Stax Records 50th Anniversary
While Motown Records was the great soul/crossover label of the '60s, the Memphis-based Stax label was the era's keeper of the flame: the undisputed heavyweight champ of Southern soul music with a roster boasting Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, Isaac Hayes, Rufus and Carla Thomas and a coterie of crack studio musicians anchored by one of the period's preeminent rhythm sections, Booker T & ...
While Motown Records was the great soul/crossover label of the '60s, the Memphis-based Stax label was the era's keeper of the flame: the undisputed heavyweight champ of Southern soul music with a roster boasting Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, Isaac Hayes, Rufus and Carla Thomas and a coterie of crack studio musicians anchored by one of the period's preeminent rhythm sections, Booker T & the MG's (shorthand for keyboardist Booker T. Jones and the Memphis Group), which featured drummer Al Jackson, Jr., bassist Donald "Duck" Dunn and guitarist Steve Cropper).
Founded as Satellite Records in 1959 by Jim Stewart and his sister, Estelle Axton, the company was rechristened two years later as Stax, a combination of the first two letters of their last names. The label was a regular on the chart through the mid '70s, turning out some of the tastiest, funkiest and most heartfelt recordings of the era, from the blues of Albert King and the gospel of the Staple Singers through the incendiary soul of such great singers as Johnny Taylor, Eddie Floyd and the underrated William Bell.
Nowhere near as adept at making money as they were at making music, Stax cut what proved to be a disastrous business deal with its distributor Atlantic Records that, while helping them reach a wider audience and pairing such Atlantic artists as Wilson Pickett with the Stax crew to craft hits like "In the Midnight Hour," wound up giving Atlantic ownership of the Stax hits through 1968. That means the records below will be conspicuous for the absence of such monster Stax hits as Rufus Thomas' "Walkin' the Dog," Sam & Dave's "Hold On, I'm Comin'," Carla Thomas' "Gee Whiz," Booker T. & the MGs' "Green Onions" and all of Otis Redding's incomparable studio recordings. What's left, though, is hardly chicken feed: it's the second half of the story of America's great Southern soul label.
Founded as Satellite Records in 1959 by Jim Stewart and his sister, Estelle Axton, the company was rechristened two years later as Stax, a combination of the first two letters of their last names. The label was a regular on the chart through the mid '70s, turning out some of the tastiest, funkiest and most heartfelt recordings of the era, from the blues of Albert King and the gospel of the Staple Singers through the incendiary soul of such great singers as Johnny Taylor, Eddie Floyd and the underrated William Bell.
Nowhere near as adept at making money as they were at making music, Stax cut what proved to be a disastrous business deal with its distributor Atlantic Records that, while helping them reach a wider audience and pairing such Atlantic artists as Wilson Pickett with the Stax crew to craft hits like "In the Midnight Hour," wound up giving Atlantic ownership of the Stax hits through 1968. That means the records below will be conspicuous for the absence of such monster Stax hits as Rufus Thomas' "Walkin' the Dog," Sam & Dave's "Hold On, I'm Comin'," Carla Thomas' "Gee Whiz," Booker T. & the MGs' "Green Onions" and all of Otis Redding's incomparable studio recordings. What's left, though, is hardly chicken feed: it's the second half of the story of America's great Southern soul label.
