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The Voice Mavis Staples album
Warner Bros. Records
albumHe was my angel.
The Voice was Mavis Staples’ follow-up album with Paisley Park Records, her debut being Time Waits For No One released in 1989. Prince wrote all but four tracks on the album, which he based on the long letters Mavis wrote him – “On every song on my album, I hear something out of my letters,” and contains the only studio release of The Undertaker a song Prince would only later release as a live rehearsal for the video of the same name.
The album’s oldest track is Melody Cool, written in 1987 for Prince’s aborted 1988 album Rave Unto The Joy Fantastic. Mavis’s vocals were dubbed over the track in 1989 and was released as a single as part of Prince’s Graffiti Bridge soundtrack. The track’s version on The Voice is lightly remixed and updated from its Graffiti Bridge debut for which the single release promoted. Mavis’s vocals on the remainder of The Voice were added in 1992 at Paisley Park Studios.
Prince was producer for The Undertaker and Melody Cool only, although he performs the instruments on four of the album’s songs. The remaining production is handled by Ricky Peterson, bother of Paul Peterson formally of The Family. In 1993, Ricky co-produced Prince’s hit single The Most Beautiful Girl In The World.
The title track was co-written by Prince and Rosie Gaines but was passed to Mavis after Gaines quit Prince’s band in 1992. The Voice received two releases. Initially, on 23 August 1993 by Paisley Park Records, following that label’s closure, Prince had it reissued in January 1995 under his NPG Records and distributed by Edel, with an extra track Come Home (5:29), also written by Prince, carried over from Staples’ previous record Time Waits For No One. An intended third project between Mavis and Prince never transpired, as that arrangement became a casualty in the ongoing dispute unfolding between Prince and Warner Bros Records, which also brought about the closure of Paisley Park Records in 1994. Prince’s original version of the title track The Voice with his vocals, was released in 2023 on Diamonds And Pearls Super Deluxe.
Performers
- Vocals
- Mavis Staples
- All instruments
- Prince The Voice, Melody Cool, A Man Called Jesus and Positivity
- Guitar
- Levi Seacer Jr House In Order, Blood Is Thicker Than Time, You Will Be Moved and The Undertaker
- Miko Weaver Positivity
- David Barry Blood Is Thicker Than Time and You Will Be Moved
- Billy Franze Blood Is Thicker Than Time and You Will Be Moved
- Drums
- Michael B House In Order, Blood Is Thicker Than Time and The Undertaker
- Bass Guitar
- St. Paul Peterson House In Order, Blood Is Thicker Than Time, You Will Be Moved, The Undertaker and Melody Cool
- Sonny T The Undertaker
- Keyboards
- Tommy Barbarella The Undertaker
- Boni Boyer Positivity
- Matt "Dr" Fink Positivity
- Programming
- Eric "Statik" Anest Positivity
- Saxophone
- Eric Leeds House In Order
Data
- Producers
- Prince and Ricky Peterson
- Label
- Paisley Park Records
- Distribution
- Warner Bros. Records
- Released
- 33 years ago on 23 August 1993
- Running Time
- 53:44
- US Chart Peak
- Did not chart
- UK Chart Peak
- Did not chart
- Orig. Formats
-
Tracklist
Paisley Park Records (1993)
- The Voice [feat. Tony M.] (4:14) 3
- House In Order [feat. The Steeles] (4:44) 1
- Blood Is Thicker Than Time [feat. The Steeles] (3:13) 1
- [feat. The Steeles] (4:12) 1
- All Because Of You (5:06)
- [feat. The Steeles] (7:26)
- [feat. The Steeles] (3:46) 1
- Kain't Turn Back (4:03)
- I'll Be Right There (4:03)
- A Man Called Jesus (3:56) 1
- Why (4:27)
- [feat. The Steeles] (4:34) 1
- Running Time
- 53 min, 44 sec
NPG Records (1995)
- Blood Is Thicker Than Time (3:13) 1
- I’ll Be Right There (4:03)
- Why (4:27)
- House In Order (4:44) 1
- All Because Of You (5:06)
- A Man Called Jesus (3:56) 1
- Kain’t Turn Back (4:03)
- (5:29) 1
- (4:12) 1
- The Voice [feat. Tony M. & Rosie Gaines] (4:14) 3
- (7:26)
- (3:46) 1
- (4:34) 1
- Running Time
- 59 min, 13 sec
Released as a single
1 Written by Prince.
2 Co-written by Prince, Levi Seacer Jr. and Sonny Thompson.
3 Co-written by Prince, Rosie Gaines and Francis Jules.
The Voice album review
Prince’s work with Mavis Staples is perhaps and unjustly so one of the least explored corners in Prince’s discography, opposed to other collaborations. Prince worked with Mavis on two albums, both during the Paisley Park Records era. The second collaboration The Voice is the better of the two. Prince holds writing credit for eight of the album’s eleven tracks.
The epic title track was written as a collaboration with Prince and Rosie Gaines, the song no doubt went Mavis’ way after Gaines left the NPG in 1992 but Mavis does it great justice. The album heads into full Mavis groove with the gloriously tight House In Order, which has the School Of Rock come Hairspray theatrical vibe. We slow down with the album’s third Prince penned track, Blood Is Thicker Than Time. Throughout the album Prince’s meticulous production standards are wonderfully maintained. The Voice has plenty to offer even to non-hardcore fans. There is plenty that will be familiar to the listener; there’s Melody Cool sporting a slight polish from 1990’s Graffiti Bridge, and if You Will Be Moved also sounds familiar, most fans would have come to it via 1-800 NEW FUNK. Mavis’s two Prince covers provide the best tracks. The Undertaker features a full band experience, complete with hornz, and vocals by The Steeles – Sonny T’s bass is blistering. Prince’s version of the song appears on his aborted The Undertaker album. The closing track, Positivity is a terrific cover of Prince’s Lovesexy classic, and Prince’s plays the instruments here also, complete with Dr Fink and Boni Boyer on keyboards. A definite purple stamp of approval.
The Voice is rated 4 out of 5 by Goldies Parade.
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