Archive - May, 2008
Sunday, May 18th, 2008
As Stax history buffs know, the label’s initial success was built on nurturing local Memphis talent – Rufus and Carla Thomas, Booker T. & The MGs, The Mar-keys and so on. Other artists who had enjoyed some modicum of success – whether national or regional – joined the label in the ‘60s including Johnnie Taylor, Sam & Dave (often mistakenly thought of as a Memphis group but in reality, originally formed in Florida), Mable John (the first female artist on Motown), Judy Clay and Eddie Floyd (formerly of Detroit’s Falcons).
After the company switched from Atlantic distribution to its association with Gulf & Western in 1968, other ‘name’ artists were added to the roster such as former Motown star Kim Weston, Inez Foxx (of ‘Mockingbird’ fame with brother Charlie) - and R&B/blues man Little Milton. Ironically, Milton made his first records for the famous Memphis Sun label but it wasn’t until he recorded for Checker Records from the early to late ‘60s that the accomplished singer, guitarist and songwriter achieved national attention. Known for such hits as his anthemic “We’re Gonna Make It,” “Who’s Cheating Who?” and the wonderful “Grits Ain’t Groceries,” Milton became a bonafide soul music chartmaker.
At Stax, Milton found himself in a different musical environment and while the intention may have been on making his records more accessible to a ‘70s black music audience, he actually made some of his finest blues sides for the label. Some great choices were made by historian Lee Hildebrand for the 2006 “Stax Profiles” release on Milton: “Walkin’ The Backstreets And Crying” is a masterpiece – although if you ever get to see the footage of Milton taped in Los Angeles at the time of the famed Wattstax concert, you will marvel. Milton acquits himself well on a cover of the Isaac Hayes-David Porter-Booker T. Jones’ tune “Little Bluebird” (previously recorded by Stax soul man Johnnie Taylor) and delivers powerfully on B.B. King’s “The Thrill Is Gone,” a brave move for any bluesman!
The “Stax Profiles” CD offers exceptional live versions of “Let Me Down Easy” (not, for soul buffs in-the-know, the Bettye Lavette classic) and ”I Can’t Quit You Baby,” two songs he first recorded at Checker along with the fine uptempo groove cut “That’s What Love Will Make You Do” and a somewhat strange version of the country hit “Behind Closed Doors.” The fourteen tracks on this album display Milton’s deeply soulful singing as well as his skill as a blues guitarist of the first order and while never a major mainstream artist, Little Milton – who passed away in 2005 – made some great recordings for Stax that are more than worthy of a new listen.
David Nathan
a/k/a “The British Ambassador Of Soul”
Owner, www.soulmusic.com, www.soulmusicstore.com, www.soulmusicglobal.com
Secretary, The Rhythm & Blues Foundation (www.rhythmnblues.org)
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Sunday, May 18th, 2008
While other performers clearly made a successful transition from gospel to pop and R&B – think Sam Cooke, Aretha Franklin – The Staple Singers earned a special place in the pantheon of music by being the first family group to do so. It wasn’t an automatic transition: after some moderate success with early recordings for Vee-Jay and Riverside, the group’s mid-’60s pacting with Epic Records was a promising move. Even though Pops, daughters Mavis and Cleotha and son Pervis did make a little headway towards gaining mainstream acceptance at the label via “Why (Am I Treated So Bad)?” (a 1967 hit for The Sweet Inspirations) and a memorable cover of Stephen Stills’ “For What It’s Worth” for Epic, it was the family’s move to Stax Records in 1968 that propelled them to international recognition.
It was a slow build. The group’s first two albums – “We’ll Get Over” and “Soul Folk In Action” - were produced by Steve Cropper and featured Booker T. and his fellow MGs. Focusing on social messages, the albums didn’t have much commercial impact in spite of some fine performances such as “Long Walk To DC,” “When Will We Be Paid,” “Give A Damn” and versions of Elvis Presley’s “The Ghetto” and The Band’s “The Weight.” When Stax president Al Bell began producing the Staples in 1970 – after Pervis left, replaced by sister Yvonne – the family fortunes began to change. A cover of Bobby Bloom’s “Heavy Makes You Happy” did well but with 1971’s now-classic “Respect Yourself,” the dam burst: The Staple Singers became bonafide pop and soul chartmakers of the first order. 1972’s “I’ll Take You There” sealed the deal, establishing the group as the ‘First Family Of Gospel’ in the contemporary music field.
The 2006 “Stax Profiles” includes all group’s charted singles for the label - “If You’re Ready, Come Go With Me,” “You’ve Got To Earn It,” “Oh La De Da,” “City In The Sky” and “Touch A Hand, Make A Friend” - along with a couple of strong album cuts such as the Homer Banks-Al Jackson composition, “Are You Sure” and a Memphis workout of Sly Stone’s “Everyday People.” Not necessarily a definitive collection of the group’s work, the CD is a fine introduction - if one is needed - to this pioneering family unit’s musical legacy.
David Nathan
a/k/a “The British Ambassador Of Soul”
Owner, www.soulmusic.com, www.soulmusicstore.com, www.soulmusicglobal.com
Secretary, The Rhythm & Blues Foundation (www.rhythmnblues.org)
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Sunday, May 18th, 2008
The middle third of Soulsville Sings Hitsville properly introduces the magic and mystery that permeates the Stax catalog.
Barbara Lewis magically sounds just like vintage Smokey Robinson on her version of the Miracles’ “Oh, Be My Love, especially in her lilting and cooing, supple, high choruses. (Lewis is most likely better known for her work with Jerry Wexler on Atlantic Records, including “Baby, I’m Yours.”)
Steve Cropper produced “Chained” (Marvin Gaye) on Mavis Staples, who bustles and snaps with the soulful sound of Aretha ripping it up down in Muscle Shoals. This previously unreleased alternate from sessions for Mavis’ debut solo album features Cropper on guitar with the MGs rhythm machine (Duck Dunn and Al Jackson Jr.) and Marvell Thomas (Rufus’ son, Carla’s brother) on keyboards. Cropper also rocks the almost textbook Booker T. & the MGs instrumental “I Hear a Symphony” (The Supremes).
Like the MGs, Isaac Hayes cuts a textbook arrangement that uses all his trademarks - soft horns and strings cushion deeply multitracked vocals that coo and sigh, while supple rhythms glide beneath Ike’s profoundly soulful vocal - on “Never Can Say Goodbye” (The Jackson 5ive). Recorded for Black Moses, Hayes projects none of the promise of the original, sung hopefully by bouncing young Michael; this sounds more like a sentence of life without parole. Hayes has allowed as much in retrospect: “I was going through some emotional turmoil. You can tell by the tunes on the album. I was going through the break-up of my marriage.”
When Stax signed Billy Eckstine, the jazz crooner was assigned to Hayes’ subsidiary label Enterprise. The courtly, elocutionary Eckstine proved just about the perfect subject for the lush production style favored by Hayes, who produced all four of the singer’s Enterprise albums. Eckstine recorded “My Cherie Amour” (Stevie Wonder) at Stax studios for the first of these, Stormy. Eckstine recorded a few albums, mainly pop standards, for the Motown label too.
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Sunday, May 11th, 2008
I must admit, when I saw last February’s release of Soulsville Sings Hitsville: Stax Sings Songs of Motown Records, I sort of wondered, “Why?” Motown had to be Stax’s biggest competition on the soul music charts, along with Atlantic, I figured. So why would Stax sort of, even indirectly, promote Motown music?
Thank goodness for the blessing of hindsight because I think I get it, or at least part of it, now. It’s probably oversimplifying but I suspect that Stax wanted what Motown had - a near assembly line of critically and popularly acclaimed songwriting, star turns on The Ed Sullivan Show, and pop crossover success. So it makes sense to me that way: Stax figured that the best way to follow someone somewhere is to take the same path that they took to get there.
The remakes on Soulsville Sings Hitsville sound pleasantly enough different and yet the same, mainly because the respective spirits and soul sounds of both labels shine through. Margie Joseph’s reconstruction of “Stop! In the Name of Love” (The Supremes) opens up, the single edit from the version that opens her album Margie Joseph Makes a New Impression, which Stax historian Bob Bowman calls “Joseph’s finest moment during her tenure at Stax.” “Reach Out (I’ll Be There)” (The Four Tops & Diana Ross) thunders and flashes like the hammer of Thor in the hands of R&B instrumental gods The Mar-Keys.
Isaac Hayes produced this version of “I Don’t Know Why I Love You” for the solo album debut of his primary songwriting partner David Porter, rounding off the rough edges but losing little of Otis Redding’s incendiary vocal passion. “I Don’t Know Why I Love You” was the B-side to Stevie Wonder’s single “My Cherie Amour,” which Billy Eckstine covers later on Soulsville Sings Hitsville.
The next two tunes really do bring Hitsville to Soulsville, more specifically all the way down home to church. The Staple Singers’ gospel romp through “You’ve Got to Earn It” (The Temptations) was Pops Staples’ idea, even if it was led by Mavis’ hard and gritty vocal; this Al Bell production at Muscle Shoals earned #11 R&B single. Next, Calvin Scott infuses “Can I Get A Witness?” (Marvin Gaye) with house-quaking gospel power. In a way, Scott’s electrifying performance couldn’t have much less to do with Stax’s southern, Memphis soul; it was written by and for Detroit artists, and was produced by Motown vet Clarence Paul at Wolfman Jack Recording Studios in Los Angeles.
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