Carla Thomas - The Second Disc

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CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl

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Booker T. & The MG's, Carla Thomas, David Porter, Rufus Thomas, William Bell, Wilson Pickett

The Second Disc’s Guide to Record Store Day 2025: Our Favorite Picks

April 11, 2025 by The Second Disc | 1 Comment

Tomorrow, Record Store Day is once again upon us! It’s that time of year where music lovers and vinyl flippers get together at their favorite physical music retailers and wait in line to snag some treasured albums – almost all of which are pressed on vinyl instead of CD (or, you know, sold on secondary marketplaces for above their retail value). This year, the list tops out at over 300 titles, so there’s very nearly something for everybody. It wasn’t easy to narrow our choices down to around 20 titles, but here…

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CD, Vinyl

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Classic Rock, Folk, Jazz, Pop, R&B/Soul, Rock, Soundtracks

Craft Recordings Unveils RSD Slate with Vince Guaraldi, Celia Cruz, Thelonious Monk, Collective Soul, More

February 6, 2025 by The Second Disc | 3 Comments

Mark your calendars for Saturday, April 12 – that’s the date this year for Record Store Day, the date upon which fans, collectors, and everyone in between flocks to local independent record stores and hopefully gives those brick-and-mortar stores a leg up for the year! The full list has been posted, and here at TSD, we’ll start today by spotlighting various releases from some of our favorite labels! Craft Recordings is among those labels, and they’ve just announced a batch encompassing jazz, rock, soul, and salsa. Below, you’ll find the RSD 2025…

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Vinyl

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Jazz, Latin, R&B/Soul, Rock, Soundtracks

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A Day to Remember, Carla Thomas, Celia Cruz, Collective Soul, Gerry Mulligan, Record Store Day, Thelonious Monk, Vince Guaraldi, Willie Colon

Release Round-Up: Week of September 29

September 29, 2023 by The Second Disc | 2 Comments

Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles available today! The Spinners, Ain’t No Price on Happiness: The Thom Bell Studio Recordings (1972-1979) (SoulMusic/Cherry Red) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Earlier this year, Second Disc Records and Real Gone Music celebrated the extraordinary legacy of The Spinners with the release of The Complete Atlantic Singles: The Thom Bell Productions 1972-1979, collecting a whopping 43 single sides on two CDs. Now, SoulMusic Records and Cherry Red are continuing the Spinners party with a comprehensive box set chronicling that halcyon period with…

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Box Sets, CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, SACD, Vinyl

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Classic Rock, Country, Disco/Dance, Electronic, Holiday, Latin, Pop, Popular Standards/Vocal, R&B/Soul, Rock

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Ann Wilson, Billie Holiday, Carla Thomas, Electronic, Grateful Dead, Green Day, HAIM, Jason Isbell, Otis Redding, Sarah Vaughan, Steely Dan, The Spinners, Wilco

I’m Dreaming of a “Stax Christmas”: New Collection Brings Together Holiday Favorites from Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, Staple Singers, More

September 25, 2023 by The Second Disc | 2 Comments

‘Tis the season to be soulful: This Friday, September 29, Craft Recordings and Stax Records will celebrate the holidays with the CD, LP, and digital release of A Stax Christmas. This festive 12-track compilation features songs by the label’s most beloved artists including two previously unreleased tracks from Carla Thomas and Otis Redding. The venerable Memphis label has had a long association with the music of Christmas. House band Booker T. and The MG’s 1966 album In the Christmas Spirit is a holiday perennial, and the group appeared alongside other Stax and…

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CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl

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Holiday, R&B/Soul

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Albert King, Carla Thomas, Isaac Hayes, Otis Redding, Rufus Thomas, The Emotions, The Rance Allen Group, The Staple Singers, Various Artists

Craft Recordings Plans Staggering Box of Stax Demos

April 27, 2023 by Mike Duquette | No Comments

How do you follow up an essential document like this year’s comprehensive Wattstax box set? If you’re Craft Recordings, you plan a trip deep into the unheard history of the legendary Memphis label, through dozens of demos released for the first time anywhere. Written in Their Soul: The Stax Songwriter Demos is an impressive 7CD anthology including 146 demo versions of enduring Stax hits and fan favorites, songs written by label songwriters that ended up elsewhere as well as a number of songs unveiled here for the first time. Only six of…

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Box Sets, CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming

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Pop, R&B/Soul

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Carla Thomas, Eddie Floyd, Rufus Thomas, Steve Cropper, The Newcomers, The Staple Singers, William Bell

The Living Word: New Box Sets Chronicle Wattstax in Full, 50 Years On

December 12, 2022 by Mike Duquette | 2 Comments

One of the greatest music festivals of the ’70s is getting celebrated with an exhaustive array of reissues in 2023: Wattstax, the multi-dimensional Los Angeles celebration of soul, funk, blues and gospel courtesy of Stax Records. A half-century after the premiere of a Golden Globe-nominated documentary on the star-studded 1972 event, Craft Recordings, custodian of the Stax catalogue, will release the most definitive looks at Wattstax, most recently addressed in a 3CD box set in 2003 that took the highlights of both double albums from 1973 and added even more material. Soul’d…

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Features, The Weekend Stream

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Box Sets, CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl

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Blues, Comedy, Funk, Gospel, Pop, R&B/Soul, Soundtracks

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Albert King, Carla Thomas, David Porter, Eddie Floyd, Isaac Hayes, Johnnie Taylor, Kim Weston, Mavis Staples, Richard Pryor, Rufus Thomas, The Bar-Kays, The Emotions, The Staple Singers, William Bell

The Weekend Stream: September 11, 2021

September 11, 2021 by The Second Disc | 3 Comments

While The Second Disc prides itself on connecting people to reissues and box sets they can keep on their shelves, it’s no secret that listening audiences are also digital – catalogue music lovers, too – and our passion is connecting people to music from the past that they might adore. So we’ve introduced a new feature: The Weekend Stream, which focuses on hidden gems that recently made it to digital channels that might make your playlists a little brighter! Aaliyah, Aaliyah (Blackground/EMPIRE) (iTunes / Amazon / Spotify) The Blackground Records digital rollout…

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Digital Download, Digital Streaming

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Classic Rock, Country, Disco/Dance, Electronic, R&B/Soul, Rock

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Aaliyah, Blackstreet, Carla Thomas, Elvis Costello, Elvis Costello and The Attractions, Four Tops, Kenny Rogers, Lionel Richie, Loretta Lynn, Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding, Restless Heart, The Everly Brothers, The Isley Brothers, The Supremes, The Temptations

Cherry Red, SoulMusic Round-Up, Part Two: Barbara Lewis and Carla Thomas’ Complete Atlantic Recordings Collected

October 29, 2020 by Joe Marchese | 3 Comments

In recent weeks, Cherry Red’s SoulMusic Records imprint has launched a series of mini-box sets drawn from the Atlantic vaults including titles available now from Solomon Burke, Esther Phillips, Barbara Lewis, and Carla Thomas. Yesterday we explored the releases from Burke and Phillips, and today’s spotlight is on Lewis and Thomas! If she had only recorded “Hello, Stranger” and “Baby I’m Yours,” Barbara Lewis‘ place in the pop pantheon would have been assured. But there’s much more to her short discography than just those two big hits. Cherry Red and SoulMusic’s Don’t…

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Pop, R&B/Soul

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Barbara Lewis, Carla Thomas, Otis Redding, Rufus Thomas

I’ve Got A Sure Thing: Craft Presents “Soul Explosion” Vinyl Reissue, Plus A Month of Stax Digital Rarities

May 9, 2019 by Sam Stone | 2 Comments

Craft Recordings has announced the next phase of its campaign to honor one of the great labels of soul – Stax Records. Entitled “Soul Explosion,” the campaign began with their Record Store Day releases of Boy Meets Girl: Classic Stax Duets, Stax Does The Beatles and the first-ever mono reissue of Albert King’s Born Under A Bad Sign. The next phase begins on May 31 and will see new vinyl and digital reissues of classics from 1969, which proved to be a watershed year for the label, and beyond. Fifty years ago, the…

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Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl

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Blues, Funk, Gospel, R&B/Soul

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Albert King, Booker T. and the MG's, Carla Thomas, Johnnie Taylor, The Staple Singers

Review: “Stax ’68: A Memphis Story”

October 29, 2018 by Joe Marchese | 2 Comments

Otis Redding’s “Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay,” the first Stax single of 1968, should have been a new beginning for the artist and label. Instead, the posthumous release ushered in a tumultuous year for the Memphis institution. The death of Redding and members of The Bar-Kays on December 10, 1967 was a tremendous loss for Stax and popular culture, but no one could have predicted the upheaval that would affect Stax and the city of Memphis in the following twelve months. That time has just been chronicled in a new…

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Reviews

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Albert King, Carla Thomas, Eddie Floyd, Isaac Hayes, Otis Redding, Rufus Thomas, Sam and Dave, The Staple Singers, Various Artists, William Bell

Review: “Stax Singles Vol. 4: Rarities and the Best of the Rest”

March 6, 2018 by Joe Marchese | 1 Comment

Stax Records is rightfully renowned for its catalogue of deep southern soul straight from the heart of Memphis. But, like its famous Detroit competitor Motown, the label founded by Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton released music in a variety of sounds and styles. The Complete Stax-Volt Singles 1959-1968 (released in 1991 and reissued by Rhino in 2016 was the first major archival box to begin to address the Stax legacy in record-by-record fashion. It was followed by The Complete Stax-Volt Soul Singles, Vol. 2: 1968-1971 (1993, reissued 2014) and The Complete Stax-Volt…

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Country, Gospel, Pop, R&B/Soul

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Barbara Lewis, Big Star, Billy Eckstine, Carla Thomas, Delaney and Bonnie, Isaac Hayes, O.B. McClinton, Rufus Thomas, Various Artists

Ace Spotlight, Part Two: The Detroit Emeralds’ “Westbound Singles” and Northern Soul Rarities

February 26, 2018 by Joe Marchese | No Comments

Welcome to Part Two of our Ace Records Round-Up! If you missed Part One’s spotlight on releases from Clarence Carter and James Carr, just click here! Abe Tilmon, Iry Tilmon, and James Mitchell, a.k.a. The Emeralds, hailed from Little Rock, Arkansas, but once the vocal trio moved to the Motor City in 1967, they rechristened themselves The Detroit Emeralds and signed to Ed Wingate’s waning Ric-Tic label. It proved an auspicious start when their debut single, “Show Time,” made No. 22 on the national Billboard R&B chart, but Ric-Tic’s diminishing fortunes saw…

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Holiday Gift Guide, Reviews

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Betty Everett, Carla Thomas, Johnnie Taylor, Maxine Brown, The Detroit Emeralds, Various Artists

Holiday Gift Guide Review: “The Stax Vinyl 7s Box”

December 21, 2017 by Joe Marchese | No Comments

When it comes to Stax Records’ 60th anniversary celebration, why should CDs have all the fun? The vinyl release of The Stax Vinyl 7s Box from Concord and UMC (STX 00252) brings fourteen rare tracks from across the Stax family of labels to seven 45 RPM singles, all emblazoned with the familiar yellow, finger-snapping logo. Compiler Richard Searling’s raison d’etre is a simple one, as he sets forth in the liner notes: “I’ve selected the content based on my experience of featuring these songs in clubs, on the radio, or just being…

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Box Sets, Vinyl

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Barbara Lewis, Carla Thomas, Margie Joseph, Roz Ryan, Various Artists, William Bell

I’m So Glad You’re Back: Stax Plans Fourth Volume of Singles Box Set Series

December 14, 2017 by Mike Duquette | 2 Comments

Craft Recordings has been doing great things with the Stax Records catalogue in honor of its 60th anniversary (check out our most recent review of the new Isaac Hayes box set for proof!) – and now, they’re continuing a beloved box set series with a new collection of the label’s singles. Continuing the trend established by The Complete Stax-Volt Singles 1959-1968 (released in 1991 and reissued by Rhino in 2016), The Complete Stax-Volt Soul Singles, Vol. 2: 1968-1971 (1993, reissued 2014) and The Complete Stax-Volt Soul Singles, Vol. 3: 1972-1975 (1994, reissued…

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Classic Rock, Everything Else, Funk, Gospel, Pop, R&B/Soul, Rock

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Big Star, Booker T. and the MG's, Carla Thomas, Delaney and Bonnie, Isaac Hayes, Sam & Dave, The Staple Singers

Soul Man: Isaac Hayes Box Set Coming Next Month

August 24, 2017 by Mike Duquette | 6 Comments

Having just announced a John Lee Hooker box set, Craft Recordings shows no sign of slowdown, yesterday announcing The Sprit Of Memphis (1962-1976) a 4CD box set devoted to the legendary Isaac Hayes. It’s impossible to think about the Stax Records sound–or soul music in the ’60s and ’70s, really–without considering Isaac Hayes. He helped shape the soul-pop sound of Memphis as a writer and producer, involved with smash hits and immortal cuts like “Hold On! I’m A Comin’,” “B-A-B-Y” (a recent focus song in the summer sleeper hit Baby Driver), “When Something…

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Booker T. and the MG's, Carla Thomas, Isaac Hayes, Johnnie Taylor, Sam & Dave

A 60th Anniversary Celebration “Stax” Up in 2017

April 28, 2017 by Mike Duquette | 3 Comments

From deep within the heart of Memphis to your stereo, the rich legacy of Stax Records will be honored this year as two label partners join forces to commemorate the label’s 60th anniversary. Rolling Stone reported yesterday a massive campaign to celebrate Stax artists and albums across physical and digital formats. Notably, this initiative will be carried out by both owners of the Stax catalogue: Rhino/Warner Music Group, which controls much of the label’s Atlantic-distributed output from 1957 to 1968, and Concord Bicycle Music, handler of the Stax masters released from 1968…

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Box Sets, CD, Vinyl

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Albert King, Booker T. and the MG's, Carla Thomas, Isaac Hayes, Johnnie Taylor, Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, The Dramatics, The Staple Singers, William Bell

From Memphis To New Orleans: Ace Collects Stax, DeLuxe Rarities

February 25, 2016 by Joe Marchese | No Comments

Bring on the B-sides! Despite its title, the massive, indispensable box set The Complete Stax/Volt Singles 1964-1968 concentrated on A-sides, presenting only a fraction of the labels’ valuable flips. The box left many worthy B-sides overlooked in the CD era, but Ace Records’ Kent imprint has redressed that situation with the release of The Other Side of the Trax: Stax-Volt 45 RPM Rarities 1964-1968. All but one of the 24 tracks on this new compilation are all making their official CD debuts – which is even more unbelievable considering the caliber of…

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News, Reviews

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