Customer Reviews

Soulsville, U.S.A.: The Story of Stax Records

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2 star:		(1)
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The problem with this darn book is that once you pick it up, you're going to find yourself going on a CD buying binge well before you're half way through the book. - - Let's face it... Stax and Memphis Shoals = memories... and this is definitely a pretty funky strut down memory lane... the whole story, from the label's humble beginings in the mid '50s, an old movie theatre and record store, the golden era of Otis Redding, The Bar -Kays and M.G.s, to the superstar meglomaniacical rise of Hot Buttered Soul - - the Wattstax movie... and eventually, the infighting and financial woes that left the great soul machine screwed and in bankruptcy('circa '75). This isn't just a cute tabletop book with pictures of your favorite stars and cute trivial snippets (come to think of it, there's no big discography in the back !)- - its a well researched book that tells a great American/Afro-American story... (think of it, a racially integrated record label in the South circa the early '60s and moving on into the militant '70s that managed to turn the Northern recording establishment on its side !) It really gives you a glimpse of what was going on behind the scenes, how the sound evolved and the various personalities entered into the sphere and did their thing... the conflicts, the struggles, the accomplishments and the whole scene, bottom up... very tough to put down. Heck, they ought to turn it into a movie. - - If you consider yourself a STAX nut now... trust me, by the time you finish this book, you'll be a madman... spare yourself the wait... you might as well get the box sets while you still have the cash... this book is going to set you on a Stax jones... and well written enough that its definitely a keeper !

The Stax story is an interesting one. They made some of the greatest music and art of the century, that's one reason that it's an interesting story. It's an interesting example of black and white people working together to create something powerful, too. The label's demise is a sad story but a thought provoking one - was it attributable to irresponsible management? Or institutional racism? Or both?

The fact that Rob Bowman knows his material and has investigated it thoroughly is evident by the flattering quotes on the book's back cover, by people such as Al Bell, Isaac Hayes, Mavis Staples, and Booker T. Jones, among others.

Having set a high standard with his liner notes to the "Complete Stax/Volt Singles" box sets, Mr. Bowman writes this book and tells us even more detail on this important, infinitely creative and beautiful phenomenon. It's a great book that he's written, worthy of its subject matter.

Rob Bowman does a good job of recreating the historical arc of Stax Records. He states in the preface that the book was 12 years in the making, and the breadth of his interviews reflects that work. However, I have some serious caveats about recommending the book for anyone who has only a casual knowledge or appreciation of Memphis music.

The first, and most important one, is the writing style. It is a curious mixture of the labyrinthine sentences of the academic and the golly-gee-whiz of the avid fan. Bowman seems unsure of which voice he should present, and maybe with a stricter editor he could have pulled both off. But he doesn't, and the result is annoying and exasperating.

The second is what several other reviewers have mentioned: the lack of a discography. A work of this length and ambition makes including one a necessity, and its omission does nothing to lead a reader toward listening to the music itself.

The third ties to the second: the scanty bibliography. For a book of this size and scope to have only a two page bibliography and no bibliographical essay does a disservice to readers who might want to read further.

On the other hand, the photos in the book are terrific and it is apparent to this reader that investigating Stax was a labor of love for the author.

But if you want a readable and well-documented story of Memphis music in general and Stax in particular, Peter Guralnick's Sweet Soul Music is the one you should pick up.

There are a gazillion books about "The Motown Sound" out there, but this is the only book that I know of about the company that briefly usurped crown of being the Crown Jewel of Black Music in the early 1970s.

As I see it this book is actually several different books in one: a history and chronology of Stax records; a biography of Al Bell and Jim Stewart; a comparison Northerners and Southerners (black AND white); and a case study of the nature of race relations in the South that may actually be a bit different from the stories most of us are accustomed to hearing... Regarding my final point, I believe that the Stax's racial composition is what made it so different from other companies. Here was a company in the heart of the deep/rural South, founded by whites and eventually controlled by blacks; a company in which the similarities of poor blacks and poor whites brought them closer to each other; a company in which whites were just as instrumental (pun intended) in the financial and musical success as blacks; a company who had one of its first major successes with a band that was half-black and half-white...in the early 1960s no less. These are all unlikely elements for any kind of success story, particularly one beginning in the context of the post-World War II Deep South. To partially--but by no means TOTALLY--describe the rise and fall of Stax, one might recall a common saying among blacks who participated in the Great Migration: "In the South, white folks to care how close you get, as long as you don't get too high; in the North, white folks don't care how high you get, as long as you don't get too close."

Speaking from the perspective of someone who is a fan, a musician, AND a social scientist, this is a great book. The musicians out there will appreciate the details of achieving the "Stax" sound from Steve Croppers dirty guitar strings to Al Jackson billfold-on-the-snare. Fans will appreciate knowing about the inspiration behind the songs and the details about some of their favorite musicians.

This is a book for the true fan of Memphis Soul music. It is full of the information that any fan of this music will appreciate. It is sometimes exhausting to keep up with all of the details, but that is one of the things that make this book so wonderful.

There is great insight into the creation of the music including wonderful detail on the Stax house band players and how their techniques were formed and how they evolved as musicians. The evolution of the music business in general is covered with a facts based approach that really strikes a chord (pun intended). There are more facts in this book than anyone could have hoped for.

Once drawn into this book, you'll find yourself wondering how some of this music may have slipped past you. Even if you were a diehard fan of the Memphis Soul sound from the start, there is fresh music waiting for you to discover through this book.

Thanks to Rob Bowman for devoting so many years of his life to this labor of love.

Rob Bowman's work is the definitive work on the history of the Stax Record label. I doubt there is anyone affiliated with the company who he has not interviewed. It is also very well written and impossible to put down.

Stax Records had such an incredible history in one of the most important eras of 20th century popular music in America. Starting out as a country/pop oriented label by a country fiddle player turned into an R&B powerhouse. Located in Memphis, Tennessee, it was ripe. Artists such as Carla Thomas, Rufus Thomas, Otis Redding, Booker T. & the MG's (the Stax house band along with the Mar-Keys), Albert King, Sam & Dave among others recorded with the label during the '60s when Atlantic distributed the label. Those were the label's glory days and had they continued with Atlantic when that company was bought by Warner in 1967/8, Stax could have lasted much longer. From 1968 to 1975, the second half of Stax's history saw drastic changes in the activity at Stax, both musically and personally. Johnnie Taylor, the Staple Singers, the Soul Children and Isaac Hayes and many others thrived on the music charts. Other than Volt, Stax spawned more subsidiary labels like Enterprise, Partee and Truth. The label with a new logo was being distributed at first by Gulf-Western, then bought back and then finally with CBS which led to Stax's ultimate demise. Much financial difficulty too long to get into brought Stax's downfall in 1975. It's such a shame that Stax is seeming to get less and less attention, partcularly nowadays as this kind of music is increasingly disappearing from oldies and mix radio stations. Motown was practically the big competitor for Stax. Motown had a polished sound, while Stax had a more tougher and freer sound. It seemed that during Stax's golden days, they made such quality-filled music though their record sales couldn't fully complete with Motown. If the attitude of making good music up front would have been held first and foremost, Stax could have lasted so much longer. This book is an in-depth and very informative read about the history of Stax.

It has been sometime since I read this, but I found it excellent complement to Peter Guralnick's Sweet Soul Music. Does a fine job in capturing the label's history and shows its impact. Book reads well too. Recommended to soul and rock fans

I'm sure it's a great book, but the font is tiny and it seems as if the pages were printed on a cheap dot-matrix printer. The photos are a joke. I'm returning for a refund. Pity.

UPDATE: Believe it or not, I met the author Rob Bowman a few weeks after posting this review, and I complained about the shoddy production of the book. He was a little annoyed (not at me), suggesting that it was a print-on-demand version, cheaply and nastily done by amazon. In the meantime, I had already bought a hardcover version at a 2nd hand book store, and it was a great read. If I had to pick a small fault, I would say he does not linger too much on the death of Otis Redding, since that really marked the beginning of the end for Stax in some ways. The MLK death gets more ink. These books are important. Many of the interviewees have since died, and most of the rest will be gone in 10, 15 years -- well, not Steve Cropper, if his dad's continued longevity is anything to go by.

ANOTHER UPDATE: "On the night of September 31 ..." (p.364) Ooops!

This book is an EXCEPTIONALLY well-written and thoroughly researched biography of Stax Records (it's auspicious beginnings, glory years and downfall). Mr. Bowman is obviously a huge fan of both Stax Records and Southern R&B--and his tireless efforts to interview as many people who were part of or connected with Stax has resulted in this extremely entertaining book. Stax was a label that went from being just another regional independent to an R&B powerhouse and also from being White-owned (Jim Stewart) to Black-owned (Al Bell) and its rich musical legacy is still relevant today. While I truly commend Mr. Bowman for his hard work and his willingness to present the Stax story from as many different angles as possible, I'm under the impression (and it's just a personal opinion) that he (at times) desperately tries to portray Al Bell as a man who could do no wrong and who was mercilessly persecuted by Union Planters Bank and that the bank's actions against Bell (and Stax) were as morally reprehensible as could be. The truth is that Al Bell made many mistakes (including the ill-fated distribution deal for Stax with CBS Records that ultimately destroyed the label as CBS no longer cared about Stax after Clive Davis was fired in 1973). Had Al Bell not been so obsessed with turning Stax into an empire that would rival Motown, had Al Bell not hired people like Johnny Baylor (and his cohorts) and had the company's own overexpansion not been so great...Stax just may have survived and be around today.