Candi Staton - Back To My Roots (2025)
BAND/ARTIST: Candi Staton
- Title: Back To My Roots
- Year Of Release: 2025
- Label: Beracah Records
- Genre: Blues, Soul
- Quality: mp3 320 kbps / flac lossless (tracks)
- Total Time: 00:49:46
- Total Size: 117 / 379 mb
- WebSite: Album Preview
Tracklist
01. I Missed The Target Again
02. It's Gonna Rain
03. Hang On in There (God Is At The End Of Your Rope)
04. Shine A Light
05. The Lord Will Make A Way Somehow
06. God's Gonna Use Me
07. There Will Be Peace In The Valley
08. 1963
09. Reach Down And Touch Heaven For Me
10. Love Breakthrough
11. My God Has A Telephone
12. In God's Hands We rest Untroubled
Still Keeping The Flame Burning Across Some Beautiful and Soulful Gospel Songs
Candi Staton is probably best remembered for her evergreen classic 1976 smash “Young Hearts Run Free” which you can still hear pretty much everyday on any radio Hits/Gold station in the Western World.
She had another massive hit in 1999 with “You Got the Love” that later gave somebody with her machine a career. Despite those two big hits she’s managed to have a sixty-year career without hitting the heights of the likes of Whitney Houston or Dianna Ross.
In January this year she was honoured by her peers when she received the UK’s Americana Music Association’s International Lifetime Achievement Award, at their annual ceremony in London. Given the longevity of that career and the quality of this album I’d say it was very well deserved.
It’s not easy to escape the crushing weight of being known (pretty much) as a one-hit-wonder, but Candi has more style and guts than that.
Her “Young Hearts” hit is a true story, and its bouncy tune and up-tempo arrangements disguises the pain hidden inside.
This compact and punchy 12 track album delivers a Soulful Gospel feast of treasures that belies Candi’s 82 years, with a powerful messages about strength and fight. There’s a huge dollop of God in here too, but don’t that let that put you off its message of hope and love.
I will start by heaping as much praise as possible on the first single from the album; Love Breakthrough which Alan, our editor has heard twice, on the young people’s Radio station, BBC 6 … where it fit in perfectly alongside the hip and trendy songs they normally feature.
The two standout tracks for me are a soulful cover of the Rolling Stones “Shine A Light” from their classic 1972 album “Exile on Main Street” which brings out the power of the song and gives it an uplifting swing that works well too.
The other is “1963” a poignant, spoken-word reflection on September 15, 1963, when four black girls were killed in the Birmingham Church bombing in Alabama.
“I was in the city that day and I remember the chaos and horror after the bombing,” Staton recalls. “Just thinking of how racism and hatred caused those men to kill those girls was so emotional for me that I could only do it in one take.”
It’s an astonishing performance filled with horror and rage, and you can sense Staton struggling to get through it.
Its little wonder she could only do one take – she was there and witnessed the aftermath with her own eyes!
You hope that these events have been consigned to history but remembering them helps us to be vigilant.
There really is so much to like here; not least when Staton digs deep for Reach Down and Touch Heaven For Me which has a touch of Sam Cooke about it; as does the punchy Larry McCray duet Hang On In There which is crying out for film score alongside a 40 piece Gospel choir.
At times it’s difficult to seperate Soul from Gospel, which makes for some fabulous heartfelt songs, especially the emotional duets with the legendary William Bell, My God Has a Telephone and Maggie Peebles on the classic It’s Gonna Rain, which Candi tenderly introduces, telling us that it was a song her Mother sang every day.
Staton also sings the heart out of the old Gospel chestnut “There Wil Be Peace in The Valley” a difficult feat given the many artists who have also covered it including Elvis and Johnny Cash.
Here, the musicians provide a solid and uplifting canvas for Staton, who’s voice still retains its power and it’s a very convincing performance from her.
Back To My Roots is bookended by two very special songs, and ones that deserve a to be heard by a wide audience; opening track I Missed The Target Again is ‘Midnight Soul’ at its finest, and includes some beautiful guitar licks too.
The album closes with the spine tingling In Gods Hands We Rest Untroubled, a Gospel song, so intense it could make a believer out of all of us.
This is a far better album than I expected and I’m sure I’ll continue to listen to it.
It’s clear that this is an album that she is proud of, and at this stage in her career that’s a proud boast. Staton herself says,
“I grew up hearing a lot of these old gospel songs when they were new gospel songs. I toured with the Jewel Gospel Trio in the 1950s and we got to know people like Mahalia Jackson, Sam Cooke and others who first sang these songs. So, I’m sort of paying tribute to them and the influence they had on me by refreshing these songs and making new songs in the old style.”
So, if you’re looking for a classic old school album packed with Soul and Gospel with a powerful vocalist look no further.
Too often today we’re urged to buy into the latest “legendary” artists comeback to find only diminished artistry and feeling that “it’s alright – but they aren’t what they used to be”.
This isn’t one of those records.
01. I Missed The Target Again
02. It's Gonna Rain
03. Hang On in There (God Is At The End Of Your Rope)
04. Shine A Light
05. The Lord Will Make A Way Somehow
06. God's Gonna Use Me
07. There Will Be Peace In The Valley
08. 1963
09. Reach Down And Touch Heaven For Me
10. Love Breakthrough
11. My God Has A Telephone
12. In God's Hands We rest Untroubled
Still Keeping The Flame Burning Across Some Beautiful and Soulful Gospel Songs
Candi Staton is probably best remembered for her evergreen classic 1976 smash “Young Hearts Run Free” which you can still hear pretty much everyday on any radio Hits/Gold station in the Western World.
She had another massive hit in 1999 with “You Got the Love” that later gave somebody with her machine a career. Despite those two big hits she’s managed to have a sixty-year career without hitting the heights of the likes of Whitney Houston or Dianna Ross.
In January this year she was honoured by her peers when she received the UK’s Americana Music Association’s International Lifetime Achievement Award, at their annual ceremony in London. Given the longevity of that career and the quality of this album I’d say it was very well deserved.
It’s not easy to escape the crushing weight of being known (pretty much) as a one-hit-wonder, but Candi has more style and guts than that.
Her “Young Hearts” hit is a true story, and its bouncy tune and up-tempo arrangements disguises the pain hidden inside.
This compact and punchy 12 track album delivers a Soulful Gospel feast of treasures that belies Candi’s 82 years, with a powerful messages about strength and fight. There’s a huge dollop of God in here too, but don’t that let that put you off its message of hope and love.
I will start by heaping as much praise as possible on the first single from the album; Love Breakthrough which Alan, our editor has heard twice, on the young people’s Radio station, BBC 6 … where it fit in perfectly alongside the hip and trendy songs they normally feature.
The two standout tracks for me are a soulful cover of the Rolling Stones “Shine A Light” from their classic 1972 album “Exile on Main Street” which brings out the power of the song and gives it an uplifting swing that works well too.
The other is “1963” a poignant, spoken-word reflection on September 15, 1963, when four black girls were killed in the Birmingham Church bombing in Alabama.
“I was in the city that day and I remember the chaos and horror after the bombing,” Staton recalls. “Just thinking of how racism and hatred caused those men to kill those girls was so emotional for me that I could only do it in one take.”
It’s an astonishing performance filled with horror and rage, and you can sense Staton struggling to get through it.
Its little wonder she could only do one take – she was there and witnessed the aftermath with her own eyes!
You hope that these events have been consigned to history but remembering them helps us to be vigilant.
There really is so much to like here; not least when Staton digs deep for Reach Down and Touch Heaven For Me which has a touch of Sam Cooke about it; as does the punchy Larry McCray duet Hang On In There which is crying out for film score alongside a 40 piece Gospel choir.
At times it’s difficult to seperate Soul from Gospel, which makes for some fabulous heartfelt songs, especially the emotional duets with the legendary William Bell, My God Has a Telephone and Maggie Peebles on the classic It’s Gonna Rain, which Candi tenderly introduces, telling us that it was a song her Mother sang every day.
Staton also sings the heart out of the old Gospel chestnut “There Wil Be Peace in The Valley” a difficult feat given the many artists who have also covered it including Elvis and Johnny Cash.
Here, the musicians provide a solid and uplifting canvas for Staton, who’s voice still retains its power and it’s a very convincing performance from her.
Back To My Roots is bookended by two very special songs, and ones that deserve a to be heard by a wide audience; opening track I Missed The Target Again is ‘Midnight Soul’ at its finest, and includes some beautiful guitar licks too.
The album closes with the spine tingling In Gods Hands We Rest Untroubled, a Gospel song, so intense it could make a believer out of all of us.
This is a far better album than I expected and I’m sure I’ll continue to listen to it.
It’s clear that this is an album that she is proud of, and at this stage in her career that’s a proud boast. Staton herself says,
“I grew up hearing a lot of these old gospel songs when they were new gospel songs. I toured with the Jewel Gospel Trio in the 1950s and we got to know people like Mahalia Jackson, Sam Cooke and others who first sang these songs. So, I’m sort of paying tribute to them and the influence they had on me by refreshing these songs and making new songs in the old style.”
So, if you’re looking for a classic old school album packed with Soul and Gospel with a powerful vocalist look no further.
Too often today we’re urged to buy into the latest “legendary” artists comeback to find only diminished artistry and feeling that “it’s alright – but they aren’t what they used to be”.
This isn’t one of those records.
| Blues | Soul | FLAC / APE | Mp3
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