Stax Classic

All the classics are here, Booker T, Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, Eddie Floyd, you know the score. All the tracks you associate with the label too. 60 tracks in total over three discs.

With apologies to groups like The Meters, Bar-Kays, and Average White Band, when it comes to all-time great instrumental R&B bands, for most folks Booker T. & the MG's represent the gold standard. And with good reason'or, actually reasons! First of all, as the house band of the hallowed Stax label, The MG's pretty much invented the sound of Southern soul, playing on records by everybody from Otis Redding to Wilson Pickett to Carla Thomas. Second, on their own as Booker T & the MG's, they came up with some of the most indelible instrumental jams of all time, including'but by no means limited to!''Green Onions.' And, third, each member of the band was an absolute monster on their instrument, to this day revered and copied by untold numbers of musicians. Indeed, by the time the mid '60s rolled around, bands on both sides of the Atlantic wanted to sound like Booker T. Jones, Steve Cropper, Al Jackson, Jr, and Lewie Steinberg (replaced about halfway through this collection by the great Donald 'Duck' Dunn).

Various Artists - The Complete Stax & Volt Singles 1959-1968 (1991) {9CD Set Reissued 2016 Digitally Remastered}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 2.64 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 1.51 Gb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 215 Mb | 5% repair rar
©1959-68, 1991, 2016 Atlantic / ATCO / Rhino / Warner | 081227954666
R&B / Blues / Soul / Doo Wop / Early Pop / Funk / Soul-Blues / Early R&B

9CD reconfiguration of original Atlantic box set, featuring every A-side the label released during those nine years, as well as several B-sides. The set is a definitive portrait of gritty, deep Southern soul. For any serious soul or rock collector, it's an essential set, since Stax-Volt was not only a musically revolutionary label, its roster was deep with talent, which means much of the music on this collection is first-rate. 11 of these singles charted on Billboard.

In the annals of Memphis music history, there is little that comes close to the timeless music of the queen, to Otis Redding’s King of Soul™, Carla Thomas. Stax Records’ first star, paired with her father Rufus Thomas on the classic “Cause I Love You,” Carla would go on to hit the charts through both the Atlantic Records-era, and after Stax split off to become an independent powerhouse, with a series of soul-pop gems that are featured on this compilation, from “B-A-B-Y” and “I Like What You’re Doing (To Me)” to “Let Me Be Good To You,” and of course her scorching 1966 duet with The Big O, “Tramp.”

Various Artists - The Other Side Of The Trax: Stax-Volt 45rpm Rarities 1964-1968 (2016) {Kent-Ace Records CDTOP 442}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 250 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 144 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 65 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2016 Kent / Ace Records / Stax | CDTOP 442
Soul / Rhythm & Blues

Ace has long been associated with the Stax catalogue and we are continually looking for new ways to keep the connection going via packages of exciting vault discoveries. Many of our recent Stax compilations have concentrated on the company’s later era – the yellow period, as it’s known in collector circles – but we’re starting our 2016 schedule with a project that draws on releases from their earlier blue period.

Iconic veteran Southern soul man William Bell has been in the business of making records for 66 years, and was with Memphis’ fabled Stax label for virtually its entire 15-year existence (1960-1975). In that time, he composed and recorded many songs that are rightly regarded as classics, from his Stax debut ‘You Don’t Miss Your Water’ to the classic blues song ‘Born Under A Bad Sign’ to his hit duet with Judy Clay, ‘Private Number’.