The Staple Singers - The Second Disc

Formats:

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

Genres:

Classic Rock, Country, Folk, Jazz, Popular Standards/Vocal, R&B/Soul, Rock

Tags:

Barbara Lewis, Ernie Hines, Ike and Tina Turner, John Pizzarelli, Klaus Nomi, Morrissey, Obituary, Peter Gabriel, Rainbow, Ritchie Blackmore, Squeeze, Static-X, Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme, Talking Heads, The Donnas, The Staple Singers, The Tony Rice Unit, Wilson Pickett

In the Mood for You: Ace’s ‘Highway of Diamonds’ Collects Black Voices Taking on Bob Dylan

January 29, 2026 by Mike Duquette | 4 Comments

Ace Records’ ongoing Black America Sings series gets a second helping of classic tunes by Bob Dylan on a new compilation available this week. Highway of Diamonds: Black America Sings Bob Dylan, available January 30 in Ace’s native U.K. (and a week later in America), offers 20 compositions from the Nobel Prize-winning songwriter recast for soul, blues and gospel acts including The Staple Singers, Nina Simone, Harry Belafonte, Billy Preston, Natalie Cole, Solomon Burke, Merry Clayton, Sarah Vaughan, Aaron Neville and more. The collection, available on CD or two LPs, includes informative song/track…

Categories:

Formats:

CD, Vinyl

Genres:

Folk, Gospel, R&B/Soul

Tags:

Aaron Neville, Bettye LaVette, Billy Preston, Bob Dylan, Cassandra Wilson, Harry Belafonte, Jimmy Scott, Merry Clayton, Natalie Cole, Nina Simone, Odetta, Sarah Vaughan, Solomon Burke, The Staple Singers

Release Round-Up: Week of May 10

May 10, 2024 by The Second Disc | No Comments

Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles available today. As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Queen, Queen Rock Montreal (Hollywood/EMI) 2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Queen Online Store 3LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Queen Online Store (Exclusive – Blue) 4K UHD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Queen Online Store Blu-ray: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Queen Online Store Queen’s electrifying 1981 Montreal concert returns in a variety of formats. Queen Rock Montreal, recently released to IMAX cinemas, arrives in 2CD;…

Categories:

Formats:

Blu-Ray, Box Sets, CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl

Genres:

Classic Rock, Gospel, Pop, R&B/Soul, Rock

Tags:

Jerry Lee Lewis, John Entwistle, Keane, Queen, The Staple Singers, Todd Rundgren

Let’s Do It Again: The Staple Singers’ “Africa ’80” Coming from Omnivore

April 8, 2024 by Joe Marchese | No Comments

Fans of The Staple Singers are in for a treat. On May 10, Omnivore Recordings will reissue Africa 80, the live album from the legendary gospel-soul group documenting their first-ever tour of the continent. Roebuck “Pops” Staples, daughters Cleotha, Mavis, and Yvonne, and son Pervis raised their voices in song to celebrate the Lord, but also to crusade for civil rights and share musical messages of power and positivity around the world. In the 1960s, the group transitioned from pure gospel and blues to soul and R&B, setting the stage for their…

Categories:

Formats:

CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming

Genres:

Gospel, R&B/Soul

Tags:

The Staple Singers

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…

Categories:

Formats:

Genres:

Holiday, R&B/Soul

Tags:

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…

Categories:

Formats:

Box Sets, CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming

Genres:

Pop, R&B/Soul

Tags:

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…

Categories:

Formats:

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

Genres:

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

Tags:

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

UPDATE: “Summer of Soul” Soundtrack, Out Now on CD and Digital, Coming to Expanded Vinyl in June

February 11, 2022 by The Second Disc | 5 Comments

Last summer, as some music lovers took tentative steps in getting back to concertgoing amid the early vaccinations against COVID-19, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson gifted audiences with an incredible display of live performance some 50 years in the past. Summer of Soul is The Roots drummer’s debut documentary, concerning a little-seen arts festival in Harlem that took place before, during and after that year’s Woodstock Music & Art Fair – with some of the greatest soul, blues and jazz performers of the late ’60s gracing the stages. On January 28, Legacy Recordings made…

Categories:

Formats:

Genres:

R&B/Soul, Soundtracks

Tags:

B.B. King, David Ruffin, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Herbie Mann, Mahalia Jackson, Mavis Staples, Nina Simone, Sly & The Family Stone, The 5th Dimension, The Edwin Hawkins Singers, The Staple Singers

Winter of ‘Summer of Soul’: Soundtrack to Acclaimed Music Doc Coming in January

December 9, 2021 by The Second Disc | 5 Comments

Categories:

Formats:

Genres:

R&B/Soul, Soundtracks

Tags:

B.B. King, David Ruffin, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Herbie Mann, Mahalia Jackson, Mavis Staples, Nina Simone, Sly & The Family Stone, The 5th Dimension, The Edwin Hawkins Singers, The Staple Singers

The Second Disc’s Picks for Record Store Day Black Friday 2021

November 26, 2021 by The Second Disc | 2 Comments

From all of us here at Second Disc HQ to all of you, we hope you’ve enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving in the company of beloved family and friends. (And with plenty of delicious food, too!) Now, Record Store Day’s annual Black Friday event is upon us, so we’re spotlighting a dozen of the most eagerly anticipated releases arriving to your local independent brick-and-mortar record shop! Here are our personal picks for RSD BF must-haves; visit Record Store Day’s official website for a list of participating retailers. Happy Listening, and have a great…

Categories:

Holiday Gift Guide, Jimmy Jones, Joshie Jo Armstead, Louise McCord, The Rance Allen Group, The Staple Singers

Formats:

CD, Cassette, Vinyl

Genres:

Classic Rock, Country, Gospel, Holiday, Pop, R&B/Soul, Rock, Soundtracks

Tags:

"Weird Al" Yankovic, Aerosmith, Carole King, Dusty Springfield, John Legend, Leonard Cohen, Little Feat, Merle Haggard, Michael Kamen, Osaka Popstar, Ray Price, Record Store Day, The Munsters, The Shangri-Las, The Staple Singers, Willie Nelson

Holiday Gift Guide Stax Spotlight: The Staple Singers’ “Come Go with Me” and “The Gospel Truth: Complete Singles Collection”

December 23, 2020 by Joe Marchese | No Comments

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…

Categories:

Reviews

Formats:

Box Sets, CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming

Genres:

Gospel, R&B/Soul

Tags:

Release Round-Up: Week of November 13

November 13, 2020 by The Second Disc | No Comments

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…

Categories:

Formats:

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

Genres:

Cast Recordings, Classic Rock, Country, Gospel, Holiday, Pop, Popular Standards/Vocal, R&B/Soul, Rock, Soundtracks

They’ll Take You There: Craft Recordings Releases Staple Singers’ “Come Go with Me: The Stax Collection” on CD

September 25, 2020 by Joe Marchese | 5 Comments

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 Staple Singers’ 1968-1974 albums for the Stax label plus a volume of rarities, non-LP single sides, and live recordings. On November 13, that box will come to CD as 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: Soul Folk in Action(1968) We’ll Get Over (1970) The Staple…

Categories:

Mavis Staples, The Staple Singers

Formats:

Box Sets, CD, Vinyl

Genres:

Gospel, Pop, R&B/Soul

Tags:

Release Round-Up: Week of June 26

June 26, 2020 by The Second Disc | 4 Comments

Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! Johnny Cash, The Complete Mercury Recordings 1986-1991 (Mercury/UMe) 7CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 7LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada The Complete Mercury Recordings 1986-1991 will be available on 7CD or 7LP, 180-gram vinyl formats. The box collects all six albums Johnny Cash recorded for Mercury Records during that era: Class Of ’55: Memphis Rock & Roll Homecoming with Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, and Carl Perkins (1986), Johnny Cash Is Coming To Town (1987), Water From The Wells Of…

Categories:

Formats:

Genres:

Blues, Cast Recordings, Classic Rock, Country, Disco/Dance, Pop, Popular Standards/Vocal, R&B/Soul, Rock, Soundtracks

Release Round-Up: Week of June 5

June 5, 2020 by The Second Disc | 2 Comments

Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! Frank Sinatra, Nice ‘n’ Easy: 60th Anniversary Edition (Capitol/UMe) CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada LP (Remixed Album Only): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Capitol Records, Frank Sinatra Enterprises, and UMe have a 60th anniversary edition of Frank Sinatra’s classic 1960 album arranged and conducted by Nelson Riddle. For the occasion, the album has been completely remixed and features three bonus tracks: the outtake “The Nearness of You,” plus the previously unreleased session takes for “Nice ‘n’ Easy” and “I’ve…

Categories:

Formats:

Genres:

Blues, Classic Rock, Country, Jazz, Pop, Popular Standards/Vocal, R&B/Soul

Tags:

Dion, Dr. John, Frank Sinatra, Keith Relf, Phil Seymour, The Choir, The Staple Singers

Let’s Do It Again: Omnivore Preps Four Remastered Staple Singers Albums For June

May 5, 2020 by Joe Marchese | 6 Comments

Today, more than 25 years after their final performance together, The Staples Singers are synonymous with gospel and soul music of the highest order. Roebuck “Pops” Staples, daughters Cleotha, Mavis, and (sometimes) Yvonne, and son Pervis raised their voices in song to celebrate the Lord, but also to crusade for civil rights and share musical messages of power and positivity around the world. In the 1960s, the group transitioned from pure gospel and blues to soul and R&B, setting the stage for their commercial breakthrough at Stax Records. Following their tenure at…

Categories:

Mavis Staples, The Staple Singers

Formats:

Genres:

Pop, R&B/Soul

Tags:

Release Round-Up: Week of February 21

February 21, 2020 by The Second Disc | No Comments

Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! Hank Williams, Pictures from Life’s Other Side – The Man and His Music in Rare Photos and Recordings (BMG) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) BMG salutes late singer-songwriter-legend Hank Williams with the release of Pictures from Life’s Other Side – The Man and His Music in Rare Photos and Recordings. This lavish 6-CD collection presents all 144 tracks recorded by Williams for his 1951 radio show sponsored by Mother’s Best Flour Company. The Mother’s Best radio shows have been chronicled on various sets…

Categories:

Formats:

Blu-Ray, Box Sets, CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl

Genres:

Classic Rock, Country, Everything Else, Jazz, Pop, R&B/Soul, Rock, Soundtracks

Tags:

Bob Crewe, Erasure, Eric Burdon, Fred Rogers, Hank Williams, Harry Nilsson, Miles Davis, Mitch Ryder and The Detroit Wheels, Nancy Priddy, Neneh Cherry, Ozzy Osbourne, Peter Green, Ringo Starr, The Animals, The Staple Singers

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…

Categories:

Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl

Formats:

Genres:

Blues, Funk, Gospel, R&B/Soul

Tags:

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

Wild, Wild Life: Complete ‘True Stories’ Soundtrack Due With Talking Heads and More

November 20, 2018 by Sam Stone | 1 Comment

It’s been 32 years since David Byrne’s directorial debut True Stories first arrived in theaters, and this November the film will be revisited to the tune of brand-new audio and visual restorations. Master film restorers The Criterion Collection are slated to release True Stories on Blu-ray and DVD on November 27. On the music front, Todomundo Records and Nonesuch have announced an expanded soundtrack album, True Stories, A Film By David Byrne: The Complete Soundtrack, due on CD, 2-LP, and digital November 23. True Stories was loosely based on headlines culled from local tabloids. The film starred Byrne,…

Categories:

Formats:

Blu-Ray, CD, DVD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl

Genres:

Cast Recordings, Classic Rock, Pop, Rock, Soundtracks

Tags:

David Byrne, Steve Jordan, Talking Heads, Terry Allen, The Kronos Quartet, 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…

Categories:

Reviews

Formats:

Genres:

R&B/Soul

Tags:

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

Good News: Cherry Red, SoulMusic Collect Staple Singers’ Epic Years on “For What It’s Worth”

October 25, 2018 by Joe Marchese | 1 Comment

Stop, children, what’s that sound? For nearly half a century, the sound of The Staple Singers was one of tremendous power. Roebuck “Pops” Staples, daughters Cleotha, Mavis, and (sometimes) Yvonne, and son Pervis raised their voices in song to celebrate the Lord, but also to fight for civil rights and espouse messages of positivity and resilience to listeners worldwide. At Epic Records, the group transitioned from pure gospel and blues to soul and R&B – a move that would take them to the heights of commercial success at Stax Records. Cherry Red’s…

Categories:

Formats:

Genres:

Folk, Gospel, R&B/Soul

Tags:

The Staple Singers

A Long Walk: New Box Set Collects Stax’s 1968 Singles, Chronicling Tumultuous Year For The Label

September 5, 2018 by Randy Fairman | 4 Comments

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 Singers, William Bell, Booker T. & The M.G.’s and…

Categories:

Formats:

Genres:

R&B/Soul

Tags:

Delaney and Bonnie, Eddie Floyd, Isaac Hayes, Johnnie Taylor, Otis Redding, The Staple Singers, 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…

Categories:

Formats:

Genres:

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

Tags:

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

Release Round-Up: Week of May 19

May 19, 2017 by Joe Marchese | No Comments

Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! Jethro Tull, Songs from the Wood: 40th Anniversary Edition – The Country Set (Chrysalis/Parlophone) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon Canada / Amazon U.K.) Jethro Tull’s 1977 album returns in a new 3CD/2DVD book-style edition, packed with bonus material. Steven Wilson produced new stereo and 5.1 surround sound mixes heard in this set on CD and DVD, featuring not only the album but bonus tracks too. As per the norm for this series, there’s a flat transfer of the original stereo album master on DVD, as well as…

Categories: