. They were almost as good as Mavis' "Train" and "Jaguar." ; )

You've got me curious to find out more about Mavis. Oddly, the only things I'm really familiar with are the Time Waits CD, Melody Cool, and-this will sound goofy-The Theme from Christmas Vacation, which I love!

That's really cool that you met her-it sounds like a great experience!

You should really listen to The Voice if you haven't. If you like Time Waits, you'll dig it.