Today, renowned soulman William Bell has come to be known as one of the principal architects of the Stax sound, a sound that defined R&B and soul music from the early sixties through mid-seventies. In his own words, Bell describes the Stax sound as “hybrid sound, rooted in gospel that was a mixture of blues, [...]
Tag Archives: Stax Records
Stax in the ’70s
September 14, 2011 – 10:44 am
Concord Records has been reissuing the Stax Records catalog since acquiring it in 2004, but if it’s releasing them in a systematic way, the system has eluded me. Nonetheless, I scored a yahtzee one day last week when Rufus Thomas’ Do the Funky Chicken (1969), the Dramatics’ Whatcha See is Whatcha Get (1971) and Shirley [...]
YouTube du Jour: The Bo-Keys
September 13, 2011 – 9:41 am
Each year, there’s someone at the Ponderosa Stomp who does a musical thing you’ve known all your life without knowing who did it. On Saturday night, Memphis retro-soul band the Bo-Keys will back up William Bell, Eddie Floyd, Otis Clay and Sir Mack Rice in a tribute to Stax Records. The Bo-Keys’ guitarist is Skip [...]
Albert King, The Definitive Albert King on Stax (Stax Records)
June 1, 2011 – 12:50 am
The very first blues album I ever purchased was Albert King’s Born Under a Bad Sign. Forty-two-years later, I still have it and play it. It’s been through three years at a distant college, a move here from Canada, a divorce and Katrina. That album is on the same podium with Bobby “Blue” Bland’s Two [...]
Otis Redding, Live On Sunset Strip (Stax Records)
October 1, 2010 – 12:44 am
The true test of the worthiness of a live album is when the listener says to him or herself, “I wish I’d have been at that show.” This is such a recording. Recorded in 1966 at the legendary Whiskey a Go-Go, several of these tracks were available on LP back in the days of vinyl. [...]
Teena Marie, Congo Square (Stax)
August 1, 2009 – 12:01 am
Ahhh, the return of Lady T, “Honey” if you want her “Southern name,” Mary Christine Brockert if you want the (snore) legal one. Documentary proof that someone (I didn’t say anyone) can turn herself black given enough passion, Ms. Marie devotes some of this third comeback album to exploring her roots in New Orleans. More [...]
Booker T.
May 1, 2009 – 12:01 am
Getting ready for his Jazz Fest appearance with Drive-By Truckers as his backing band, Booker T. Jones is thinking back to his first time in New Orleans. It was in 1962. He was just a teen prodigy then, still in high school, his Hammond B3 organ playing having just reached the public’s ear via his [...]
JJ Grey & Mofro, Orange Blossoms (Alligator)
November 1, 2008 – 12:01 am
If there was one thing that made artists establish Stax Records and the Muscle Shoals studios as their homes away from home, it was economy. From the punchy horn arrangements to the syncopated drums and the crisp guitar licks, ’60s soul music showed how much you could do with just enough. JJ Grey, the Mofro [...]
Eddie Floyd, Eddie Loves You (Stax)
September 1, 2008 – 12:01 am
Great googa mooga—I just learned you can’t judge a book by it’s lack of a cover. I was given a review copy of this CD sans a cover or PR material, and after listening to it several times, I assumed this was assembled from lost master tapes stored in the Stax vaults for over three [...]
