NEW-ish Album: Mavis Staples - "sad & beautiful world"

[CRAZY-HORSE]

YouTube listen

encouraged by Ruby:
YAY!
i got round to hearing the new-ish Mavis Staples album

i found it a bit to mellow and bland overall musically speaking.
the opening track: "chicago" was a solid rocker with an almost Black Keys feel, i loved that one
then closing track: "everybody needs love" had a decent uptempo soul/R+B thing happening which was a great positive uplifting album closer.
its just everything inbetween which was all on one tone that didnt seem to fit the 'bookend' tracks.
those tracks were okay, passable, nothing special but Mavis' vocals still shone through as the highlight of it all, yes they were frail at times and yes she couldnt quite hold some of the notes as well as she was once able to do, but hey, she is 86 years young and her effort was incredible.

stand out tracks for me:

"Chicago"  Mavis Staples - "Chicago" (Full Album Stream)

"everybody needs love"  Mavis Staples - "Everybody Needs Love" (Full Album Stream)

[Ruby]

^Exactly. While I was engaged by the opener, it all went south from there. But I'm not a habitual R&B or Gospel listener so not really qualified to comment. Helluva voice though, advanced years notwithstanding, and the Staples Singers made some interesting choices of material to cover/collaborate on over the years.