An interesting observation: the two ‘giants’ in the world of R&B from the mid-‘60s through the early ‘70s, Stax and Motown had notably different artist rosters, the Memphis-based company more of a male bastion, the Detroit diskery with a plethora of female groups and soloists. Check out the facts: the Stax stable included Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Johnnie Taylor, William Bell, Rufus Thomas, Booker T & The MGs, Eddie Floyd, Isaac Hayes, Albert King and The Dramatics among others; Motown boasted The Supremes, The Marvelettes, Martha & The Vandellas, Kim Weston, Brenda Holloway, Tammi Terrell, Mary Wells, Syreeta and The Velvelettes as hitmakers. Of course. Motown also had Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, The Temptations, The Four Tops, Jimmy Ruffin, The Miracles, Edwin Starr and Junior Walker, while Stax…well, there was Mable John (a former Motown artist, actually the first female signed to that label) and some other less-known ladies (think Judy Clay, Ruby Johnson, Linda Lyndell, etc.), by the late ‘60s The Emotions and…Carla Thomas!

Essentially, while Motown was churning out hits by soul men and women, Stax was enjoying most of its success with the guys. Carla was the exception. The daughter of Rufus virtually reigned supreme as the ‘queen’ of Stax from her initial 1960 hit “Gee Whiz (Look At His Eyes)” until she left the label in 1972. No surprise then that one of her Stax albums was entitled “The Queen Alone,” a nod to the great duet album she had done with Stax ‘king’ Otis Redding (entitled, of course, “King & Queen”).
Why Stax chose to focus primarily on male artists may remain a mystery but undoubtedly, that Carla more than held her own is evident from the four albums currently still available on CD (“Gee Whiz,” “The Queen Alone,” a two-on-one set featuring “Love Means…” and “Memphis Queen,” and “Live At The Bohemian Caverns”) and the fifteen-track “Stax Profiles,” a 2006 compilation of material chosen by afore-mentioned distaff labelmate Mable John.

Listening to that particular CD, it’s interesting to watch Carla’s emergence from sweet-voiced teen star to fully-fledged soul singer, the contrast particularly evident between the doe-eyed innocence of “Gee Whiz” and the sultry, sexy “I Like What You’re Doing To Me,” recorded some eight years later. In making her choices for the “Stax Profiles” set, Mable didn’t focus on hits like “Something Good” and “B.A.B.Y.” but delved deeper into Carla’s catalog with tunes like the emotive “I’ve Got No Time To Lose,” a version of Barbara Lynn’s “You’ll Lose A Good Thing” and the sensual “Sugar.” As a representation of Carla’s sterling work for Stax, the CD works but if you get a taste for Ms. Thomas’ vocal stylings, those other four albums are definitely worthy of your attention!

David Nathan
Aka “The British Ambassador Of Soul,”
Owner, Soul Music.com
Secretary, The Rhythm & Blues Foundation

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 10th, 2008 at 9:47 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.