The Staple Singers - Be Altitude: Respect Yourself CD Review

Written by General Jabbo

Few groups have had the longevity of the Staple Singers. Fewer yet have managed to do it while completely changing styles more than once. The Staple Singers started out as a gospel group in the 1950s, before turning to folk music and protest songs in the 1960s. After signing with Stax in the late 1960s, the Staple Singers moved from protest music to "message music," as Mavis Staples put it. The songs were still socially conscious, but didn't beat the listener over the head with their message. The music also infused more of a soul and R&B flavor to it. The pinnacle of this period arguably came with Be Altitude: Respect Yourself, which featured three top-ten R&B hits.

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Johnnie Taylor - Taylored In Silk CD Review

Written by General Jabbo

By the early 1970s, the late Johnnie Taylor's sound had evolved from gospel singer to blues singer (he was known as Johnnie Taylor The Blues Wailer for a time) to smooth soul singer. Producer Don Davis had been brought in from Detroit to try and create a hybrid between the legendary Motown and Stax sounds, the results of which are plentiful on 1973's Taylored In Silk.

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Booker T. And The M.G.'s - McLemore Avenue CD Review

Written by General Jabbo

Booker T. and the M.G.'s cut their teeth as the house band for Stax Records, backing legendary soul and R&B acts such as Otis Redding and Sam & Dave and helping to define the Memphis sound. They also released a number of instrumental singles and albums, but it was keyboardist Booker T. Jones' interest in the Beatles that led the band to one of their more ambitious projects, McLemore Avenue.

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Ben Waters - Boogie 4 Stu: A Tribute To Ian Stewart CD Review

Written by General Jabbo

Ian Stewart was one of the unsung heroes of rock 'n' roll. A founding member of The Rolling Stones, he was dismissed from the touring lineup by manager Andrew Loog Oldham for not looking the part. Undeterred, Stewart continued to play on the band's albums and serve as their road manager. Later, with Oldham no longer the band's manager, Stewart returned to the concert stage for various tours between 1969 and 1982 as one of the group's pianists. Stewart died in 1985 and the band paid tribute to him by insisting on his inclusion when they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

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