Freedom highway - complete

"This is a Pops album in name only. At its core, it may be the final Staple Singers record. His children-including Cleotha, who died in 2013-feature prominently on many of these songs, harmonizing as sweetly as ever in the background and occasionally even taking lead. It's bracing to hear them sing together again, especially on a song like "Sweet Home", which plays up their individual styles. Pops' vocals are steady and measured, exuding the quiet authority of a man confident that he'll see heaven. But Mavis' voice flutters around his in a perfectly controlled gospel melisma that mimics the motion and expressive tone of a reed instrument. For a lesser singer, her performance might sound ostentatious or overbearing, but for Mavis, it sounds natural and fluid, a perfect complement to her father's performance".

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"The impact of this complete evening of music and gospel suggests no division between performer and crowd. This is a community gathering. Billy Sherrill's recording, originally editing and refined for radio play, is restored here to the almost chaotic sounds captured in the church itself. The levels here combine crowd and players, and while you can hear the stomp of feet, the distant shout of amens, the recording doesn't put you in the moment as much as the music does. Instead, the recording and production suggest no difference between the Staple Singers and the congregation. They suggest something more cohesive, more dynamic, more inclusive, and more powerful".

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