Stax Singles, Vol. 4: Rarities & the Best of the Rest box set

Craft Recordings – the catalog division of Concord Music – has announced the upcoming release of Stax Singles, Vol. 4: Rarities & the Best of the Rest. The whopping six-CD box will be available on February 9th, 2018 and will feature a wealth of long-gotten single B-sides and other rarities exploring the legendary record label’s explorations in rock, pop, blues, soul, and gospel music from 1960-1975.

Offering recordings from the catalogs of both Craft and Rhino Records, who jointly control Stax’s masters, Stax Singles, Vol. 4: Rarities & the Best of the Rest features four new in-depth essays by music journalist Lee Hildebrand, writer and music historian Alec Palao, and box set co-producers Bill Belmont and Rob Bowman, who is also the author of the excellent Soulsville USA: The Story of Stax Records. This fourth volume of material from the Stax vaults follows box sets released in 1991, 1994, and 1994 and takes a look beyond the label’s R&B chart hits to dig into the crates and resurrect singles from Stax subsidiaries like Ardent and Hip (rock); Chalice and Gospel Truth (gospel); and Enterprise (country) as well as instrumental and blues tracks from the pre-Stax Satellite Records imprint.

Stax Singles, Vol. 4: Rarities & the Best of the Rest collects singles from over 60 diverse artists including the Staple Singers, Big Star, the Bar-Kays, Don Nix, Rufus and Carla Thomas, the Cobras, Mable John, Eddie Floyd, William Bell, the Mad Lads, Sid Selvidge, Bobby Whitlock, Billy Lee Riley, Larry Raspberry and the Highsteppers, and many others. The new box set caps off a year-long celebration of Stax Records’ 60th anniversary by a unique industry partnership between Craft and Rhino that included over fifteen vinyl reissues of R&B classics like Rufus Thomas’s Walking the Dog, Sam & Dave’s Soul Men, Carla Thomas’s Carla, and Otis Redding’s Live In Europe, an exclusive Record Store Day ‘Black Friday’ release pressed on red vinyl.

Buy the box on Amazon.com: Stax Singles, Vol. 4: Rarities & the Best of the Rest

Also on That Devil Music.com:
Carla Thomas - Stax Classics CD review
Isaac Hayes - Stax Classics CD review
The Dramatics - Stax Classics CD review
Sam & Dave - Stax Classics CD review
 

Stax Records celebrates 60 great years!

Here at That Devil Music, we got a whole lotta love in our hearts for the legendary Memphis soul label Stax Records. Stax is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year and they’re planning one hell of a party! On May 19th, 2017 Concord Music Group and Rhino Entertainment, as part of a joint marketing collaboration, will release specially-curated, budget-friendly collections of some of the best and soul and blues music that ever walked the planet as the Stax Classics series.

The new Stax Classics releases celebrates some of the iconic record label’s greatest stars, each package offering new liner notes, label discographies, and a dozen red-hot tracks from the individual artist’s Stax album releases, both the hits and rare tracks as well. The first slate of Stax Classics releases feature the immense talents of Albert King, Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, the Staple Singers, Carla Thomas, Johnnie Taylor, William Bell, Sam & Dave, and Booker T & the M.G.’s.

There will be plenty to celebrate throughout the year as both Concord and Rhino plan on reissuing a number of classic Stax albums on CD and vinyl. On the schedule is a 50th anniversary vinyl pressing of the great Otis Redding/Carla Thomas album King & Queen (Rhino Records),  Melvin Van Peebles’ best-selling soundtrack to the blaxploitation classic Sweet Sweetback’s Baadassss Song (Concord Music), and Otis Redding’s 1965 gem The Great Otis Redding Sings Soul Ballads (Rhino Record).

There will also be some very cool CD box sets coming from Stax in 2017, including the August release of the four-disc anthology Isaac Hayes: The Spirit of Memphis (1962-1976) in honor of the late Isaac Hayes’ 75th birthday, a three-CD Stax 60th anniversary box set, and the fourth volume of The Complete Stax Singles series which includes singles released not only by Stax and Volt Records, but also by Enterprise, Hip, Chalice, and other labels. Both Rhino and Concord Music will also be raiding their respective vaults for high-resolution digital reissues of classic Stax Records albums.

One of the most important and influential American record labels of the 20th century, during an impressive 15-year run Stax Records released more than 800 singles and nearly 300 albums, winning eight Grammy® Awards and an Academy Award, placing 167 hits on the Top 100 pop charts and 243 hit songs on the R&B chart. The roster of legendary blues and R&B artists that Stax Records worked with is truly impressive, including the talents mentioned above as well as folks like the Bar-Kays, Eddie Floyd, O.B. McClinton, Little Milton, the Emotions, Rufus Thomas, Mable John, and too many others to list. Stayed tuned to That Devil Music for more news throughout the year as Stax celebrates the big 6-0!

Buy the CDs from Amazon.com:
Albert King's Stax Classics 
Otis Redding's Stax Classics 
Isaac Hayes's Stax Classics 
The Staple Singers's Stax Classics
Carla Thomas's Stax Classics 
Johnnie Taylor's Stax Classics
William Bell's Stax Classics 
Sam & Dave's Stax Classics 
The Dramatics's Stax Classics 
Booker T & the M.G.’s Stax Classics