Topic: MUSIK - on March 3, 2007 at 1:35:00 PM CET
The Stax Site
The year 2007 will see the beginning of the 50th anniversary celebrations of Stax. This site will only report the events, CD and DVD issues and reissues dealing with the actual 1957-1974 recordings and artists. See the music and general sites and Concord Records for news and infos about the new Stax artists and recordings.
Stax Records, a name which is synonymous with Southern soul music, began as Satellite Records in Memphis in 1959. Founded by Jim Stewart, a former country fiddler, and Estelle Axton, whose son Charles "Packy" Axton was a saxophonist with the original Mar-Keys, the company had its first Top Ten hit in 1961 with "Gee Whiz" by Carla Thomas (below right with William Bell and Johnny Taylor). During the next few years Stax developed a brand of music which was to have worldwide repercussions. With its house rhythm section, better known as Booker T. & the MGs, its tight horn section, which later became the Memphis Horns, and its gospel-rooted recording artists--Otis Redding, Sam and Dave--Stax virtually created contemporary soul music, both on its own records and as a Southern base of operations for Atlantic artists such as Don Covay and Wilson Pickett.
The death of Otis Redding in 1967, following a triumphant European tour and a virtually cataclysmic appearance at the Monterey Pop Festival, signaled the end of the first Stax era. Sam and Dave disbanded around the same time, and although they continued to record as a unit, the members of Booker T. & the MGs did more administrative work than session playing. It was left to a new generation of artists and producers to carry on the Stax legacy, and the company did not find itself wanting in either department.
The most innovative and successful of the new breed of Stax artists was Isaac Hayes (left with David Porter), who had been an important songwriter, producer, and session pianist during the company's earlier period; with David Porter, he was responsible for writing and producing Sam and Dave's "Hold On, I'm Coming" and "Soul Man." On his own, Hayes developed a unique blend, part jazz, part soul, part easy listening. He talked on his records in a mellow, bantering manner, and he used an orchestra to provide instrumental cushioning. In many ways Hayes was a founding father of the sweet soul of the 1970s.
But Stax's roster ran the gamut of black popular music. Albert King did his own funky thing, playing his flying-V guitar with bluesy urgency. The Staple Singers were at their artistic peak when they recorded for Stax during the late 1960s and early 1970s, turning out records that blended a utopian social vision with rhythmic excitement. The great Johnnie Taylor was in his prime, testifying on the ins and outs of falling in and out of love with intense passion. Then there were the groups--the Soul Children, who said what was on their minds and attracted a fanatical following in England as well as a large black following in the States, and the smoother but still gritty Emotions. The music behind these singers was more varied than in the early days, and some of it was recorded outside Memphis.
staxrecords Laid Back ShowCrate Soul Brothers Radio Show (hungarian site - downloads & streaming)
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Topic: MUSIK - on March 1, 2007 at 1:30:00 PM CET
The Grandfather of Soul
Nice animation, created by Keytoon Animation Studio, as a tribute to James Brown.
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Topic: MUSIK - on February 28, 2007 at 1:00:00 PM CET
England rocks
- a Google maps/music history mash up. Nice.
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Topic: MUSIK - on February 28, 2007 at 12:56:00 PM CET
Don't buy our album, beg Deep Purple
Deep Purple frontman Ian Gillan has refreshingly asked fans not to buy an "awful" re-released album of the band live at Birmingham's NEC, the BBC reports.
The sub-standard 1993 offering - thrillingly entitled "NEC 1993" - was, Gillan lamented, "an unfortunate reminder of one of their worst ever concerts". The singer fingered tensions within the band for the performance. He said that "he and guitarist Ritchie Blackmore were barely on speaking terms at the time of the concert", and admitted: "It was one of the lowest points of my life - all of our lives, actually."
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Topic: MUSIK - on February 27, 2007 at 3:04:00 PM CET
Frank Zappa - Stairway To Heaven Cover
Stairway To Heaven (Led Zeppelin cover)
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Topic: MUSIK - on February 26, 2007 at 12:48:00 PM CET
The 50 Most Awesomely Dead Rock Stars
For many musicians, death is not a final reckoning — it’s the best career move they ever made. So which immortal souls are raising the most hell in 2006? From Joey Ramone to the Notorious B.I.G. to Johnny Cash, the dearly departed are just dying to get on Blender’s first annual corpsetastic power list!
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Topic: MUSIK - on February 26, 2007 at 12:46:00 PM CET
The 50 Craziest Pop Stars Ever!
You don't have to be crazy to be a rock star. But let's just say the world would be a far less colorful place without these 50 drug-addled, tantrum-throwing, Thorazine-gulping and/or just plain mad music maestros.
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Topic: MUSIK - on February 24, 2007 at 12:44:00 PM CET
Golden Earring - Radar Love
"Radar Love" was the worldwide breakthrough hit by the Dutch rock band Golden Earring. The song is considered by many to be among the greatest "driving songs" ever due to its lyrics about driving all night, its up-tempo beat, and its catchy sing-along chorus.
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Topic: MUSIK - on February 24, 2007 at 12:35:00 PM CET
What is INDIE?
Welcome to the website for the documentary film "What is INDIE?". The film features interviews with indie music experts including Panos Panay (Founder of Sonicbids), Derek Sivers (Founder of CD Baby) and Suzanne Glass (Founder of Indie-Music.com), as well as with 20 artists including Ember Swift and Paul Cargnello.
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Topic: MUSIK - on February 24, 2007 at 12:34:00 PM CET
Ministry of Sound quits trade body in protest over EMI bid
Europe's largest independent record label, dance music imprint Ministry of Sound, has resigned from the UK independent music trade body in protest at its decision to back Warner's possible purchase of EMI.
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Topic: MUSIK - on February 23, 2007 at 12:40:00 PM CET
Can you feel the force?
In 1977, disco bestrode the globe like an afro-haired, stack-heeled colossus. There had been disco records before, notably Donna Summer's Love to Love You Baby and George McCrae's Rock Your Baby. But by 1977, disco - dance music's logical next step after the orchestrated, soul-based Philadelphia sound of the early 70s - came to seem less like a series of wonderful flukes and more like the soundtrack to a pop era. The Trammps and Tavares, Thelma Houston and T-Connection, the Brothers Johnson and the Fatback Band were all over the radio and the charts.
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Topic: MUSIK - on February 23, 2007 at 12:36:00 PM CET
Recording The Beatles (Deluxe Edition)
Never before has there been such an absolutely thorough and definitive look at how the Beatles' albums were recorded. Years of research and extensive interviews with the group's former engineers and technicians shed new light on those classic sessions.
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