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
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Ukrainian court on Friday ordered the detention of the country’s farm minister in the latest high-profile corruption investigation, while Kyiv security officials assessed how they can recover lost battlefield momentum in the war against Russia.
Ukraine’s High Anti-Corruption Court ruled that Agriculture Minister Oleksandr Solskyi should be held in custody for 60 days, but he was released after paying bail of 75 million hryvnias ($1.77 million), a statement said.
Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau suspects Solskyi headed an organized crime group that between 2017 and 2021 unlawfully obtained land worth 291 million hryvnias ($6.85 million) and attempted to obtain other land worth 190 million hryvnias ($4.47 million).
Ukraine is trying to root out corruption that has long dogged the country. A dragnet over the past two years has seen Ukraine’s defense minister, top prosecutor, intelligence chief and other senior officials lose their jobs.
That has caused embarrassment and unease as Ukraine receives tens of billions of dollars in foreign aid to help fight Russia’s army, and the European Union and NATO have demanded widespread anti-graft measures before Kyiv can realize its ambition of joining the blocs.
In Ukraine's capital, doctors and ambulance crews evacuated patients from a children’s hospital on Friday after a video circulated online saying Russia planned to attack it.
Parents hefting bags of clothes, toys and food carried toddlers and led young children from the Kyiv City Children’s Hospital No. 1 on the outskirts of the city. Medics helped them into a fleet of waiting ambulances to be transported to other facilities.
In the video, a security official from Russian ally Belarus alleged that military personnel were based in the hospital. Kyiv city authorities said that the claim was “a lie and provocation.”
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that civic authorities were awaiting an assessment from security services before deciding when it was safe to reopen the hospital.
“We cannot risk the lives of our children,” he said.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was due to hold online talks Friday with the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, which has been the key international organization coordinating the delivery of weapons and other aid to Ukraine.
Zelenskyy said late Thursday that the meeting would discuss how to turn around Ukraine’s fortunes on the battlefield. The Kremlin’s forces have gained an edge over Kyiv’s army in recent months as Ukraine grappled with a shortage of ammunition and troops.
Russia, despite sustaining high losses, has been taking control of small settlements as part of its effort to drive deeper into eastern Ukraine after capturing the city of Avdiivka in February, the U.K. defense ministry said Friday.
It’s been slow going for the Kremlin’s troops in eastern Ukraine and is likely to stay that way, according to the Institute for the Study of War. However, the key hilltop town of Chasiv Yar is vulnerable to the Russian onslaught, which is using glide bombs — powerful Soviet-era weapons that were originally unguided but have been retrofitted with a navigational targeting system — that obliterate targets.
“Russian forces do pose a credible threat of seizing Chasiv Yar, although they may not be able to do so rapidly,” the Washington-based think tank said late Thursday.
It added that Russian commanders are likely seeking to advance as much as possible before the arrival in the coming weeks and months of new U.S. military aid, which was held up for six months by political differences in Congress.
While that U.S. help wasn’t forthcoming, Ukraine’s European partners didn’t pick up the slack, according to German’s Kiel Institute for the World Economy, which tracks Ukraine support.
“The European aid in recent months is nowhere near enough to fill the gap left by the lack of U.S. assistance, particularly in the area of ammunition and artillery shells,” it said in a report Thursday.
Ukraine is making a broad effort to take back the initiative in the war after more than two years of fighting. It plans to manufacture more of its own weapons in the future, and is clamping down on young people avoiding conscription, though it will take time to process and train any new recruits.
Jill Lawless contributed to this report.
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Ukrainian young acting student Gleb Batonskiy plays piano in a public park in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
