Peace To The Neighborhood/Father, Father

RELEASE
September 18, 2006
LABEL
Acadia
GENRES
Gospel, Gospel, Southern Soul, Soul, Black Gospel, Blues Gospel

Album Review

This Acadia Records release combines Pop Staples' two solo albums, 1992's Peace to the Neighborhood and 1994's Father Father, on one disc. Both albums were recorded when Staples was well into his seventies, so his voice wasn't quite what it used to be, having been reduced to a Curtis Mayfield-like quaver, but that isn't really a drawback since it gives these tracks an immediate and delicate intimacy. Coupled with his patented reverb-laced guitar playing, Staples wonderfully blurs the line between what is secular and what is sacred on cuts like "World in Motion," "Hope in a Hopeless World," and the stunningly atmospheric "Down in Mississippi," further perfecting the gospel, blues and R&B hybrid he had been delivering all of his career, giving it that trademark Pop Staples swampy funk feel. Placing these two albums together is a no-brainer, since both work with the same elements, combing Saturday night rhythms with Sunday morning sentiments until the line between them is all but erased.
Steve Leggett, Rovi

Track Listing

  1. World in Motion
  2. Love Is a Precious Thing
  3. America
  4. Down in Mississippi
  5. This May Be the Last Time
  6. (Peace To) The Neighborhood
  7. Miss Cocaine
  8. Pray on My Child
  9. Pray
  10. I Shall Not Be Moved
  11. Father, Father
  12. Why Am I Treated So Bad?
  13. Too Big for Your Britches
  14. Jesus Is Going to Make Up (My Dying Bed)
  15. The Downward Road
  16. People Get Ready
  17. Hope in a Hopeless World
  18. You Got to Serve Somebody
  19. Waiting for My Child
  20. Simple Man
  21. Glory Glory