It's a sad fact that so much of America's musical infrastructure - the men and women whose session work powered thousands of pop chart hits and significant recordings - exists in near-obscurity. Consider The Funk Brothers, that collective of R&B musicians in Detroit who powered nearly every Motown session in the label's golden age. Fans and collectors still sift through the vagaries of paperwork and memory to determine who lent their instruments to which song; the unofficial group's members
Vinyl Me Please is at it again! Following their celebrations of Blue Note, Motown, and Ghostly International, the subscription service is set to release a new volume of their acclaimed VMP Anthology Series. This time, they're shining a light on the history of Stax Records. As with previous volumes, The Story of Stax Records will be told in four chapters. The eight albums included in the box will be wrapped in "secrecy sleeves" that can be unveiled at specific points in the journey. Though
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
Between 1973 and 1977, the London-based Contempo Records label released roughly 150 singles (not to mention numerous albums) celebrating soul in its various strains. Contempo made its mark with both reissues of classic soul material and all-new recordings, and now its legacy has been celebrated in a new 3-CD box set from Cherry Red's Soul Time imprint. The Contempo Story 1973-1977 collects 83 tracks featuring such boldface names as Major Lance, Fontella Bass, Bettye Swann, Doris Duke, Sam and