Mavis Staples

One True Vine

ANTI Records

Well, it had to happen. But we’re there now – certainly. The reintroduction of Mavis Staples – all that hard work, the touring, the superb Ry Cooder-produced “comeback” and now, a Grammy-winner with Jeff Tweedy and this follow-up and here we have it: the sanitised, ultimately rather boring, safe, nice, easy, soft version of Mavis Staples; so easily digestible – so easy to like. She’s collecting four and five star reviews just by turning up. Because we love A Living Legend when we finally catch up with the news…

Oh, don’t get me wrong, she can still bring it to the stage. No question.

But these records are getting pretty bland. Pretty boring.

You Are Not Alone featured one decent song – and it’s about the same with One True Vine. You’ll read elsewhere breathless gushing about how she covers Nick Lowe and George Clinton but the song that stands – head and shoulders – above the rest of the album is one of Tweedy’s new cuts, Every Step. Just like his title track for her last album was that record’s saving grace. And even then – so what? Big deal…

Because it also highlights one crucial complaint. Jeff Tweedy is very boring without his excellent Wilco drummer and guitar wizard and then – just beneath them – the rest of his band.

Here his writing and production – just as it was with You Are Not Alone – is a sort of Prozac Soul Music – the top and bottom cut off, no highs, no lows, just a steady constant. Keep on the path, eyes ahead, possibly staring down at your feet, but maintain a straight line. Get through the day. Play it safe(ly).

Mavis does nothing wrong here of course and still sounds pretty good. She also sounds 73. And that’s really important for sales. We love attaching an age to things – past a certain age anyway. Ever since Rick Rubin saw that Johnny Cash’s gravesite was being kept clean (in advance) we’ve been excited by stars from the past doing the big comeback/reinvention.

Staples’ great comeback album was 2007’s We’ll Never Turn Back. There’s plenty more from her you should hear before that.

She needs to work with Ry Cooder again to achieve something truly great.

This is just coasting. Nice enough – but really not needed.

Jeff Tweedy doing gospel/soul music? Well it’s not actually that much different from when Bono decided he was in for a penny and a pound with roots and blues music and slapped together that atrocity Rattle & Hum. Oh god, does that mean the next Wilco record…

And Jeff Tweedy as a producer? Well, three strikes I should think…