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
There have been several reissues this year celebrating the 50th anniversary of individual projects released in 1968. But Craft Recordings has announced a box set which celebrates an entire year's worth of material with Stax '68: A Memphis Story, due on October 19. This 5-CD set contains the A- and B-sides of every single released under the Stax Records banner in 1968, including the company's sub-labels, for a total of 120 tracks. Some tracks are by soul legends like Isaac Hayes, The Staple
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
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
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
With a trio of recent releases from Labelle, Cheryl Lynn and Johnnie Taylor, Cherry Red’s SoulMusic Records imprint turns its attention once again to bona fide R&B royalty. When Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles transformed into Labelle, the change was more than merely cosmetic. The quartet was reduced to a threesome when Cindy Birdsong headed to Hitsville USA to replace Florence Ballard in The Supremes. Moreover, under the direction of British manager, producer and songwriter Vicki