|
Throughout the summer of 1976, three pop
singles dominated the airwaves: Boz Skagg’s
“What Can I Say?,” Lou Rawls’s “You’ll Never
Find Another Love Like Mine,” and Candi
Staton’s “Young Hearts Run Free” – a trio of
tunes which more or less encapsulated the
bumpy road of love. During that summer, you
could be riding in your car and in the
course of ten minutes shift from first love,
to disenchantment, to total disillusion.
Celebrated for her gospel-tinged, Southern
soul voice, Candi Staton already had a
string of hits and a couple gold records by
1976, but it was the disco-fied “Young
Hearts” which would, thereafter, become the
song most associated with her name. And in a
freak of fate, the song’s lyrics heralded
her own years-long struggles with a series
of abusive relationships.
After a twenty-year absence from New York’s
concert venues, Staton returned last night
to perform for a crowd of loyal fans at the
Bowery Ballroom. And much like a similar
comeback concert, during a long-ago August
in the distant year of 1984 when Tina
Turner’s performance at the Ritz announced
that she was back, better than ever, Staton
also showed her fans that she’s got the legs
to go on, with a voice that’s remarkably
rich and nearly unchanged from thirty years
before. Her versions of “Stand By Your Man”
and “In the Ghetto” were justifiably popular
in the Seventies, and to hear her sing them
live was to feel again the summer air
through the car window while cruising back
country roads.
Staton’s new CD “His Hands” has been
trumpeted as a return to her soul roots, and
yet, the title cut, which she sang last
night, is arguably as much gospel as it is
soul. Another cut from the new CD, “How Do I
Get Over You?”, however, is most decidedly a
return to the days when every city in the
Northeast and South had a soul radio station
where Staton and her peers ruled. Staton
sang this cut with a regal dignity that
comes from one who well understands the
tortuous road to recovery.
As was expected, the loudest applause came
upon hearing the opening chords to “Young
Hearts” – and as the disco ball circled the
room, the crowd danced and sang along.
Staton followed her massive hit with
“Victim,” another song from her disco queen
reign, and in fact, given that the crowd was
unwilling to let Staton slip away without an
encore, she performed “Victim” twice, one
right after the other. And perhaps that
choice was telling, given that the lyric “I
became a victim/of the very songs I sing”
seemed tailormade for Staton’s personal
life.
One thing proven by Staton’s return to a New
York stage after all this time is that she
has lost nothing in her command of her
material – and the years have been very kind
to her voice. And last night, the press was
out in abundance, and Staton dutifully
acknowledged them – and if the summer of
1984 and a similar concert at the Ritz are
indicators, then Staton’s career might well
be starting its third act.
|
