Isaac Hayes Short Stax and Albert King Short Stax deliver a solid introduction to the joys of each particular artist.

Hayes’ Short Stax features his slow grind on the Jackson 5ive hit “Never Can Say Goodbye,” originally an April 1971 single then subsequently featured in its full-length splendor as the opening track for Hayes’ historic Black Moses album. Hayes sounds supremely pained for someone who can’t say goodbye and later recalled, “I was going through some emotional turmoil. You can tell by the tunes on that album. I was going through a breakup of my marriage. That’s the only way I could express myself, cry out through that.”

It includes the “Theme from Shaft” single that rose to #2 R&B, #1 Pop on the singles charts, won three Grammy Awards and copped the Academy Award for Best Song from a motion picture, the first such honor for an African-American composer. It’s rounded out by “Run Fay Run,” a funky li’l instrumental rocked hard by congas and horns and composed by Hayes as part of the score for the film Tough Guys, in which he also performed a starring role. (Tough Guys was subsequently paired with Hayes’ soundtrack to Truck Turner and released on CD in 1993.)

Just like Hayes’ extended spoken introductions and interludes became his soul music signature, Albert King’s blues told stories that held so much pain you just had to smile. It’s not included here, but the title of King’s famous single “Crosscut Saw” creates the perfect image for the sound of his shredding, toothsome electric blues lead guitar.

So who better to instruct this swivel-hipped primer “That’s What the Blues Is All About” with the Bar-Kays, Memphis Horns and Isaac Hayes Movement all laying down hot buttered blues (originally released on his 1974 Stax album I Want to Get Funky)? You also get the single edit of King’s trademark “I’ll Play the Blues for You,” the title track of his landmark ‘72 album that has since been enshrined in the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame.

“Answer to the Laundromat Blues” is a “reply” to King’s own “Laundromat Blues,” a hit 1966 “my woman’s cheating on me with her new man down at the laundromat” single that appeared on I’ll Play the Blues for You. Though his electric guitar scalds and stings like hot soapy water in your eyes, King’s opening lecture is nothing short of hilarious:

“This number is being especially played and dedicated to all of the women from all of the men. You see, you girls had a good thing going but we’re hip to ya now. You take two or three pieces and go down to the laundromat and it takes you eight hours to wash ‘em. No good. We’re gonna buy you washers and dryers and we’re gonna put you at home in the basement. Then we’re gonna kick the door down that goes to the basement, where we can hear the washer when it stops. And baby, baby, baby, when that washer stops you’d better be through, or you’d better have a darn good explanation…”

My, how times have changed! The second part of King’s rap essentially promises (in detail) a whuppin’ to the woman who steps out of line, and certainly sounds politically incorrect these days. Unless, of course, King was recording as a gangsta rappah…

The Emotions - the three Hutchinson sisters from Chicago, Sheila, Wanda and Jeanette - shone among the brightest female vocalists illuminated by the Stax label. The background in gospel before moving into contemporary secular (soul) music that they shared with other Stax artists, Isaac Hayes foremost among them, made The Emotions great material for Hayes to mold for the label.

The Emotions’ Short Stax includes their 1971 single “Show Me How,” which Hayes co-wrote with David Porter many years before and resurrected for The Emotions’ album Untouched with instrumental support, as did so many Stax releases of this period masterminded by Hayes, from the Bar-Kays. The more uptempo “My Honey and Me” appears on the compilation Chronicles and was written by soulman Luther Ingram, whose own recording of his tune proved quite popular. Their Short Stax also includes their luscious cover of Bill Withers’ “Ain’t No Sunshine,” a loose arrangement of multiple voices liquidly flowing between vocal harmony and lead lines that seems to foreshadow their subsequent influence on later female vocal groups such as En Vogue and TLC. It also served as the de facto title track for the album Sunshine, a collection of material recorded in the mid-70s but released more or less posthumously in 1978.

Eddie Floyd may be best known as co-composer of the house-rockin’ classic “Knock on Wood,” but Eddie Floyd’s Short Stax reminds listeners of the solid staying power of his strong voice. Isaac Hayes was originally going to repurpose Sam Cooke’s “Bring it On Home to Me” for Sam & Dave, but Floyd got to Hayes first. With a hard-driving drum beat that sounds tailor-made for one of Otis Redding’s trademark stomping soul shouts, Floyd’s version went up to #4 R&B single and also broke the Pop top twenty. Except for the saccharine horns and strings behind the chorus and bridge, Floyd’s courtly cover of Tony Joe White’s “Rainy Night in Georgia” rivals Brook Benton’s more famous version.

Floyd’s Short Stax also includes his biggest hit, “I’ve Never Found a Girl (To Love Me Like You Do),” which made it up to #2 R&B single (#40 Pop). Co-written by Floyd with Booker T. Jones and Al Bell, and produced by guitarist Steve Cropper, this is THE authentic, thumpin’ sound of southern soul, hot and sweet and served up Stax style, circa 1968!

To further this year’s 50th anniversary celebration, Stax Records is using modern technology methods to deliver classic music from their five decades. On May 22, Stax exclusively released to iTunes ten digital mini-EPs called Short Stax to honor ten of the label’s most prolific artists. Each Short Stax set features two well known or hit singles plus a third track that is a rare track, a live track or otherwise merits wider recognition. Short Stax will be exclusively available as digital downloads through iTunes in North America for 90 days, and thereafter available on other digital retail sites worldwide.

Booker T. & The MGs Short Stax opens with a ferocious live shredding of “Green Onions” that must have been mixed or mastered by Steve Cropper because his guitar jumps out of it like lightning, especially when his chords melt into a blur of hot electronic noise that sounds like it’s frying your speakers. This live version is also available on Stax Profiles: Booker T. & the MGs, the compilation assembled for the Stax Profiles series by Elvis Costello.

“Time is Tight” was the second biggest selling single for the group, climbing to #7 R&B and #6 Pop single (”Green Onions” went #1 R&B, #3 Pop). For years, I mistakenly thought this was “Hang ‘em High” because of its spaghetti-western trebly sound on Cropper’s guitar served with Hammond organ cheese spread kind of thick.

“Soul Limbo” was one of the first excursions into calypso / Caribbean island music not only for the MGs but also for the entire Stax family, and features Isaac Hayes on that continuous cowbell.

The Dramatics Short Stax spotlights their two biggest singles, “Whatcha See is Whatcha Get” (#3 R&B, #9 Pop) and “In the Rain.” The music on “In the Rain” is (in a word) dramatic, from the twinkling electric guitar raindrops that splash against your face in the introduction to its emotional climax, the lines “I don’t want you to see me cry/ Let me go, let me go, let me GO!” that wash away in a thunderclap and downpour.

It also includes a track from their classic 1973 album Dramatically Yours. Though the Dramatics were from Detroit, “I Pray She’ll Never Go Away” brings out the sound of the harmonizing Impressions from Chicago, especially when the multi-part harmonies feature the extremely high (falsetto) and low (bass) ends. The music is extremely incidental here, but it sounds mostly cut from the same country-gospel-blues guitar base as the Impressions’, with spiritual undertones that feel the same.

Say the name ‘Eddie Floyd’ to anyone with a smattering of musical know-how and what’s likely to follow is ‘knock, knock, knock on wood’! The native Alabaman who first achieved success in Detroit as a member of The Falcons (whose line-up included Wilson Pickett, Sir Mack Rice and Joe Stubbs) left an indelible mark on the charts worldwide with his catchy 1966 smash, the afore-mentioned “Knock On Wood” (apparently originally intended for Otis Redding). While he had an amazing number of sixteen charted R&B singles for Stax after that classic recording, Eddie never gained the same level of international chart success, coming close in 1968 with “I’ve Never Found A Girl (To Love Me Like You Do)” and a revival of Sam Cooke’s “Bring It On Home To Me,” ironically his biggest pop hit (making the Top 20, which “Knock On Wood” did not).

Eddie’s third complete Stax album, 1969’s “You’ve Got To Have Eddie” – released after “Rare Stamps,” a compilation of previously-recorded tracks that was one of the two Floyd LPs to make the R&B charts - is being reissued for the first time since its’ original release as a digital-only Stax/Concord set initially available through i-Tunes in June and aside from the catchy Caribbean-styled “Don’t Tell Your Mama (Where You’ve Been),” a Top 20 R&B charter, the LP is notable for its’ cover tunes. It’s an interesting mix: juxtaposed a cover of Tom Jones’ “It’s Not Unusual” and Credence Clearwater’s “Proud Mary,” there’s Tyrone Davis’ “Can I Change My Mind” and on Side Two, a version of Clarence Carter’s “Too Weak To Fight” alongside a slew of Floyd-penned originals.

Bereft of any major hit single, “You’ve Got To Have Eddie” languished as did the four subsequent albums Eddie cut for Stax, including his notable 1974 swansong for the label, “Soul Street.” The reissue of the album is a reminder of the treasure trove of original Stax albums that have yet to make it to CD including rare albums by Calvin Scott (“I’m Not Blind…I Just Can’t See”), Jimmy McCracklin (“Yesterday Is Gone”) and Israel Tolbert (“Popper Stopper”) among others. With the digital revolution upon us, such titles may not be gone forever…

David Nathan
Aka the British Ambassador Of Soul
Owner, www.soulmusic.com, www.soulmusicstore.com