The Staple Singers - The Staple Swingers (1971)

The Staple Singers were an American gospel and soul vocal group.

In the late 60s The Staple Singers released two very good albums on Stax Records, both produced by Steve Cropper. Before their next Stax album, Pervis Staples left the group and was replaced by little sister Yvonne (so The Staple Singers now consisted of Roebuck 'Pops' Staples and his three daughters Mavis, Cleotha and Yvonne). Cropper also parted ways with Stax, so when it came to record the next album Al Bell took the production seat. He did things slightly differently, recording out of house at the Muscle Shoals Sound studio. When the album saw release in 1971 as The Staple Swingers, it had a somewhat more streamlined and admittedly more commercial sound compared to its predecessors. It paid off though, as this was the album that saw The Staple Singers break into the pop charts. Three singles charted, "Love Is Plentiful" got to #31 R&B, "You've Got To Earn It", written by Smokey Robinson and originally recorded by The Tempations, got to #11 R&B, and "Heavy Makes You Happy (Sha-Na-Boom Boom)", written by Jeff Barry and Bobby Bloom, got to both #6 R&B and #29 on the pop singles chart. The album itself got to #9 on the Soul Albums chart.

We'll Get Over (1969) <|> Be Altitude: Respect Yourself (1972)
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