Parklife asked for it, so here it is. Stax Records was the southern, rural counterpart to the northern, urban Motown Records. Their sound was grittier. Their production values high while not putting a premium on the kind of slickness one associates with Motown. Some prefer one, while some prefer the other. I have always liked both because it is like looking at life from two different angles.
Booker T and the MGs were kind of the house band at Stax. They also had a great career that went far beyond "Green Onions". Here they are live in 1970, with a brief glimpse of members of CCR looking on appreciatively from the wings.
In 1967, Otis Redding was invited to attend the Monterrey Pop Festival. His performance blew the crowd away. He was destined to be the next big thing, already having a huge following in black audiences across the south with his powerful, emotional, performances. Alas, it was not to be, as he was killed later that year in a plane crash. He lives on, though, in his music, teaching all of us what it means to put everything you have in a performance.
Isaac Hayes was another Stax studio musician, as well as writer and arranger who had a great career as a performer as well. He won an Academy Award for the music for Shaft. I think that says it all.
