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or Pages 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 of this set___________________________________________________________
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Volume Three
1. Pain In My Heart – Otis Redding (2:22)
(Neville)
Jarb Music**
Volt 112
Released September, 1963
Highest Chart Position: Pop #61*
2. Gee Whiz, It’s Christmas – Carla Thomas (2:40)
(Thomas-Cropper-Trauth)
East Music*
Atlantic 2212
Released November, 1963
3. Mo’ Onions – Booker T. & the MGs (2:20)
(Jones-Cropper-Steinberg-Jackson)
East-Bais Music*
Released December, 1963
Highest Chart Position: Pop #97*
4. Frog Stomp – Floyd Newman (2:10)
(Floyd Newman)
East Music*
Stax 143
Released December, 1963
5. Can Your Monkey Do The Dog – Rufus Thomas (2:20)
(Cropper-Thomas)
East Music*
Stax 144
Released January, 1964
Highest Chart Position: Pop #48*
Released under license from Fantasy, Inc.
6. You Won’t Do Right – Bobby Marchan (2:30)
(Cropper-Marchan)
East Music*
Volt 113
Released January, 1964
7. Wondering (When My Love Is Coming Home) – The Drapels (2:14)
(J. Frierson-M. Frierson-Brittenum-Mondie)
East Music*
Volt 114
Released January, 1964
(Some copies of this single list it as Volt 113)
Released under license from Fantasy, Inc.
8. Each Step I Take – Deanie Parker (2:40)
(Cropper-Parker)
East Music*
Volt 115
Released January, 1964
Released under license from Fantasy, Inc.
9. The Honeydripper – The Van-Dells (2:00)
(Sykes-Liggins)
Northern Music***
Stax 145
Released January, 1964
Released under license from Fantasy, Inc.
10. Who Will It Be Tomorrow – William Bell (2:20)
(Bell-Cropper-Thomas)
East Music*
Stax 146
Released February, 1964
11. Come To Me – Otis Redding (2:38)
(Walden-Redding)
East-Time Music*
Volt 116
Released February, 1964
Highest Chart Position: Pop #69*
12. Don’t Leave Me This Way – Otis Redding (2:50)
(Walden-Redding)
East-Time Music*
Volt 116-B
Released February, 1964
13. I Don’t Want You Anymore – Eddie Jefferson (2:40)
(Jefferson)
East Music*
Stax 147
Released February, 1964
14. Restless – The Cobras (2:20)
(Cropper-Johnson)
East-Group One Music*
Stax 148
Released March, 1964
Released under license from Fantasy, Inc.
15. Somebody Stole My Dog – Rufus Thomas (2:35)
(Thomas-Cropper)
East Music*
Stax 149
Released March, 1964
Highest Chart Position: Pop #86*
16. Big Party – Barbara & The Browns (2:10)
(Williams)
Beckie Music****
Stax 150
Released March, 1964
Highest Chart Position: Pop #97*
17. That’s Really Some Good – Rufus & Carla (2:00)
(Thomas)
East Music*
Stax 151
Released April 29, 1964
Highest Chart Position: Pop #92*
18. Night Time Is The Right Time – Rufus & Carla (2:35)
(Brown-Cadena-Herman)
East Music*
Stax 151-B
Released April 29, 1964
Highest Chart Position: Pop #94*
19. Security – Otis Redding (2:30)
(Otis Redding)
East-Time Music*
Volt 117
Released April 24, 1964
Highest Chart Position: Pop #97*
20. Dream Girl – Oscar Mack (2:59)
(Mack)
East-Time Music*
Stax 152
Released May 29, 1964
Produced by Action Productions
21. Closer To My Baby – Dorothy Williams (2:25)
(Williams)
East Music*
Volt 118
Released June 25, 1964
22. I’ve Got No Time To Lose – Carla Thomas (2:45)
(Parker-Cropper)
East Music*
Atlantic 2238
Released July, 1964
Highest Chart Position: Pop #67*
23. Young Man – The Drapels (2:30)
(M. Frierson-Brittenum-Mondie)
East Music*
Volt 119
Released July, 1964
Released under license from Fantasy, Inc.
24. Soul Dressing – Booker T. & the MGs (2:24)
(Jones-Cropper-Steinberg-Jackson)
East Music*
Stax 153
Released July 17, 1964
Highest Chart Position: Pop #95*
25. After Laughter (Comes Tears) – Wendy Rene (2:53)
(Frierson-Brittenum-Jackson)
East Music*
Stax 154
Released August 19, 1964
26. Can’t Explain How It Happened – Ivory Joe Hunter (2:40)
(Hunter-Shaw)
Desiard Music****
Stax 155
Released August, 1964
Released under license from Fantasy, Inc.
27. Bush Bash – Mar-Keys (2:20)
(Jones-Newman-Caples)
East Music*
Stax 156
Released August 19, 1964
28. Please Return To Me – The Fleets (2:20)
(Doyle-McCaskill-Kelly-Gallagher)
East-Group One Music*
Volt 120
Released August 24, 1964
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1963 closed with the only solo recording by baritone saxophonist Floyd Newman.
As was the case with most of the Stax session musicians, Newman earned a substantial part of his living playing gigs in and around Memphis as the Stax sessions were, at best, paying scale. In Newman's band was a young Isaac Hayes playing keyboard. Hayes was also writing at the time and co-wrote "Frog Stomp" with Newman, although he is uncredited on the forty-five. The record features Hayes and guitarist Joe Woods.
Newman picks up the story: "That's the first time that Jim had ever heard him. Isaac had an unbelievable ear. He was playing things that he didn't even know he was playing. But he heard them and he would play them."
With Booker about to go to college in Indiana, Isaac Hayes would become a regular Stax session musician. Eventually he would co-write with David Porter much of the label's great output, including "Soul Man" and "When Something Is Wrong With My Baby."
Bobby Marchan's second and final Volt outing was co-written with Steve Cropper. "You Won't Do Right," although a shade less impressive than volume two's "What Can I Do," was a strong bluesy record replete with stinging Cropper guitar responses.
Volt 114 was written and performed by a half-male, half-female vocal group called The Drapels. (Nearly all known copies of this on record have the labels misprinted as Volt 113, a number already used up by Bobby Marchan's "You Won't Do Right.") The group was led by sister and brother Mary and Johnny Frierson. Johnny had played guitar with the two premier Memphis gospel quartets, the Spirit of Memphis and the Sunset Travellers. "Wondering (When My Love Is Coming Home)" was written by the Friersons and group members Marianne Brittenum and Wilbur Mondie. Johnny had put them together, taught them to harmonize and taken them down to Stax to audition cold, never having played a gig before. They were initially hired to do background vocals, being heard on early recordings by William Bell and Rufus and Carla Thomas. On their own record both Cropper and Frierson play guitar. The song took a long time to record as Mary remembers it because Johnny was a perfectionist. It is probably Floyd Newman or Gilbert Caples playing flute.
The Drapels issued a second single in July 1964. Where Johnny had taken the lead vocal on their debut, Mary took the lead on "Young Man." The earlier record had not sounded typically Stax, featuring a prominent flute and a light rhythm track. In contrast, "Young Man" sports an unmistakable Stax groove underpinned by Al Jackson's rocket-in-the-pocket rock-solid backbeat.
A month after "Young Man" was released to little fanfare, Mary Frierson recorded solo as Wendy Rene. Otis Redding had suggested the name change, "Frierson" somehow didn't seem commercial enough to the Big O. As Wendy Rene, Mary Frierson released three forty-fives between August 1964 and May 1965. "After Laughter (Comes Tears)" was co-written with her brother. Booker T. Jones gets a sound on his organ that he had originally used with the Mar-Keys on "The Popeye Stroll" and Al Jackson creates a unique drum part, sticking mainly to his tomtoms. Rene/Frierson turns in a great emotive performance, getting increasingly tortured as the song unfolds.
Another great unsung singer from this period was Barbara Brown. With her sisters, she fronted a group called Barbara And The Browns. The Brown family was a large one consisting of ten girls and two boys; four of the girls (Barbara, Roberta, Betty and Maurice) ended up in the group. They had originally sung gospel as the Brown Sisters. Then one of their brothers had gone down to Chips Moman's American Recording Studios to discuss the possibility of making a gospel recording. Chips listened to the group sing two spirituals. He then played them "Big Party" and they recorded it that night.
Maurice recalls, "We didn't want to sing rhythm and blues but that's what he put on us." No one quite remembers how the record ended up coming out on Stax but some sort of deal was made with Chips, and the record briefly reached the Hot 100, climbing to #97. The great guitar line is played by the late Clarence Nelson (who recorded solo singles for MGM and Penn, and was a member of the Fieldstones), while Bobby Woods is heard on piano.
Stax hadn't given up on recording instrumentals. In January and February 1964 one-off non-vocal records were issued by The Van-Dells and The Cobras. Cropper described The Van-Dells' record as, "It was sort of doing Duck Dunn a favor. Everybody wanted their shot at having a record." Dunn and Cropper had been friends since high school and, of course, had played together in the Royal Spades and the Mar-Keys until Cropper had quit over growing differences with Packy Axton during their first big tour. In essence, The Van-Dells were potentially a vehicle that Cropper hoped might turn into an analogous situation to that of Booker T. And The MG's, but with his friend Dunn included, especially since The MG's had been witnessing less than scintillating chart success. The Van-Dells' record was a cover of Roosevelt Sykes' "The Honeydripper."
The Cobras' "Restless" was written by Steve Cropper and Terry Johnston. 'That I was sort of a pickup of where the high school band had left off," recalled Cropper. "'Restless' was actually written when we were in high school. We had actually demoed it in Jim's garage or at least out in Brunswick, Tennessee. It was sort of a takeoff on a Link Wray kind of idea. I think we were just kind of satisfying our egos. We'd just say, 'We want to do this.' 'Okay, fine, you want to do this, go play with it: We'd go in and cut these things and then what do you do, put them on the shelf and forget about them? No, we'd put them out. It was a pressing bill and we had enough hits to back it up so it was not a bad shot."
The Cobras, of course, also once again reunited Dunn and Cropper. The MG's bassist, Lewis Steinberg, was becoming increasingly hard to work with and within the year Duck Dunn would replace him in The MG's. Steinberg was a very fine blues player but Dunn's style was completely different. His bass lines were unorthodox, to say the least.
Booker T. And The MG's released two forty-fives in this period. December 1963's "Mo' Onions" was obviously related to their earlier smash success "Green Onions." It afforded them their first chart action since the initial record, grazing the Hot 100 at #97. Cropper remembers it being particularly strong in the South. Their late summer 1964 entry "Soul Dressing,” despite an intriguing melody and razor-sharp Cropper guitar lines, fared similarly, stopping at #95 on the Hot 100.
William Bell's one release in 1964, "Who Will It Be Tomorrow,” was released while he was in the Armed Forces. It failed to click, while Rufus and Carla Thomas's first duet in a couple of years, "That's Really Some Good" b/w "Night Time Is The Right Time," saw both sides climb into the lower 90s on Billboard's Hot 100 chart. The former was a Rufus original starting with a quote from "Yankee Doodle,” the latter was a cover of Ray Charles' 1959 hit. Carla shines on the second verse beginning with the drawn out "Baby." (Deanie Parker told Carla that she loved the way Carla sang the word "baby." With that in mind, note how many of Carla's later records would start with that word.) Rufus and Carla would release two more forty-fives in 1965 and 1966, making a grand total of five duet singles. All were very fine, making it hard to understand why they never saw greater chart success and sales.
Carla had closed out 1963 with the Stax label's first seasons greeting, "Gee Whiz, It's Christmas." It was Carla who had suggested doing a Christmas song and when trumpeter Vinnie Trauth jokingly suggested "Gee Whiz, It's Christmas," Carla responded, "Why not?" The resulting song was written by Carla, Trauth and Cropper and to this day is one of the soul Christmas classics.
In July 1964, she released the Deanie Parker-Steve Cropper composition "I've Got No Time To Lose." It was one of her prettiest ballads. The song had originally been cut by Deanie. No one was happy with the way it turned out, though, and it appeared it was not going to be released. Carla continues the story: "I happened to hear Steve working on it up in the control room. I said, 'That's a hit record, Steve. I sure wish I could sing it.' He said, 'Well, we'll cut it.''' Carla, not wanting to step on anybody's toes, checked with Deanie first. Deanie was delighted and, along with Carla's sister, Vanese, probably supplied background vocals. The record stopped at #67 Pop.
The first few months of the year saw the release of Otis Redding's fourth and fifth forty-fives, "Come To Me" and "Security." The former was co-written with Redding's manager Phil Walden. It's another of Otis's 6/8 ballads featuring piano triplets courtesy of Isaac Hayes and a church-derived organ played by Booker T. It is one of only two tracks recorded by Redding after his first session not to feature horns. It reached only #69 on the Hot 100 charts. "Security," unjustly, did even worse, barely scraping the 97th position for all of one week. The record was significant as it featured for the first time Redding's trademark offbeat horn punctuations juxtaposed with both Cropper's metallic guitar responses and Otis's voice.
"Don't Leave Me This Way" was the non-LP B-side of "Come To Me." Issued briefly in England on a long-deleted Charly Records compilation, it is undeservedly rare. Redding's performance wreaks emotional havoc.
Former Otis Redding revue member Oscar Mack cut his final Stax release in the first half of 1964. "Dream Girl" was a poppy Mack original using what was then a Stax trademark, the New Orleans "popeye" rhythm. The original forty-five's label reads "Produced by Action Productions." Just what Action Productions was remains a mystery.
The third volume of the Complete Stax / Volt Singles anthology is rounded out by four relatively obscure releases. Dorothy Williams's original "Closer To My Baby" featured sublime background harmony coupled with a mature and strong lead vocal. Her only other known recording was for the Memphis-based Goldwax label, for whom she cut Isaac Hayes and Sidney Bailey's "The Well's Gone Dry" in 1965.
Eddie Jefferson also recorded for Goldwax, releasing one forty-five in 1967. No one at Stax or Goldwax, oddly enough, seems to remember a single thing about him. His two recordings, though, are coveted by soul collectors, especially in Japan. "I Don't Want You Anymore" is a typical 12/8 ballad sung with a doo-wopish high tenor voice.
Curiously, Ivory Joe Hunter also had one subsequent release on Goldwax. (It seems to be that Goldwax was a potential second chance for those who didn't succeed at Stax.) While Williams and Jefferson are relative unknowns, Hunter first charted in 1945 on the Exclusive label. He appears to have been living in the Memphis/Nashville area for a spell in the mid-sixties. "Can't Explain How It Happened" is a typically warm and smooth low-voiced Hunter ballad. By 1964, unfortunately, this style was passe.
The final record on volume three, in some ways, is the oddest of the lot. The Fleets were a British group produced by Peter Sullivan at Decca studios in London.
In light of the phenomenal success of The Beatles, Dave Clark Five, et al, Stewart thought he would take a stab in the dark at licensing a British Beat group. "Please Return To Me" was the pretty dire result. In 1966 Stewart licensed one more Fleets record for the debut release on the ill-fated Stax pop subsidiary, Hip. It too was a much-deserved failure. For those who are curious, The Fleets didn't even chart in their native England.
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*Irving Music, BMI Administered outside the US by Rondor Music
**Arc Music, BMI
***Northern Music, ASCAP
****Beckie Publishing, BMI
*****EMI Unart, BMI
For authenticity, producer and publisher credits are listed as they
appeared on the original singles. Current Publishing information
accompanies each individual volume. Prior to 1967, producer credits
were not generally listed on single labels.
U.S. chart positions courtesy of Billboard
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This compilation (P) & © 1001 Atlantic Recording Company for the United States and WEA International Inc., for the world outside of the United States.
Stax ® and Volt ® are registered trademarks of Fantasy, Inc.
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