Tagged: stax

Download: Afu - Ra - Big Boyz (7 Remix) ft. Vinnie Paz, C-Rayz Walz, Guilty Simpson, Nine, El Da Sensei & Hannibal Stax Afu-Ra is back with a new track from his upcoming Voice of a Brooklyn Star , "Big Boyz" featuring Vinnie Paz, C-Rayz Walz, Guitly Simpson, Nine, El Da Sensei, Hannibal Stax and produced by Mike Rone. Album drops in February 2012. via DJ Premier

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Stax exits the stage on a high note Soul singer Shirley Brown owns the somewhat dubious distinction of having the last major hit single for Stax. The title track from her 1975 debut album, issued on the Truth subsidiary, reached the top of the R&B chart in 1974, and just missed the pop Top 20. The album's lead off, "It Ain't No Fun," was issued as a follow-up, but with Stax sliding into bankruptcy, the release stalled further down the charts. Stax had survived the near-death of their 1967 break with Atlantic, and with [...]

Stax's elder statesman hits a funky '70s groove R&B singer Rufus Thomas had been with Stax for over a decade when he recorded this 1970 album. He and daughter Carla had hooked up with Stax's predecessor, Satellite, as early as 1960, and Rufus scored a Top 10 hit with "Walking the Dog" in 1963. He released a steady stream of singles throughout the 1960s, with only limited success until 1969's "Do the Funky Chicken." Though it only rose to #23 on the Pop charts, it was a big hit on soul radio, and the [...]

Two-fer of classic 1972 soul LP and its 1973 follow-up The Detroit-based Dramatics first full-length album, Watcha See is Whatcha Get , was also their ticket to the national soul scene. The group had been kicking around in a variety of forms since the mid-60s, but made only light impressions on the charts. They hooked up with Stax in the late '60s, but it wasn't until they returned to Detroit and cut "Whatcha See is Whatcha Get" with producer/songwriter Tony Hester that they really broke through. The single's chugging Latin beat, tight strings [...]

In 1989 the Stax Records building was demolished. The label had declared bankruptcy 14 years earlier, and the buyers of the building had allowed it to deteriorate so much that it was eventually reduced to rubble. Stax had gone from producing chart-topping soul hits for the likes of Otis Redding , Wilson Pickett, and Isaac Hayes to an historic marker in front of an empty lot in fewer than 30 years. This did not rest well with the people of Memphis, and in 2000 ground was broken for a new project [...]

(Out now on Now-Again ) Now-Again , the Stones Throw subsidiary so wonderful at compiling funk music from around the world, has turned their well-honed ears back to the direction of America's heartland and to the True Soul label of Little Rock, Arkansas, a funky indie whose heyday spanned the late 60s through the mid-70s. Listening to each of these CD compilations (which may possibly be available together as a 4-disc vinyl box-set, though the Stones Throw website is vague on whether all tracks overlap on all formats), you'll almost want [...]

Three Stax Records classics, remastered and reissued with bonus tracks.

A non-stop party with Rufus Thomas.

Shirley Brown lays down the law on this classic mid-seventies soul album, reissued now with previously unreleased gems.

Per un appassionato di soul e funk entrare negli archivi della Stax e delle sussidiarie deve essere un po' come una gita nella fabbrica di cioccolato di Willy Wonka per un bambino goloso. Non credo che nelle impolverate cantine della True Soul Records ci siano degli Oompa-Loompa, ma le meraviglie da lì uscite e raccolte in questo doppio cd antologico sono tante e tali da lasciare a bocca aperta. Tanto più perché buona parte dei trentadue brani della raccolta ai tempi non vide mai la luce su disco, o se la vide fu [...]

Psychedelic rock and funk come together perfectly in this soulful track.

Over the last few years, the legendary Booker T. Jones has experienced a bit of a career renaissance thanks in part to a couple of contemporary acts backing the influential organ player on his first studio albums in roughly two decades. In 2009, it was the Southern rockers the Drive-By Truckers, who gave the assist on the Grammy winning Potato Hole , which also featured Neil Young on guitar. For the follow up, Jones upped the ante by not only nabbing The Roots as his backing band, but by also recruiting an impressive [...]

Toronto – Today marks the start of the Toronto Jazz Festival . For the next ten days, the city will be teeming with fantastic musicians playing venues large and small. You can check out some of the highlights of the line-up here . In anticipation of the festival, I had a chance to chat with the guitarist of soul/jazz/funk outfit Soulive , Erik Krasno . We talked about their latest album, Rubber Soulive , and also dove into how new technologies like do-it-yourself studios, grassroots record labels, and the internets [...]

• Soulive - Drive My Car

Forte Bowie blessin the world wide web with another one. He has a little message for Andrea 3K on this one... "Something About Bowie" 7-8-11

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Sallie's got soul. Her new Dirty Radio LP is a hit here at b3sci HQ. Somewhere between Stax soul, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, and Tom Waits (some seriously illustrious company, indeed) Sallie & Co. will rip you a new one on the gritty "Cage", which is our pick from Dirty Radio . Catch a little holy ghost or at least a bit of the devil below. Sallie Ford & the Sound Outside - Cage Sallie Ford & the Sound Outside: ( [...]

Produced by Richie Rich. Not sure where this joint's going to end up, but the cover art may end up on my desktop. Jukin\' Maserati Deeder feat. Paris Beuller & Stax Dollars - Jukin'

• Jukin\’ » vuch77tf94.mp3

Blues- and gospel-influenced soul singer hits a peak on Stax Vocalist Johnnie Taylor wore a number of musical hats, starting with roots in gospel, striking a soulful resonance with Stax, and finding his largest chart success with 1976's "Disco Lady." Taylor brought his roots with him to Stax, and his first few releases were see-saw affairs that vacillated between blues and Southern soul. His rise as a bona fide soul and R&B star began with the arrival of new staff producer Don Davis, who helmed 1968's chart-topping "Who's Making Love." Taylor and Davis continued [...]

The Staple Singers make their biggest hits and best album The Staple Singers had been a together for nearly two decades when they landed at Stax in 1968. They'd recorded old-school spirituals for Vee Jay and folk-influenced sides for Riverside before finding a new direction with the Memphis soul powerhouse; not only did the Staples adapt to the soul and funk energy of Stax, but they evolved their material from the pointed social topics of the folk era to less specific, but highly empowering "message music." Their first two Stax albums, 1968's [...]

A so-so soul album augmented by several excellent bonus tracks.

A mediocre soul tribute to The Beatles' Abbey Road.