Best known as the lead singer of the Staple Singers, Mavis hasn’t always kept to singing about the good book: in the ’70s she made several ventures into secular music including this album, produced and written by Curtis Mayfield for his Curtom label in 1977. This was also of course the soundtrack to the Poitier/Crosby film of the same name: it features some heady sexual innuendo (particularly on ‘Getting Deeper‘, ‘Koochie, Koochie, Koochie‘ and ‘Good Lovin Daddy‘, that one you would not expect from such a churchgoing lady, as well as several ventures into hard funk (‘Chocolate City‘, ‘Orientation‘) that wouldn’t have sounded out of place on a Stax record. An overlooked gem that has been unavailable for far too long.
Tracks
A1 Chocolate City 5:13
A2 Of Whom Shall I Be Afraid 3:10
A3 Orientation 3:08
A4 A Piece Of The Action 4:22
B1 Good Lovin’ Daddy 3:04
B2 ‘Til Blossoms Bloom 3:08
B3 Koochie, Koochie, Koochie 2:47
B4 Getting Deeper 5:24
Music by Curtis Mayfield is featured on the soundtrack album from the 1977 movie A Piece of the Action, which starred Bill Cosby and Sidney Poitier. After composing scores for Superfly, Let’s Do It Again, Claudine, and Short Eyes, movie scores were old hat to Mayfield, but nothing clicked this time around. Supposedly, this was originally Roberta Flack‘s project (or this was told to Mavis Staples to motivate her). Staples got a call to add her vocals to tracks Mayfield had finished except for some sweetening. But it’s hard – no, impossible – imagining Flack singing these funky songs, so the story about her cancelling out of the project because of personal problems seems far-fetched. In addition, Mayfield’s manager, Marv Stuart, told Staples he was paying her half what was promised Flack; this was intended to further ignite Staples, who insisted on and received what was (supposedly) offered Flack.
These were mind games to get Staples chomping at the bit. As further motivation, Mayfield insisted that the vocals be completed in only three days. Artistically, the psyche job worked; the album is one of the ’70s overlooked gems. Warner Bros. (Curtom’s distributor) simply fumbled the ball. They soured on the project when the title track only managed a scrawny showing of 47 on the R&B chart. Though a commercial failure, the album is loaded with funky joints (“Chocolate City“, “Orientation“) and sexual innuendo pieces (“Getting Deeper“, “Koochie, Koochie, Koochie“, “Good Lovin’ Daddy“). For eye candy, the album features a Vogue quality picture of Staples that’s so sweet you’ll kiss the cardboard cover.
Get it here
More of her personal albums here
