The Perlich Post: Isaac Hayes

Monday, February 5, 2024

Congrats to the Stax Songwriters & Robert Gordon for Historical Album Grammy win!

Robert Gordon & Deanie Parker accepted the Grammy for the superb set Written In The Soul: The Stax Songwriter Demos.

Writes Robert Gordon...

Yes good people, Deanie Parker and I had a fine night at the Grammys. What an honor to work with Deanie, and to get to shine a light on the songwriters who are so often obscured from the spotlight. The box set is called Written In Their Soul. It would never have happened without the insane dedication of Cheryl Pawelski. She spent 17 years (!!!) working on this. Thanks also to my fellow producers with whom I share the 2nd award for Best Historical project. Michael Graves, sound scientist, made the audio sound great, and Mason Williams and Michele Smith kept the Concord machine running smoothly. The music is great, I highly recommend the box! – Robert Gordon

Get a copy of Written In Their Soul: The Stax Songwriter Demos via Bandcamp right here.

Sunday, February 14, 2021

New collection of Stax soul rarities on the way from Ace/Kent

The 20-track collection Everybody Makes A Mistake – Stax Southern Soul Vol. 2 is due out March 26th.

Here's the scoop from Ace/Kent...

Stax Records in Memphis was one of the centres of southern soul, yet due to its many hits and big city location, this often gets forgotten. We redressed that balance with the release of “Nobody Wins: Stax Southern Soul” but there was so much more to play that we’re back with 20 more tracks that capture the deep emotion and soulful feel of the Memphis behemoth.

First up we have found a bunch of previously unreleased tracks. There are two by Eddie Floyd, including his own version of ‘Everybody Makes A Mistake’, first released by Otis Redding on “The Soul Album”; a stormer called ‘Standing In The Safety Zone’ by the Soul Children; and another cut by Chuck Brooks. We also have alternate takes of originally unreleased track by Ollie & the Nightingales and William Bell, and have gathered up rare tracks that appeared as bonus tracks on CDs by Jimmy Hughes, Mavis Staples, Shirley Brown, the Newcomers, David Porter and Veda Brown.

Of those that saw release at the time, we have obscure B-sides by Eddie Giles, Israel Tolbert and Lee Sain. Singles from Randy Brown, Frederick Knight and the Nightingales are as good as anything the label released, and Isaac Hayes is present with his take on the Banks & Hampton single ‘I’m Gonna Have To Tell Her’, one of the great southern soul songs.

Packaged with in-depth sleeve notes and extensive illustrations. Pre-order a copy from Ace Records right here. Check out a couple of tracks followed by the tracklisting.