Ace Records has recently celebrated the enduring legacy of Stax Records with a trio of exciting releases from some of the label's leading lights.  The Isaac Hayes Movement's 1975 Disco Connection makes its first ever CD appearance, joined by Hayes' songwriting partner David Porter's equally rare 1970 ...Into a Real Thing in a newly-expanded edition.  Ace tops it all off with Ian Levine's Solid Stax Sensations, a revelatory collection showcasing the varied sides of the Stax label family.

It's likely that songwriters Bert Berns and Wes Farrell never imagined "Hang On, Sloopy" as a torrid, nearly 12-minute long soul opus, yet that's exactly how David Porter reinvented the pop hit as the opening track of ...Into a Real Thing, his follow-up to Gritty, Groovy and Gettin' It (also available on CD from Ace).  It kicked off a six-song program consisting of four Porter originals with his new writing partner Ronnie Williams and one more cover, the Chuck Jackson hit "I Don't Wanna Cry" written by Jackson and Luther Dixon.

...Into a Real Thing was cut not in Stax's homebase of Memphis but in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, with Muscle Shoals Sound's famed rhythm section of David Hood (bass), Roger Hawkins (drums), Barry Beckett (keyboards) and Jimmy Johnson (guitar).  Though Porter had recorded as a singer sporadically in the 1960s, his priorities had remained as one-half of Stax's most famous songwriting team.  But when Isaac Hayes went from musician and songwriter to bona fide soul superstar after the release of 1969's Hot Buttered Soul, Porter was left on his own.  He and Hayes dissolved their partnership with no enmity; Hayes even produced and arranged Gritty, and contributed one production and arrangement to Real Thing with "I Don't Wanna Cry," likely an outtake from the Gritty sessions.

Hayes' background trio of Hot, Buttered and Soul appear on the soulful ballad remake of "I Don't Wanna Cry," and the prominent female backing vocals elsewhere on the album were supplied by Precious People: Joyce Vincent, Pam Vincent and Telma Hopkins.  Not long after, Joyce and Telma would join Tony Orlando as Dawn!  Precious People added the right touch of sweetness to the smoking grooves supplied by Porter and the Muscle Shoals cats; Porter, Ronnie Williams and Dale Warren also added deft orchestration to the LP.

Ace has added three bonus tracks to the album which went Top 10 on the Billboard R&B chart (and barely missed the Pop top 100 at No. 104).  "Come Get from Me" and "Somebody's Trying to Ride Piggy Back" have appeared previously on various Stax compilations, but "Gotta Get Over the Hump" makes its first appearance here anywhere.  Tony Rounce provides the liner notes in the eight-page full-color booklet, while Nick Robbins has remastered.

By the time of the 1975 release of Isaac Hayes Movement's Disco Connection, the soul sensation had seen Stax Records wither and die; with the company deeply in debt to Hayes and others, he decamped for ABC Records and set up his own Hot Buttered Soul imprint.  Chocolate Chip had returned Hayes to the No. 1 R&B slot for the first time since 1971's Black Moses.  Disco Connection followed it up in a similar dance-heavy fashion and remains the only album in Hayes' catalogue to exclusively spotlight his longtime band The Movement.

The eight lengthy instrumental songs on Disco Connection were all produced and written by Hayes, with arrangements supplied by Hayes and Movement keyboardist Lester Snell.  (Motown veteran and frequent Hayes collaborator Johnny Allen also contributed to the arrangement of the soundtrack-esque epic "Aruba.")  Additional brass and horns were enlisted to join the 17-strong Movement to create the album's full, lush sound. Though oriented towards uptempo, orchestral dancers such as the rhythmic title track and the greasy funk workout "Choppers," Disco Connection also found room for the evocative ballad "Vykkii" with its gentle, moody horns and smoky ambiance and the slinky, atmospheric "After Five."  Ace's reissue of the original album - deleted from the catalogue since 1977 - features liner notes by Tony Rounce in its 8-page booklet and new remastering by Duncan Cowell.

The 25 tracks on Ian Levine's Solid Stax Sensations, on Ace's Kent imprint, have been compiled by producer/DJ Levine from the post-Atlantic Stax/Volt archives including offshoots like HIP, Enterprise, Truth and Gospel Truth.  Levine explains in his entertaining and personal liner notes that he compiled the first Solid Soul Sensations volume on LP in 1974 from the Scepter/Wand catalogue; Volume 2 had been mooted (originally planned to draw on Roulette Records' discography)  in 1975 but never materialized.  Lo and behold, forty years later, Ace/Kent has released another volume of Solid Soul Sensations.

This collection of group and solo vocals might surprise those looking solely for smoking Memphis soul.  These sides, dating between 1968 and 1974, go far beyond the boundaries of the southern soul sound; in fact, many hail from locales including Philadelphia, Detroit, Baltimore, Texas, New Orleans, Muscle Shoals, and Chicago.  There are a number of familiar artists peppered throughout (Barbara Lewis, Margie Joseph, The Dramatics, William Bell, Major Lance, David Porter) but even more you'll wish you knew better.

A member of Derek and the Dominos wouldn't be expected to deliver a prime Northern Soul stomper, but Bobby Whitlock did with "And I Love You," the 1968 track produced by Don Nix and Donald "Duck" Dunn that opens this set with a jolt of adrenaline.  The Rance Allen Group operated at the intersection of soul and gospel; three of their tracks are featured here including "Ain't No Need of Crying," a smooth groover with Allen's passionate falsetto melded to background vocals occasionally redolent of Allen Toussaint's sound.

Levine, naturally, couldn't forget the Motor City.  Unmistakably the sound of Detroit, Joni Wilson's smoldering "(Let Hurt Put You In the) Loser's Seat" was produced and co-written by George Clinton with The Parliaments backing Wilson up.  It first appeared on the Revilot label before being picked up by Volt.  "You're My Only Temptation," from stage, screen and television actress-singer Roz Ryan, is more pure Detroit gold.  Barbara Lewis' infectious "The Stars" and Reggie Milner's humorous, completely funky "Habit Forming Love" hailed from the team of producer Ollie McLaughlin and arranger Mike Terry.  The Dramatics' hard-driving psychedelic soul-tinged "Your Love Was Strange" was arranged by jazz and Motown vet Wade Marcus.

Solid Stax Sensations also features brassy pop-soul via "If You Look Into My Eyes" from Proud as Punch, and early Philly Soul thanks to The Stingers' uptempo "I Refuse to Be Lonely" co-written and arranged by Lenny Pakula.  One of the many shoulda-been-hits here, The Newcomers' "The Whole World's a Picture Show" percolates with Philly-style guitar and brass.  More sweet soul comes from the socially-conscious "The Man in the Street" recorded by William Bell, a key artist at Stax since its first year under that name, 1961.  Sylvia and the Blue Jays' previously unreleased "Put Me in the Mood" will do just that, between Sylvia's expressive wail and a "Grazing in the Grass"-style piano.  "Why oh why would they not have released such a monster while churning out endless, really boring Albert King records?," queries Ian Levine in his track-by-track liner notes.

The buoyant "Special Kind of Woman" from vocalist Paul Thompson is a punchy Muscle Shoals production, and Major Lance cooks up the Chicago sound with his grand "Since I Lost My Baby's Love."  Margie Joseph's Willie Tee-written "One More Chance," a New Orleans production, shows why Joseph remains a favorite of soul connoisseurs across various labels and styles.

This solid-gold trip down Stax Records' infrequently-visited avenues has been compiled and annotated by Levine has been remastered by Duncan Cowell and the 16-page color booklet and package have been designed by John Sellards.  Like the David Porter and Isaac Hayes titles, it's available now at the links below!

David Porter, ...Into a Real Thing (...and More) (Enterprise LP ENS 1012, 1970 - reissued Ace/Stax CDSXD 146, 2015) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

1. Hang On Sloopy
2. Ooo-Wee Girl
3. Too Real to Live a Lie
4. Grocery Man
5. I Don't Wanna Cry
6. Thirty Days
7. Come Get from Me (Parts 1 & 2) (first issued on Ace/Stax CDSXD 116, 1998)
8. Gotta Get Over the Hump (previously unreleased)
9. Somebody's Trying to Ride Piggy Back (first issued on Kent CDKEND 174, 1999)

The Isaac Hayes Movement, Disco Connection (Hot Buttered Soul LP ABCD 923, 1970) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

1. The First Day of Forever
2. Thomas Square
3. Vykkii
4. Disco Connection
5. Disco Shuffle
6. Choppers
7. After Five
8. Aruba

Various Artists, Ian Levine's Solid Stax Sensations (Kent CDKEND 435, 2015) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

1. And I Love You - Bobby Whitlock (HIP 8001, 1968)
2. Ain't No Need of Crying - The Rance Allen Group (Truth 2130, 1974) (*)
3. Can You Win - Charlene and the Soul Serenaders (Volt 4052, 1970)
4. (Let Hurt Put You In The) Loser's Seat - Joni Wilson (Volt 4070, 1971)
5. You're My Only Temptation - Roz Ryan (Volt 4040, 1970)
6. City of Fools - Colette Kelly (Volt 4018, 1969)
7. Hang On - Annette Thomas (Stax 0118, 1972)
8. If You Look Into My Eyes - Proud as Punch (Stax 0081, 1970)
9. I Refuse to Be Lonely - The Stingers (Stax 0035, 1969) (*)
10. The Man in the Street - William Bell (Stax 0157, 1970) (*)
11. I Still Love You - The T.S.U. Toronadoes (Volt 4030, 1969)
12. Habit Forming Love - Reggie Milner (Volt 4028, 1969)
13. Put Me in the Mood - Sylvia and the Blue Jays (previously unreleased)
14. Where Would You Be Today - Ilana (Volt 4064, 1971) (*)
15. Special Kind of Woman - Paul Thompson (Volt 4042, 1970)
16. One More Chance - Margie Joseph (Volt 4012, 1969)
17. Your Love Was Strange - The Dramatics (Volt 4082, 1972) (*)
18. Cool My Desire - The Cheques (HIP 8014, 1969)
19. The Stars - Barbara Lewis (Enterprise LP 1006, 1970)
20. The Whole World's a Picture Show - The Newcomers (Truth 3213, 1974) (*)
21. I Know a Man Who - The Rance Allen Group (Gospel Truth 1212, 1973) (*)
22. The Whole Damn World is Going Crazy - John Gary Williams (Stax 0205, 1974) (*)
23. Since I Lost My Baby's Love - Major Lance (Volt 4069, 1972) (*)
24. If I Give It Up, I Want It Back - David Porter (Enterprise 9037, 1971) (*)
25. Gonna Make It Alright - The Rance Allen Group (Gospel Truth 1208, 1973)

All tracks mono except (*) in stereo.