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ShareIn the 1960s, three record labels were most responsible for soul music not only undermining and finally eradicating the racial barriers entrenched at AM radio but turning it into the sound of young America - Motown in Detroit, Atlantic in New York and Stax/Volt in Memphis.
Isaac Hayes, who died Aug. 10 at age 65, was a leader in that monumental musical make-over, along with such other Stax/Volt pioneers as William Bell, Otis Redding, Eddie Floyd, Sam and Dave, Booker T. & the MG’s, Albert King, Carla and Rufus Thomas and the Bar-Kays.
But while the artists and music of Motown and Atlantic are well known in virtually every part of the country, Stax/Volt’s contributions, while significant, are not.
Which is why Hayes, Bell, Floyd and the Bar-Kays had embarked this summer on a brief tour called Celebrating 50 Years of Stax Records. The tour’s second stop was to have been Aug. 15 at Philadelphia’s Mann Center, but was canceled because of Hayes’ death.
Bell, 69, speaking just two days before Hayes’ passing, chuckles when asked how he remembers the man he had known since they were both teenagers.
“How was he?” says Bell, mirth creeping into his voice. “Kinda weird. He was an individual even back then. That’s what made him.
“He was an individual in his demeanor and style,” Bell elaborates. “For example, he would wear off-color clothes - one side (of his outfit) would be green, one side yellow. You didn’t wear things like that back then, but he did. As we would say back then, ‘He’s strange.’”
Despite Hayes’ sometimes outlandish wardrobe and vaguely menacing persona, “when he came to work with Stax, he fit right in because he was so creative,” says Bell. “He played keyboards and alto sax, too. He and (songwriting partner) David (Porter) could read each other’s minds almost.”
Hayes, a self-taught musician who became a session player at Stax in the early 1960s, wrote more than 200 songs with Porter, including a string of hits for Sam & Dave (“Soul Man,” “Hold On, I’m Coming,” “I Thank You” and “When Something Is Wrong With My Baby”) as well as “B-A-B-Y” for Carla Thomas.
Bell, a singer-songwriter who made his solo recording debut with the 1961 Stax single, “You Don’t Miss Your Water (Until Your Well Runs Dry),” one of the fledgling label’s first major hits, admits to being surprised at how much of a long-lasting impact the Stax legacy has had.
He got an inkling last year when he, Hayes, Floyd and Booker T & the MG’s reunited for gigs in March at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, and July at the Hollywood Bowl marking the 50th anniversary of the label founded by two white businesspeople, Jim Stewart and his sister, Estelle Axton, and originally called Satellite Records.
“We saw the tremendous reception we were getting in Austin and at the Hollywood Bowl and thought maybe we should put more shows together,” says Bell from the offices of Wilbe Records in Atlanta. (Bell founded the label in 1985.)
“Once we saw the crowds were receptive, we realized that yes, this was a timeless music we created,” he adds, a touch of near disbelief in his voice.
“We’re all great friends,” he continues. “Stax was like a family, and we still have that (feeling) today. We stay in touch. ... They are still tremendous talents. You stand in the wings waiting to go on and you’re taken back to the ‘60s.”
Bell’s Stax hits include “Any Other Way,” “Never Like This Before,” “Happy,” “A Tribute to a King” (about the passing of Redding, the label’s biggest star, in a 1968 plane crash), “I Forgot To Be Your Lover,” “Private Number” (a Judy Clay duet) and the Christmas fave, “Every Day Will Be Like a Holiday.”
He also penned one of the most-recorded blues songs of all time, 1967’s “Born Under a Bad Sign,” for blues great Albert King.
Asked his favorite version, Bell replies, “That’s hard to pinpoint. I like the Cream version (on the 1968 album ‘Wheels of Fire’). Koko Taylor and Buddy Guy did a good job, and Jimi Hendrix did an instrumental version that I like. ...”
“If you write a good song, it can be recorded in many styles. People from any genre can identify with it. ... I have been blessed that I have four or five songs like that.”
Bell points to “I Forgot To Be Your Lover,” which has been cut by Brit new wave rocker Billy Idol, R&B singer Jaheim and Brit pop-soulster Paul Weller.
Stax was forced into bankruptcy in 1975. Atlantic acquired the rights to Stax recordings released on Atlantic from 1957 to 1968, while Fantasy Records retained the rights to Stax recordings from that era not released by Atlantic.
Concord Records bought the Fantasy Label Group in 2004, and in December 2006 said it would reactivate the Stax label. The relaunch happened on March 13, 2007, with a two-CD box set of 50 tracks from the history of Stax Records.
So what in Bell’s estimation were the major differences between the music of Motown, Atlantic and Stax, which was forced into bankruptcy in December 1975?
“We were grass roots, fresh out of the church,” he answers. “Our rhythmic feel was a little different. The others were a little more polished than we were. Motown was middle-American, Atlantic was a little more urban. We were just kids who had been exposed to blues, gospel and rockabilly. Stax was geared to the common person. If you went to church on Sunday, you liked what we did.”
Bell adds that Philadelphia also produced a sound all its own, albeit a bit later than the other three. “Philly was a combination of what we were doing at Stax and what was happening at Motown,” he says. “They had a grittier quality and were smooth and urban at the same time.”
