The Staple Singers

For most of this decade, Roebuck Staples--born December 12, 1915, about two weeks after Frank Sinatra--has been the oldest performer with direct access to the hit parade by some twenty-five years, so here's your chance to mind your elders. It's Mavis's lowdown, occasionally undefined growl that dominates, of course; you should hear how secular she gets with an O.V. Wright blues that got buried on The Staple Swingers. But Pops's unassuming moralism sets the tone and his guitar assures the flow. (Grade - A-)