Slippery People
I am a huge Talking Heads fan, and it takes something special for me to recommend a cover of one of their songs over the original. While I am not suggesting this is a better version of Slippery People, I am saying it's pretty damn good. It's sort of an unlikely cover, and I love the thought that an R&B and Gospel group from Chicago was listening to a band like the Talking Heads. This song gave The Staple Singers another hit on the R&B charts following their more successful tracks "I'll Take You There" and "Let's Do It Again". What I really appreciate about this version is how The Staple Singers remained rather true to the original, but tweaking it and ramping it up just enough to give it a new life. The hand claps keep you grooving and Mavis Staples sings this absolutely perfectly. There's loads of ear candy, fun little laser sounds that pique ones interest and the beat is slow but driving and totally danceable. Very danceable actually. This was released as 12" on Private Records in 1984, backed with an instrumental.
The Staple Singers - Slippery People
Posted by T. Preston | 13 comments
Labels: slippery people, talking heads, the staple singers