Mavis Staples, "We Get By" (Anti-Records)
Time has certainly not dampened the urgency in Mavis Staples' voice. Now 80, the Grammy-winning legend and social activist has one clear enemy on her new album: the status quo. She sings the word "change" some 20 times.
The terrific "We Get By" opens with the song "Change" and ends 10 tracks later with "One More Change to Make." Along the way, she urges action: "Can't stay the same," ''Something's got to give" and "Grab hold of the days."
All the songs on this, her 12th studio album, were written by Ben Harper and their union is both fruitful and moving. Harper has given Staples some tunes that show off her vulnerable side and others that make you move, with some funk and folk and soul and blues, the guitars often shimmering. He joins her in singing the dynamic, soulful "We Get By."
The Staples-Harper collaboration dates back to when he wrote the terrific song "Love and Trust" for her 2016 album, "Livin' On a High Note." She thanks him for all his new work in the liner notes: "I love you, Baby Bruh." He has three Grammys, but Harper might put that career achievement first.
Harper has written and produced an unrushed and quietly brooding album for Staples, one that puts her expressive voice at the center and the instruments turned down. Two songs — "Never Needed Anyone" and "Heavy On My Mind" — sound like the band was another room down the hall.
In between calls for change, Staples sings about love. On "Chance on Me," she is needy: "I don't need a symphony/I just need one violin." On the tender, bluesy "Hard to Leave," she's longing: "Softly reaching over/For your touch upon my sleeve."
Then there's the standout "Stronger," an irresistible rocking track where Staples' voice stretches and soars and the guitar keeps up with her. "Don't need a house on the hill/Don't need my face on a dollar bill," she sings.
Now that's an idea. Staples may not need her face on our money, but perhaps it's the least we can do to thank her. Hey, George Washington has had a long run. Who's down with Staples on the $1? Change can be good.
Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. intelligence officials have determined that Russian President Vladimir Putin likely didn’t order the death of imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny in February, according to an official familiar with the determination.
While U.S. officials believe Putin was ultimately responsible for the death of Navalny, who endured brutal conditions during his confinement, the intelligence community has found “no smoking gun” that Putin was aware of the timing of Navalny's death — which came soon before the Russian president's reelection — or directly ordered it, according to the official.
The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter.
Soon after Navalny’s death, U.S. President Joe Biden said Putin was ultimately responsible but did not accuse the Russian president of directly ordering it.
At the time, Biden said the U.S. did not know exactly what had happened to Navalny but that “there is no doubt” that his death “was the consequence of something that Putin and his thugs did.”
Navalny, 47, Russia’s best-known opposition politician and Putin’s most persistent foe, died Feb. 16 in a remote penal colony above the Arctic Circle while serving a 19-year sentence on extremism charges that he rejected as politically motivated.
He had been behind bars since January 2021 after returning to Russia from Germany, where he had been recovering from nerve-agent poisoning that he blamed on the Kremlin.
Russian officials have said only that Navalny died of natural causes and have vehemently denied involvement both in the poisoning and in his death.
In March, a month after Navalny’s death, Putin won a landslide reelection for a fifth term, an outcome that was never in doubt.
The Wall Street Journal first reported about the U.S. intelligence determination.
FILE - Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny gestures while speaking during his interview to the Associated Press in Moscow, Russia on Dec. 18, 2017. U.S. intelligence officials have determined that Russian President Vladimir Putin likely didn't order the death of Navalny, the imprisoned opposition leader, in February of 2024. An official says the U.S. intelligence community has found "no smoking gun" that Putin was aware of the timing of Navalny's death or directly ordered it. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)
