The first wave arrives June 5th with the newly remastered, reissues of the Curtis Mayfield-produced albums "Let's Do It Again: Soundtrack" and "Pass It On." The "Let's Do It Again" movie starred Sidney Poitier, Bill Cosby and Jimmie Walker, but the thing that stood the test of time is the soundtrack, featuring the soulful voices of The Staple Singers. The title song "Let's Do It Again" is pure seventies gold and topped the U.S. R&B chart in 1975. Also amazing on this soundtrack is the beautiful harmonies of "A Whole Lotta Love" and "After Sex." The new reissue contains three bonus tracks, which are all the single edits of the tracks "Let's Do It Again," "After Sex" and "New Orleans."
After appearing in The Band's "The Last Waltz" film, their music started to gather a more rock-oriented audience with their next album, "Pass It On." The sound still carried that seventies funk as displayed in the songs "Take Your Own Time" and "Making Love." The Staple Singers nearly cracked the top ten once again with the stellar, sultry single "Love Me, Love Me, Love Me," while also showing they can deliver a soulful anthem with "Sweeter Than The Sweet." This new reissue of the "Pass It On" album features a couple of single edits for "Sweeter Than The Sweet" and "Love Me, Love Me, Love Me" as bonus tracks.
The second wave of reissues from Omnivore Recordings arrives on June 26th, with the albums' "Family Tree" and "Unlock Your Mind." Their "Family Tree" album started bringing in elements of disco with the songs "What You Doing Tonight" and "Let's Go To The Disco," while hitting the R&B charts once again with the Olivia Newton-John pop hit "I Honestly Love You." Their sound was also blurring the lines of funk and rock with songs like "Hang Loose" and "Boogie For The Blues." The new reissues includes the single edits for "I Honestly Love You" and "Let's Go To The Disco."
The last of these new reissues centers around their 1978 album "Unlock Your Mind." The title song was a major hit for The Staple Singers, cracking the top 20 on the R&B charts, while "Chica Boom" also made the charts and featured some great horn work by the Muscle Shoals Horns. Other highlights of the "Unlock Your Mind" album are the uptempo, addictive chorus of "(Sho-doo-pa-poop-poop) Love Being Your Fool" and their take on the traditional blues track "Mystery Train." This new reissue only features one bonus track, which is the single edit of "Chica Boom." To find out more about these four new reissues from The Staple Singers, please visit omnivorerecordings.com.
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