The Staple Singers - Swing Low Sweet Chariot + Uncloudy Day

2 albums on one CD + 6 bonus tracks � includes a 16-page booklet. From Chicago, Illinois, The Staple Singers started blending gospel and R&B in 1948 - a combination considered profane in some quarters at the time. Driven by Roebuck Pops Staples' stark, Delta-infused guitar style awash in eerie reverb, and given a laser-like urgency by Mavis Staples' amazing singing, their early recordings are balanced right at the juncture between country-blues and gospel. This release features The Staples' first two LPs on Chicago's Vee Jay Records: Swing Low Sweet Chariot (1961) and Uncloudy Day (1959).

*****Down Beat: The Staples fuse secular stylizations with passionate, deep harmonies, ascending into a near-mystical state of fervour. Although not as well-known as their later recordings, The Staple Singers' early sides for Chicago's Vee Jay Records may well be their most powerful. - Steve Legget