What is your favourite song from STAX records?

I've been hooked on listening to Stax records non-stop for a few weeks now. It's been many years since I've played them and I'm amazed at the quantity and quality of good music that came out of those legendary studios during the 60s and 70s.

If you had to choose just one song from their vast repertoire, which one would you say?


It’s hard to say but I think I’ll go with "634-5789 (Soulsville, U.S.A)" by Wilson Pickett

 

"(Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay" - Otis Redding

 

The Staple Singers - If You're Ready (Come Go with Me)

 

So many great songs, my initial thought was something by a Isaac Hayes, but then I remembered this….



William Bell - I forgot to be your lover

 

Hold On I'm Coming, Soul Man.....

 

&

 

Absolutely impossible to pick one.
Gun to head maybe These Arms Of Mine.

 

love STAX music !

please visit this recent thread
SAM & DAVE general discussion | Steve Hoffman Music Forums

 

That s a great one
It really is

 

too many, too many great artists, impossible to choice so my fav goes to

Memphis Soul Stew
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Memphis Soul Stew" is a song by American saxophonist and bandleader King Curtis (1934–1971).

The track is a narrative that describes the Stax Records sound in terms of a cooking recipe, with each instrument introduced by Curtis. This includes "fatback drums", "a pinch of organ" and "a half-pint of horns".[1]

The original studio version was released as a single on Atco Records in 1967, and became a top 50 hit.[2][3] A live version, recorded at the Fillmore West in 1971, shortly before Curtis' death, was released on his live album Live at Fillmore West.[4]

 

It's impossible to choose just one, but one that stands out for me is "Candy" by the Astors:

 

Everything mentioned so far and probably everything that's going to be mentioned. One of my absolute favourites is this undeservedly relatively obscure one. The lady's voice is incredible and while it's unmistakably Stax, it also has an unusual rhythm and groove unlike most other Stax records. I haven't heard anything else quite like it.

Make It Me by The Premiers

 

So, so, so, so, so many great ones but ultimately, it's "Time Is Tight".

 

Knock on Wood- Eddie Floyd

 

Melting Pot

 

Thanks, I've never heard this before...definitely a new favorite for me!

 

Great isn't it? I heard it on one of the Dave Godin's Deep Soul Treasures CDs.

Agree on Candy too. The UK pressing was on Atlantic so I always forget it's Stax even though it clearly is.

 

TAKE 2 of Otis Redding's "Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay" without the sound effects!

 

Time Is Tight and Soul Man for me, impossible to choose one over the other.

Have that 9CD Stax/Volt set with lots of great stuff, pretty much essential.

 

This is a live rendition excerpt of the original version of Time is Tight, with an extended intro:

 

I must also mention another absolute favorite of mine, the 45 rpm mix of Issac Hayes "Cafe Regio's" ...

 

But it wasn't done at Stax or with their players, it was done across town at Chips Moman's American Sound Studio with his guys, the guys who played on Dusty In Memphis, the only overlap is a couple of guys in the horn section. Tragically King Curtis never got to record with the MGs at Stax. I'd take Memphis Soul Stew more as a tribute to Memphis in general than Stax specifically. The American Studio guys could play in the same bag as the Stax guys, but they are different too.

 

I'd pick something obscure to emphasize that it really was a regional thing, shared by many, like this one by label owner Estelle Axton's son Packy and a bunch of guys he met at the bar, a record that's distinctively Stax to me

Yank Me Doodle, the Baracudas

 

What? Who’s my favourite child?...