soulpope

Conjunto Candela 79 "Pregonaro" (Guyjiro Records) 1981 .... ingenuin tres mastery by Pablo Diaz ... and no furher praise requiered for Miguel Quintana ....

https://www.soulcountry.net/post/the-gospel-of-stax Another diversification of Stax in the early 70's aka The Gospel Truth label ....

Excellent music in outstanding transfer ....

A short-lived label run by Allen Orange with an impressive roster feat Geater Davis, Reuben Bell and Bill Brandon ....

No "chance to dance" @ Stax ....

Thereof CD 4 "Moonlighting – Stax Writers, Non-Stax Releases" ..... some unrecognized treasures ....

Martin Glass "The Pacific Visions Of Martin Glass"(Kit Records) 2017 ....

Cesaria Evora "Best Of" (Tropical Music) 1998 ....

Angelo Y Su Conjunto Modelo "Soy Campesino" (Laslos Records) 1985.... what a superb LP overall ....

That may be true (or not), but it were the artistic decisions made internally which had impact on the product/brand Stax .... world class song writer duo David Porter/Isaac Hayes more or less "retired" and concentrated on solo careers (btw quite telling that the much better singer aka David Porter had much less success economically) .... top song writer (Barbara Mason soon was thankful @ Buddah Records) and excellent singer Bettye Crutcher was not supported .... top in-house producers started getting rare f.i it was Wardell Quezergue @ Malaco Studio who got the actual vibes by recording Jean Knight "Mr. Big Stuff" .... ask (me) for more ....

R.I.P ....

Excellent .....

Been in touch with numerous contemporary witnesses in the later 80's/early 90's (when memories seemed to be still rather intact) and the story of the music business in Memphis/Muscle Shoals told was sort of a fairytale, but with rather bitter ending(s) .... a lot of the people/artists lived in a rural area, had nothing and out of nowhere became famous and (comparatively) rich .... when sure-fire success took different routes it caused a lot of struggles and some people had to learn the hard way that they simply had a lucky break .... drugs unfortunately were a recurring issue too .... Obviously great Stax releases saw the light of day in the 70's, but they happened less often compared to the incredible "natural" flow of the 60's .... Btw everybody is entitled to tell his side of the story and so is Al Bell ....

❤️lovely❤️ ....

Atmospheric Cover Photography ....

Junko Onishi "Self Portrait" (Somethin' Else) 1998 ....

Junko Onishi Trio "Cruisin'" (Somethin' Else) 1993 ....

Thereof CD 3 .... Bettye Crutcher was both an superb songwriter and excellent sing .... her own releases never "took off" though ....

Excellent find 👌👍 ....

Izumi Yukimura + Ryoichi Hattori + Caramel Mama "Super Generation" (Columbia) 1974 ....

Emerson Lake & Palmer "The Best Of EL&P" (Atlantic Records) 1980 ....

As good as it gets ❤️ ....

Angelo Y Su Conjunto Modelo "Aprendí Soñando" (Laslos Records) 1985.... simply an irresistible groove ....

Thnx for your thoughts ... Stax - as described in detail by Rob Bowman in his book - started as a small Southern Soul label and both the expansion (artistically and economically) and the myriad of "hits" in the 60`s - based on superb songwriting - simply happened .... while the Memphis productions were textbook raw Southern Soul, the early diversification with Don Davis stepping in was a first change in direction .... at the end of the the decade a more pro-active search - you could say enforcement of - for top selling records started and the story how songwriter Isaac Hayes ended as singer (aka "try and error") is quite telling ..... the industry changed, innocence was lost and and money (greed) increasingly beacame the name of the game .... Stax subsequently concentrated on a handful of top performers and other acts started flying under the radar marketingwise .... so no disrespect to the productions/efforts in the 70`s, but if listening to the "Complete Stax (Volt) Singles" compilation in chronological order gives an audiblle documentation of the changes .... You quote of "Johnnie Taylor arguably became the blueprint for the further development of Southern Soul" made me think, but obviously there is no definition of "Southern Soul" and to me a genre of "Soul/Blues Crossover" would more apply .... The collapse of Stax happened before the heydays of Disco, so we will never know how the company if still active would have mastered this challenge .... Nevertheless the "Stax Story" is one of a kind and the heritage remains treasurous ....

Excellent ....