The cream of Stax’s chart crop

It’s hard to criticize a collection of stellar soul sides, but one has to wonder what market niche this fills. All fifteen of these tracks reached the top spot on either the Billboard pop or R&B chart, and represent the tip of Stax’s immense impact on both the charts and popular culture. Presented in chronological order these tracks include iconic instrumentals, duets, and solo turns that literally defined southern R&B and hard soul. It’s an ace collection of soul classics, but at only fifteen tracks it pales in comparison to the discount-priced double-CD Stax 50th Anniversary Celebration. For only a few dollars more the anniversary set gives you everything here except Rufus Thomas’ “(Do the) Push and Pull (Part 1)” and Johnnie Taylor’s “I Believe in You (You Believe in Me),” and thirty-five more gems. Tracks 1-4 and 7 are mono, the rest stereo, and all appear to be single edits rather than longer album versions. The ten-page booklet includes credits and pictures, but no liner notes. Everything here is great, but unless you’re on a tight budget (or fifty soul classics is just too much for you to handle), the double-CD is the better bet. [©2010 hyperbolium dot com]

Stax Museum of American Soul Music
Concord Music Group’s Stax Home Page