Various Artists – Stax Gold Memphis Hits
(UK Warner Platinum / Rhino, 2006)
1) Sam & Dave - Hold on I'm comin' 2)Carla Thomas - B-A-B-Y 3) Otis Redding
- I can't turn you loose 4) Mar-Keys - Philly dog 5) Rufus Thomas -
Walking the dog 6) Booker T & The MG's - Green onions 7) Otis Redding
- (I can't get no) Satisfaction 8) Eddie Floyd - Knock on wood 9) Sam & Dave
- Soul man 10) Bar-Kays - Soul finger 11) Otis Redding & Carla Thomas -
Tramp 12) Booket T & The MG's - Boot-leg 13) Otis Redding - My lover's
prayer 14) Sam & Dave - When something is wrong with my baby 15) Carla Thomas
- Comfort me 16) Mad Lads - I want someone 17) Otis Redding - Try a
little tenderness 18) Johnnie Taylor - I've got to love somebody's baby
19) William Bell - Everybody loves a winner 20) The Astors - Candy
21) Booker T & The MG's - Hip hug-her 22) Derek Martin - Soul power
23) Mad Lads - Don't have to shop around 24) Mable John -
Your Good Thing 25) William Bell - Tribute to a king
Just like Motown and Philadelphia International, Stax will always be popular,
and rightly so. This compilation will certainly keep the flame burning for the
label and comes courtesy of Warner Special Markets’ Rick Conrad who has been
responsible for the quality re-releases here in the UK of some of Warner’s
vast archive material. No signs of the Leroy Hutson, Blue Magic, Ronn Matlock,
Gwen McCrae etc, though so if you are reading this, mate, then get your
finger out!!! LOL. What Rick has served up here is 25 strong tracks that
feature some well-known hits and some real obscurities – and it is these are
what I am more interested with.
We all know and love Sam and Dave, Carla Thomas, The Bar Kays and
Otis Redding, and most cuts from these artists are designed to lure
in those who may not know what all the fuss is about. That’s good. However,
that said, Carla Thomas’ "Comfort Me" from 1961 makes an appearance for
the fist time on CD (that I’m aware of anyway) thanks to its inclusion on a
UK TV commercial (I rarely watch TV so its lost on me, I fear.) Nevertheless
it is a really nice ballad with some subdued sax and twangy Southern licks.
It’s a shame that tracks like this can only come to popular attention through a TV ad.
Shame, really.
Anyway, "Soul Power" by Derek Martin is a great track worth the price of the
CD alone, and was part penned by the late great Teddy Randazzo – he of "
You Don’t Need A Heart" fame as well as his work with Little Anthony & The
Imperials. This short but sweet belter has Stax stamped all over it and
is one of its finer exponents of the genre. I have to admit that the Stax
sound is not my favourite, but tracks like this really get the juices flowing
for me. Mable John was one of Motown’s early blues artists and was
soon snapped up – like many Motown artists – by Stax hoping to repeat the
magic. More often than not they failed to reach the same level of success,
but here with "Your Good Thing" it is clear that Mable was very much at
home at down south and this song is as good as anything she produced for
Berry Gordy.
William Bell’s timeless tribute to the late, great Otis Redding still
sounds good and is still a heartfelt and emotional record and is used very
wisely to close this CD. Otis pops up five times on here, my personal choice
being the funky, funky "Tramp" with Carla Thomas. All these years on and the
groove is still infectious. I also welcome instrumentals such as
Booker T & The MGs "Green Onions" and The Mar-Keys "Philly Dog"
which is equally as infectious as their earlier hit "Last Night!".
There was enough room at Stax for some real tongue in cheek material and who
better to deploy such material than Rufus Thomas. His "walkin’ The Dog"
is still a cracker, even if the dance is a long time faded from the dancefloor!
This fun, sparky tradition can be heard in the Astors’ superb "Candy" which
is a nice inclusion. Tracks like this show some intelligence in the compilation
process.
Hopefully there will be a volume 2 to follow this up in the near future – and if
there is I’ll be singin’ its praises.
- Barry Towler
