V/A: Stax Number Ones [CONCORD JAZZ]

Why you'll love it

Every song on this 2010 Stax LP hit No. 1 on Billboard's Hot 100 or R&B chart, all 15 from the label's golden era, by 11 different acts. Sam & Dave's "Soul Man," Otis Redding's "(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay" and The Staple Singers' "I'll Take You There" are all here.

About the album

Stax takes its name from its founders, siblings Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton, who started out in Memphis in 1957 under the name Satellite. Axton mortgaged her house to buy the first proper recording gear, and the label's racially integrated staff and roster were rare in 1960s Memphis. That mortgage, judging by this record, turned out to be a sound investment.

With one studio, one house band and a small circle of songwriters, the label built a sound rooted in gospel, blues and country that came to be called Southern soul. It's all here: Sam & Dave's "Hold On! I'm Comin'," Eddie Floyd's "Knock On Wood," Johnnie Taylor's "Who's Making Love" and "Jody's Got Your Girl And Gone," Rufus Thomas's "(Do The) Push And Pull," Jean Knight's "Mr. Big Stuff," The Dramatics' "In The Rain" and Shirley Brown's "Woman To Woman," with The Staple Singers adding "If You're Ready (Come Go With Me)" and "I Believe In You (You Believe In Me)."

Concord revived Stax in the 2000s and put this set together in 2010. Fifteen No. 1s on one record is about the most efficient use of twelve inches we know of.

Also at Kops: more Stax on vinyl · browse Classic Soul

Tracklist

Listen

On Stax (cat# STX-32244-01), the 2010 compilation.