Record label Stax Records recently released a set of remastered tracks across ten albums, featuring the very best from their musical history. This mass compilation features songs mostly from the 1960s era, with this release being created to celebrate the label’s 60th anniversary.
By Jane Howkins
The four albums featured within this package are titled Stax Classics: Booker T. & The MG’s, Stax Classics: Otis Redding, Stax Classics: Sam & Dave, Stax Classics: Carla Thomas, Stax Classics: William Bell, Stax Classics: Albert King, Stax Classics: Johnnie Taylor, Stax Classics: The Staple Singers, Stax Classics: Isaac Hayes, and Stax Classics: The Dramatics. It’s fairly easy to understand what each record contains due to the title of each one, however as well as the hits, several bonus tracks and rarities have also been included.
Each album is available to purchase separately, but you can also buy them together, and due to the remastered nature of these albums, and the fact that each record contains a great selection of tunes, we see them as being the definitive song collections for each artist featured. Of course, fans of the artists on Stax Records will most likely already own most of the tracks in this compilation, so it is worth weighing up whether listeners want to buy several songs that they already own, but this is still a great collection, and one worth checking out for fans of the Motown and soul genres.
Stax Classics is out now.