‘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…
Just My Salvation: Vinyl Me, Please Collects Best of Stax’s Gospel Truth in New Box Set
When Memphis’ Stax Records launched its Gospel Truth imprint in 1972, its mission was simple: to “carry the message of today’s gospel to the people on the street.” The label’s Al Bell worked closely with in-house radio guru/producer/songwriter Dave Clark and staffer Mary Peak Paterson to afford Gospel Truth the same level of promotion as Stax’s secular releases, and accessibility was the byword. Bell paired traditional gospel talents with young artists well-versed in rock, funk, blues, and soul. Stax creative director Larry Shaw made sure that the imprint’s releases bore the same…
Holiday Gift Guide Stax Spotlight: The Staple Singers’ “Come Go with Me” and “The Gospel Truth: Complete Singles Collection”
UPDATED DECEMBER 2020: Earlier this year, Craft Recordings released The Staple Singers’ Come Go with Me: The Stax Collection in vinyl and digital editions. The set compiled all of the famed gospel group’s 1968-1974 albums for the Stax label plus a volume of rarities, non-LP single sides, and live recordings. Now, that box has come to CD as beautifully remastered from the original analog tapes by Jeff Powell at Take Out Vinyl. Come Go with Me: The Stax Collection features the following original studio albums which broadened the Staples’ sound from gospel…
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Release Round-Up: Week of November 13
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! Elton John, Jewel Box (EMI/UMe) 8CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Deep Cuts 4LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Rarities & B-Sides 3LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada And This Is Me… 2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Elton John is reaching deep into the vault with Jewel Box, a new, super-sized collection of rare and unreleased material. The British pop legend’s deep dive into his expansive, five-decade-plus archive features 148 tracks on 8 CDs, approximately 63 of which are previously unreleased, plus three dozen B-sides being compiled together for the first time. The discs are thematically organized as Deep…
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Ride Out the Storm: Craft Recordings Collects “Complete Singles” From Stax’s Eclectic Gospel Truth Imprint
Earlier this year, Craft Recordings kicked off its celebration of Stax Records’ Gospel Truth imprint with a weekly digital album campaign. That series wrapped up on August 28, opening the door for the November 13 release on CD and LP of The Gospel Truth: The Complete Singles Collection. Stax chief Al Bell launched Gospel Truth in 1972, working in close coordination with radio promotions guru/producer/songwriter Dave Clark and Stax staffer Mary Peak Paterson. Early press materials for the imprint indicated that it sought to “carry the message of today’s gospel to the…
Message in the Music: Craft Recordings Celebrates Legacy of Stax’s Gospel Truth Records
Craft Recordings is celebrating the Gospel Truth with a new reissue campaign dedicated to that Stax Records imprint. Every week, the label drops a digital reissue of a Gospel Truth title culminating in the vinyl, CD, and digital release in September – Gospel Heritage Month – of a newly-curated singles collection. Various digital playlists and lyric videos will also be unveiled throughout the course of the series. Stax chief Al Bell launched Gospel Truth in 1972, working in close coordination with radio promotions guru/producer/songwriter Dave Clark and Stax staffer Mary Peak Paterson….
