Candi Staton: Candi Staton : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Before she became a disco siren, Alabama's Candi Staton specialized in the kind of brassy singing that made soul music a voice for protest in the late Sixties. But politics weren't really on Staton's agenda - love was. When she begged her man not to leave on her rollicking hit "I'm Just a Prisoner (of Your Good Lovin')," it didn't sound like a step backward from social concerns so much as the demands of a woman for whom loving was utterly liberating. Emotional sagacity was Staton's stock in trade - indelible numbers such as "Do Your Duty" positively pulse with conviction. And her cover of "Stand By Your Man," a song that can sound feeble coming from the wrong mouth, is a bombastic statement of loyalty and pride.

JON CARAMANICA
(RS 945, April 1, 2004)