In 1999, William Bell’s last two albums for the Stax label were remastered and put together on a single CD: 1973’s Phases of Reality, which Bell produced, and Relating, which he co-produced with Al Jackson Jr. and released in 1974. Stax would pretty much cease operations the following year.

Recording time at the Stax studio in Memphis was so heavily booked in early ’72 that headman Al Bell guided William to record the Phases of Reality rhythm tracks at Muscle Shoals studios in Alabama and then finish up the album by recording the vocal tracks and completing production at Stax in Memphis. Supple southern soul from the Muscle Shoals Sound greatly benefits Bell’s vocals on Phases of Reality. The Sound included greatly under-appreciated blues songwriter and guitarist Eddie Hinton, who also laid down soulful guitar for Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Percy Sledge and other legends of American soul.

Accompanying this shift in the underlying rhythm and feel from Memphis soul to Muscle Shoals, listeners get the feeling that William Bell was very interested in musically trying something/ANYthing on Phases of Reality just so long as it was new. It features several songs of social awareness, something Bell had almost never recorded before (“Save Us,” “Fifty Dollar Habit,” “Man in the Street”). “On the Phases album I was trying to make a statement about some of the things that were wrong in society and trying to get people conscious of it,” he later allowed.

Bell tries on other styles too. The title track barely rewrites Sly Stone’s “Family Affair,” down to its loping rhythm and Bell’s half-spoken / half-sung rap. “Lonely for Your Love” seems to borrow the jangling, colorful island accoutrements of “Montego Bay.”

“True Love Don’t Come Easy” features Bell harmonizing with The Sweet Inspirations, whose delicious harmonies graced numerous hits by “The Queen of Soul” and “The King,” Elvis Presley, Memphis’ adopted son. It’s not at all difficult to imagine Elvis’ voice rolling smoothly through “True Love,” which also sort of refers back to the country-soul mixture of Bell’s Stax breakout hit, “You Don’t Miss Your Water” from 1961. (Bell’s “True Love” co-writer was Harold Beane, guitarist on Isaac Hayes’ epic revision of “Walk on By.”)

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