The Stax Playlist

A companion to the Motown Playlist, but with some differences.  The Motown Playlist is exclusively artists who recorded in Motown Studios and were on the Motown label.  For my Stax playlist my criteria were looser.  While several of the artists listed below were exclusively on the Stax label or recorded in the Stax studio in Memphis, not all did so.  In the cases of Wilson Pickett and Sam & Dave, about half the songs below were recorded at Stax.  In the case of Aretha Franklin, all of the featured songs were recorded either at the studio in Muscle Shoals, Alabama or at Atlantic Studios in NYC.  I included Aretha because her style is closer to Stax than Motown (though she was a Detroit native) and Stax and Atlantic had a distribution deal negotiated by Jerry Wexler (for more on that see the post linked below).  I've also thrown in a song by Percy Sledge, recorded in another Alabama studio.  And, as a coda, the playlist (which is arranged chronologically, unlike Motown) ends with tunes from Al Green, all recorded in a Memphis studio about one mile from Stax.  The quality and quantity of music coming out of Memphis from the 1950s into the 1970s is staggering.  Two miles from Stax was Sun Records where Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins got their starts.  Less than three miles away were the Beale Street clubs where many famous blues musicians, like BB King, played.

Motown and Stax are a study in contrasts.  Motown was founded, and run, with an iron-hand, by the brilliant black entrepreneur Berry Gordy.  Like Motown, Stax was founded in the late 1950s, in this case by Jim STewart and his sister, Estelle AXton, who were white, and who, while they were good at spotting talent, proved poor at the business side, unlike the Motown founder.  Gordy was determined to create a unique sound with black artists that would break into the pop market dominated by white teenagers and was immensely successful in achieving his vision.  Stax had a grittier, funkier sound that, in the 60s, limited its wider reach until Otis Redding deliberately composed Sittin' On The Dock Of The Bay to appeal to a pop audience, a single released after his death in December 1967 and reaching the top of the charts.  You could hear the difference on WABC-AM, the New York City radio station I grew up listening to - Motown got a lot of play; Stax not as much until Dock Of The Bay.  It was Redding's death along with two other events in early 1968 that led to the demise of the classic period of Stax Records about which you can read in my post Respect Yourself.

One other note on Stax. Its house band, Booker T and the MGs, consisted of Booker T. Jones, Al Jackson Jr, Steve Cropper and Lewie Steinberg, replaced in 1965 by Donald "Duck" Dunn, the first two black the others white.  It was unusual for the time, and extremely unusual in Memphis, where the band members could play together in the studio but not have lunch together in a restaurant.

1962

Green Onions - Booker T & The MGs

1963

Walking The Dog - Rufus Thomas

1964

That's How Strong My Love Is - Otis Redding

1965

I've Been Loving You Too Long - Otis Redding; watch him live at Monterrey Pop (1)

I Can't Turn You Loose - Otis Redding

Respect - Otis Redding; yes, he composed it

You Don't Miss Your Water - Otis Redding

A Change Is Gonna Come - Otis Redding (cover of the Sam Cooke classic)

Midnight Hour - Wilson Pickett

1966

Fa Fa Fa Fa (Sad Song) - Otis Redding

Satisfaction - Otis Redding

Cigarettes & Coffee - Otis Redding

634-5789 - Wilson Pickett

Land of 1000 Dances - Wilson Pickett

Mustang Sally - Wilson Pickett

99 And A Half - Wilson Pickett

Knock On Wood - Eddie Floyd

Hold On, I'm Coming - Sam & Dave

You Don't Know Like I Know - Sam & Dave

When A Man Loves A Woman - Percy Sledge

1967

Try A Little Tenderness - Otis Redding; perfect in every element.  Peak Stax.

Shake - Otis Redding

Funky Broadway - Wilson Pickett

Born Under A Bad Sign - Albert King

Soul Man - Sam & Dave

I Never Loved A Man - Aretha Franklin.  Simply incredible from start to finish.

Respect - Aretha Franklin

Baby I Love You - Aretha Franklin

Natural Woman - Aretha Franklin

Chain Of Fools - Aretha Franklin; alternate take (2)

Let's stop for a minute.  These five songs were released as singles in this order by Aretha in 1967!  Any one of these singles would have made for a remarkable year; to have five like this . . .

Do Right Woman - Do Right Man - Aretha Franklin

Dr Feelgood - Aretha Franklin

1968

Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay - Otis Redding

Too Hard To Handle - Otis Redding

I Thank You - Sam & Dave

Think - Aretha Franklin

1971

Respect Yourself - Staples Singers

Theme From Shaft - Isaac Hayes

1972

I'll Take You There - Staples Singers

The Al Green Coda

Let's Stay Together (1971)

Call Me (1973)

Here I Am (Come And Take Me) (1973)

Love & Happiness (1977) - Maximum Al

 

(1) At Monterrey Pop, Otis was backed by Booker T and the MGs. 

(2) Although this video and others of the same take say it is unedited, this is incorrect.  Not only is the introduction different but also the background vocals behind the entire song.  This is an alternate take and they may have used Aretha's vocal and matched it with different background vocals.