I almost cried when I finally found a super-clean copy of this record. I’ve been lusting after “top copies” of the Staples’ Vee Jay LPs for years, and I am one-third (or maybe one-quarter if you count the compilation) of the way to my goal.
My affection for the Staples’ stems from my obsession with Spacemen 3. Without J Spaceman and Sonic Boom referencing Pop’s influence on the Spacemen 3 sound it is unlike I would have discovered this music on my own. That said, Sonic’s quote about how “Pop Staples remains for me the greatest unsung guitar player” compelled me to listen, and oh man am I happy I did. There are plenty of quotes (most attributed to Sonic) that explain the band’s fascination with the Staples’ sound. I also believe there are references to it in the ErikMorse book, but my copy is back in New Jersey otherwise I’d offer some citations.
“What attracts us to gospel, and especially to the early Staple Singers, is the energy, the belief. When they sing ‘Jesus Is My Friend’, it sound sounds as if they live next door to him. When you’re listening to that, you have to believe. To understand it, you need to have sat outside a black gospel church where there’s one guy with an electric guitar with tremolo on it, and they’re all clapping their hands and singing. With us, it’s always been fuzz and feedback, guitar drones or whatever, but both reach the same destination. Even our first album, ‘Sound Of Confusion’, is religious music, I think. It’s almost a religious experience playing it because it captures the belief, the self-belief, the search for purity that we’re about. It’s like a drug, and gospel can be too when it’s ecstatic and dream-like, when it’s elated.” – Sonic Boom
Perhaps it’s worth noting that I only enjoy the Vee Jay records. Once the band started recording for Epic and Stax their sound changed (at least to these ears, drastically) and the immediacy of the solo guitar recordings was entirely lost. So by 1963/64 I’d say you can pretty much give up on their records. “Freedom Highway” (the 1965 issue on Epic, not the 1991 reissue) is still worth checking out, though. I think that live set from Chicago includes a song or two off Uncloudy Day.
That said, the opiate-slow approach and the tremolo-drenched guitar on Uncloudy Day is literally mesmerizing. This was where it all began, in 1959. Dig in, and enjoy.
The Staple Singers
Uncloudy Day
(Vee Jay, 1959)
Zippyshare DL Link
01. Uncloudy Day
02. Let Me Ride [MP3]
03. God’s Wonderful Love
04. Help Me Jesus
05. I’m Coming Home
06. If I Could Hear My Mother
07. Low Is The Way
08. I Had A Dream
09. On My Way To Heaven
10. Going Away
11. I’m Learning
12. I Know I Got Religion
