Any Stax love on here?

[Big_Stu]

I gotta admit that while most of my life I've been into heavier stuff mostly; Slade, Motorhead, classic 60s/70s rock I do have an all enclosing love for just anything that moves me - and that has to include Booker T. & The MGs, Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett et al and have been lucky enough to see Steve Cropper play live in the UK six times in the past three years. Booket T. is playing near me later this year too.

Such a shame then to hear that Andrew Love of the Memphis Horns, such an essential part of the whole sound passed recently. Gonna have a day of Stax playing as a tribute.

[Basvarken]

Yeah! Staples Singers Stax profiles is a mainstay in my iPod.

[Droombolus]

And here's your 2nd  from Holland. Love the old Redding, Pickett and Sam & Dave stuff. Booker T was the main inspiration for Ian McLagan's Small Faces period and Duck Dunn's my 2nd fave bass player. So to answer Isaac Hayes' question: Yeah, I can dig it !

[Big_Stu]

Duck Dunn

Did any other bassist ever make it look so effortless while being an essential in the sound?

[nofi]

james jamerson. more essential imo.

[Pilgrim]

I have a Stax double-CD collection that I really like.  Great stuff!

[eb2]

I always dug Stax/Volt stuff.  They lose me a bit by the later stuff, when it seems even the players had had enough.  Like everything, you can find some junk, but overall very cool RnB.  Truth be told, I prefer it so much over the Motown stuff from the same period that I never bought into that label/studio in the same way.  I look at Motown as lots of good singles, and a lot of bad ideas. 

[Chris P.]

And another Dutch Stax fan!

I also listen to the same Staple Singers CD as Rob a lot. Of course Otis, Booker T. and I have the big Stax CD Box. Well, I had.. My ex took it. Maybe I get it back once. My cat, also with my ex, is called Booker T.

I watch the DVDs of the Stax Tours a lot! Duck and Cropper with big Marshalls! Two years ago I had the chance to see Booker T. & the MGs live in Amsterdam. Of course they were old, it took ages before Booker found his glasses and the right buttons to put his phone off.... on stage... with 1500 people watching him, ha ha! But it was great to see those legends playing those legendary songs.

Motown is okay, but never did it to me...



BTW: My whole musical life seems to be based on STAX. In my youth I listened to Genesis because my older brother did that.. And I liked the live soul medly of them  Then one of two defining moments in my life happened: I was home alone for one of the first times in my life. I was like 12 years old. By accident I saw the Blues Brothers on tv and I was hooked on their music. That day was magical. I still have the hair on my chin just under my lip and I know by head the sign of the car is BDR529 and Jake's prison number is 7474505-B. And a million other details:D Still love the movie and the music.

Later on I got into Dutch singer Herman Brood (& His Wild Romance). A lot of his cover songs were STAX songs. Sometimes the same ones as Paul Weller did. Again Stax-soul seemed to be the base of it.

Later on I got into Britpop, while all my friends loved grunge. I listened to Blur, Oasis, Weller, Ocean Colour Scene and because of the, The Small Faces. And of course that band is based on Booker T. & the MGs and they just are a white STAX band. I'm still a big Small Faces fan.

The second defining musical moment was again on tv. I was home alone again, but much later. I was just skipping through some channels when I saw some guitars and a guy telling that he was promised "not much money but all the pussy in the world" (or something similar) when he would join a certain band. I was interested and this was The Last Waltz. Since that day I'm a huge The Band fan. Of course they did some STAX songs, the Staple Singers are in that movie and a part of the horn section is the same as the Blues Brothers. The Blues Brothers band is almost Levon's band when he went solo. So again STAX seemed to be the key word.

[Big_Stu]

Two years ago I had the chance to see Booker T. & the MGs live in Amsterdam. Of course they were old, it took ages before Booker found his glasses and the right buttons to put his phone off.... on stage... with 1500 people watching him, ha ha! But it was great to see those legends playing those legendary songs.

I have friends near Maastricht with a teenage son learning guitar; I told them that same gig would be a perfect one to go to for him, but they didn't for a reason I forget.
I've never seen the whole band together, but Booker T is playing the UK with The Animals (I think Eric Burdon still has his own in the US), their bassist lives nearby, so I'll definitely see that.
Last year we saw Steve Cropper three times with the same band - sorry if I posted this here before, but a few days after the last gig we went into the nearest village to a quiet bar and some of the band were playing in a corner. Just doing a little session for a few people.
Then we heard "Hey kids!" and Steve was at the bar just watching, not playing that night, having an end of tour party in a quiet bar. We spent a long time with him & he told loads of stories of his career; then he said "You have to meet a good friend of mine, he came over from New York, brilliant guitarist!"and Jerry Donahue was there too, quite surreal!!

I think Steve was saying to the camera person "Don't you cut Stu's head off!", & I said "Story of my life!"

                                                                Telling a story - I guess about Booket T. going by his hands

[Chris P.]

Wow, really cool!!