Ry Cooder keeps the whole thing slow burning and surprisingly minimal, Mavis manages to sound defiant and subdued, Ladysmith Black Mambazo provide the backing and the last fifty years of her life pan out without the whole thing becoming an exercise in nostalgia. It’s a world weary but still quietly hopeful collection. Through all the sham and drudgery, it’s still wonderful world, and that’s gospel for you. So while The Staples Singers can rightly have their place in any hall of fame, Mavis has just made one of the best albums of her career.

But she’s got a lot of history to live up to, and some of the retreads Don’t quite work (‘We Shall not be Moved’ doesn’t seem worthy of the collection as a whole and you wonder why they bothered) but some, like ‘Down in Mississippi’ sound deep, dark and contemporary. And that’s the clincher, rather than just a sentimental journey or a paen to the past, it’s a proper, mature piece of work. The originals (and I’m not really familiar with most of this stuff) have been given a dark, spaced out, repetitive treatment which lifts it beyond misty eyed homage to MLK and the rest. It goes without saying that spirituality is central to everything she’s produced (closer ‘Jesus is on the Mainline’ is probably the most straightforward gospel workout), but it seems even more prominent in this modernist, stark setting. The album sounds like something only a lifetime of experience could be capable of producing, which is quite something. The voice may be older, flatter and gruffer, but that depth fits the reflective mood. Cooder himself has been vocal about his love of Pop Staples guitar sound, and he doesn’t go in for any showboating, keeping the backing restrained and thoughtful throughout. Some might disagree, but I think it all holds together beautifully.

The real treat here is ‘My own eyes’, a sprawling, slow burning look back over the last fifty years or so that’s absolutely storming. Producer/guitarist Cooder slowly builds a kind of progressive gospel loop while Mavis ad libs through the fifties and sixties right up to Hurricane Katrina. It’s the stand out track , and it’s a million miles from the kind of trite ‘heal the world’ shtick that’s passed for protest post Live aid. Mavis is still full of righteous anger, and there’s no doubt in my mind that she could kick the shit out of many a young buck if the fancy took her. But of course she’s far too decent to even consider it.

‘We’ll Never Turn Back’ is a powerful piece of work from an extraordinary woman.

Stuart Blackwood is 30 (odd), was born in Newarthill and lives in Glasgow. He supports Motherwell FC, has an MA in Economics and Philosophy and likes William Bell (the singer), Bukowski & Fante, Eric Arthur Blair, Negativeland, Eric Hobsbawm, politics, philosophy and ambiguity. He dislikes Alan Bloom and Francis Fukuyama, U2, categorization and Violence.