Recorded in the late 1960s, the strong gospel soul hymns and idealistic moral gospel folksongs on Freedom Highway represent the Staple Singers' artistic apex. Pops Staples's reverb-saturated guitar hangs alone in the air while Mavis and the other family members' voices encircle it with warm sounds and defiant words. All this music is 100 percent amazing--from Pops's poignant delivery of "Be Careful Of The Stones That You Throw" to the group's terrific, invigorating civil rights anthem "Freedom Highway" and a cover of Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth" that adds new dimensions of meaning to the hippie hit. Too poppy to be considered mainstream gospel but not as watered- down as the group became in their mid-1970s pop phase, the Staple Singers' late-'60s music easily ranks alongside the era's hit makers, far outstripping their talent with little flash and pure, lovely sounding conviction. --Mike McGonigal