VA - Written In Their Soul, The Stax Songwriter Demos [2023] + Bonus Mojo Sampler (8 x CDs)

STAX SOUL DEMOS

VA - Written In Their Soul, The Stax Songwriter Demos [2023] + Bonus Mojo Sampler (8 x CDs)

The story oof Stax records has long been smoothed over and sculpted into a neat bundle of Southern aphorism and marketing copy: The Memphis home of “Soul Man” and Shaft and the Staple Singers was the more authentic (insert adjective like “gritty” or “greasy” or “Southern-fried” here), counterpart to the pop-oriented Motown; a rare space of multiracial utopia in a segregated Sixties South; a locus, for Blacks in Memphis at the time, for the expressions and dreams of a better American future that lost its way in 1968 when those dreams vanished with the assassination of MLK. Or so the story goes. 

There’s a much more profound story being told about the label in Written In Their Soul: The Stax Songwriter Demos, a revelatory new 146-song set of previously unreleased demos from a crop of its many unheralded songwriters. That story is of a record label providing an ongoing space, creative ecosystem and infrastructure for some of the most profound popular American songwriting of the 20th century, much of which, as this collection demonstrates, the listening public has never even heard. 

Hearing rough takes on established classics like the Staples Singers’ “Respect Yourself” and Wilson Pickett’s “634-5789 (Soulsville, U.S.A.)” brings plenty of fresh insights. It comes as some surprise that Bettye Crutcher’s raw take of her “There Is A God,” for example, may have even more jump in its step than the 1974 Staple classic. 

But it is the never before heard originals that makes Written In Their Soul an essential piece of music history. Some of them show a label influenced by and responsive to the pop marketplace (“Grandpa’s Will,” by Homer Banks, was copyrighted within a year of the release of the similar-sounding “Grandma’s Hands” by Bill Withers). Some of them are playfully in conversation with the label’s own history (hear William Bell quote Otis Redding’s “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” in his slow burning beauty “It’s No Secret”). Many of them, like Mack Rice’s “Three Meals A Day,” hint at the commitment to social commentary (in this case, anti-war protest) that persisted throughout the label’s history.  Many of them feel predictive of several sonic trends and micro-genres to come in the next several decades (Quiet Storm, disco, piano soft-rock, to name a few). All of them deepen, broaden, and complicate our understanding not only of Stax but of Southern soul and Sixties/Seventies popular music. (www.rollingstone.com)

Written In Their Soul: The Stax Songwriter Demos compiled by multi-GRAMMY Award-winning producer Cheryl Pawelski, is a 7 CD set packaged in a 7"x7" boxset and includes archival photos, and a new essay written by Deanie Parker and Robert Gordon.

The instrumentation is simple and intimate because the idea was to present the essence of a song before it was arranged for public release more elaborately; but they were never released until now. What a treasure-trove of work, culled from what was originally 3,000 songs! This book with 7 CDs is going to win many awards and accolades! (Amazon)

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Track lists

CD01

01 Carla Thomas - Comfort Me 2:48

02 Jeanne & The Darlings - You Make A Strong Girl Weak 3:22

03 William Bell - What Did I Do Wrong 3:04

04 Carla Thomas - Another Night Without My Man 2:48

05 Eddie Floyd - I Got Everything I Need 2:35

06 Eddie Floyd - Mister Fix It 2:18

07 Eddie Floyd - I'll Always Have Faith In You 2:03

08 Eddie Floyd - Got To Make A Comeback 2:57

09 Homer Banks - I've Seen What Loneliness Can Do 2:35

10 William Bell - Slow Train 2:40

11 Staple Singers - Hear My Call, Here 3:42

12 Staple Singers - Top Of The Mountain 3:13

13 Staple Singers - I See It 2:14

14 Staple Singers - The Ghetto 3:31

15 Eddie Floyd - You Can't Win With A Losing Hand 2:41

16 Carla Thomas - Sweet Sensation 2:47

17 Newcomers - Spare Me The Hurt Of Losing You 3:03

18 Bettye Crutcher - Third Child 2:38

19 Mack Rice - Respect Yourself 3:25

20 Bettye Crutcher - People Come Out Of Your Shell 4:09

21 Homer Banks - I'll Be Your Shelter (In Time Of Storm) 3:06

CD02

01 Bettye Crutcher - All Day Preachin' 3:37

02 Bettye Crutcher - Drown Yourself 2:22

03 Bettye Crutcher - You're Spreading Yourself A Little Too Thin 3:49

04 Bettye Crutcher - Take A Walk Down My Street 3:41

05 Carl Smith - We The People 2:54

06 Carl Smith - I Got To Be Myself 3:07

07 Eddie Floyd - (I Didn't Know What Losing Was) 'til I Lost You 3:32

08 Homer Banks - Get Up About Yourself 2:54

09 Homer Banks - (If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don't Want To Be Right 2:58

10 Homer Banks - Heaven Knows 2:55

11 Homer Banks - I May Not Be All You Want (But I'm All You Got) 2:59

12 Homer Banks - If You're Ready (Come Go With Me) 3:08

13 Homer Banks - Before The Honeymoon 3:00

14 Leon Moore - What Would I Do 3:49

15 Mack Rice - Nobody But You 3:36

16 Mack Rice - Hot Line To Jesus 3:41

17 March Wind - Do The Sweetback 2:42

18 March Wind - Until I Lost You 2:57

19 Veda Brown - True Love Don't Grow On Trees 2:32

20 William Brown - I Hear Footsteps (Coming Closer) 3:26

CD03

01 Bettye Crutcher - We've Got Love On Our Side 3:23

02 Bettye Crutcher - Sugar Daddy 3:41

03 Bettye Crutcher - So Glad To Have You 3:41

04 Bettye Crutcher - Walk On To Your New Love 3:51

05 Bettye Crutcher - There Is A God 2:56

06 Denise Lasalle - Packed Up And Took My Mind 4:39

07 Eddie Floyd - Your Love Is Amazin' 2:51

08 Frederick Knight - It's So Wonderful 3:47

09 Henderson Thigpen - Woman To Woman 3:48

10 Joe Shamwell - Don't You Know That It's All Right 3:39

11 Mack Rice - That's What Friends Are For 3:05

12 Mack Rice - Santa Claus Wants Some Lovin' 2:58

13 Mack Rice - Dy-No-Mite (Did You Saw My Love) 3:39

14 Mack Rice - Something Ain't Right 3:19

15 Mack Rice - Who Made The Man 4:30

16 Mack Rice - It Don't Pay To Get Up In The Morning 4:45

17 Shelbra Bennett - I'll Be The Other Woman 4:10

CD04

01 Carla Thomas - Don't Let The Love Light Leave 2:36

02 Deanie Parker - I've Got No Time To Lose 2:49

03 Carla Thomas - A Woman's Love 2:51

04 Eddie Floyd - 634-5789 (Soulsville, Usa) 2:51

05 Mack Rice - Linda Sue Dixon 2:51

06 Delaney Bramlett - Told You For The Last Time 2:24

07 Mack Rice - Let Me Know 3:08

08 Joe Shamwell - Let Me Be Yours 3:07

09 Eddie Floyd - We Can Love 2:27

10 Mack Rice - Without You 3:22

11 Veda Brown - Shouting Out Love 2:43

12 Bettye Crutcher - Take My Body 3:30

13 Homer Banks - I've Got A Feeling (We'll Be Seeing Each Other Again) 3:39

14 Mack Rice - I Could Never Be Satisfied 3:32

15 Mack Rice - Everybody's Hustling 3:12

16 Homer Banks - Either You Love Me Or Leave Me 4:04

17 Mack Rice - I've Never Been This Close To Jesus 2:49

18 Mack Rice - Pussy Footing Around 3:06

19 Mack Rice - This Time Yesterday 2:24

20 Mack Rice - Are We Slipping Away 4:46

21 Frederick Knight - I Wanna Slow Dance Wit'cha 4:16

22 Bettye Crutcher - What You Did To Me Last Night 2:23

CD05

01 Eddie Floyd - Got To Make You Mine 1:53

02 Rufus Thomas - Come On Dance With Me 2:32

03 Rufus Thomas - I Got To Go For That 2:33

04 Deanie Parker - Spin It 2:15

05 Deanie Parker - Nobody Wants To Get Old 3:21

06 Eddie Floyd - Such A Feeling 2:32

07 Eddie Floyd - Never Say No To The One You Love 3:17

08 Steve Cropper - Looks Like Another Hot Summer 2:12

09 Eddie Floyd - Give You All The Love I Got 2:23

10 Carla Thomas - It's Up To You 2:38

11 Carla Thomas - Let's Be Sure 2:58

12 Booker T. Jones - Oo-We Baby What You Do To Me 2:21

13 Homer Banks - Coming Together 4:39

14 Homer Banks - It's Over 2:34

15 Wendy Rene - Break Out (Aka Bust Out) 2:48

16 Unknown Artist - Walk On Back 2:40

17 Mack Rice - Come On Down 2:11

18 William Bell - Can't Make Enough 2:21

19 Eddie Floyd - Love Is You 3:20

20 Bettye Crutcher - Let's Get Down To Business 2:34

21 Henderson Thigpen - Stone For Stone 2:36

22 William Bell - I Won't Do You No Dirt 1:40

23 Mack Rice - Just Too Right To Be Wrong 3:33

24 MGs - Song #2 1:55

CD06

01 Bettye Crutcher - Too Much Sugar For A Dime 3:40

02 Bettye Crutcher - Take It All Off 3:13

03 Bettye Crutcher - Ain't No Love Like My Baby's Love 2:43

04 Bettye Crutcher - Just The Way You Loved Me 3:21

05 Bettye Crutcher - Everybody Is Talking Love 4:04

06 Carl Smith - You're Funny Boy 3:04

07 Eddie Floyd - Til You've Been Loved By Me 2:21

08 Eddie Floyd - Don't You Know I'm All Alone 3:15

09 Eddie Floyd - Sweet Dreams (I Had Of You) 3:09

10 Eddie Floyd - Glory Glory I Love Him 2:48

11 Eddie Floyd - Stay With Me 4:04

12 Homer Banks - Too Much Sugar For A Dime 2:41

13 Homer Banks - You Knock Me Out 2:18

14 Homer Banks - Didn't Love Straighten It Out 2:49

15 Jimmy Hughes - I Should Have Changed My Ways 4:02

16 John Kasandra - We Don't Need Stone Walls 3:07

17 Mack Rice - Deaf And Dumb 3:53

18 Mack Rice - Something Keeps Holding Me Back 2:44

19 Mack Rice - Three Meals A Day 3:02

20 Marshall Jones - Somebody's Got You Baby 3:02

21 William Bell - It's No Secret 2:48

CD07

01 Bettye Crutcher - Whatcha Gonna Do (When You Find The One) 3:23

02 Bettye Crutcher - The Yard Man 3:15

03 Bettye Crutcher - Don't Stay Gone Too Long 2:33

04 Bettye Crutcher - Do You Want Me To Lie To You 2:56

05 Carl Smith - Put It To A Vote 2:37

06 Eddie Floyd - Shadows On The Wall 4:41

07 Eddie Floyd - Do Me Wrong 2:39

08 Eddie Floyd - Dammit 2:07

09 Eddie Floyd - How Can I Win Your Love 3:17

10 Eddie Floyd - Staying With My Man 2:41

11 Eddie Floyd - Got To Be Somebody For Me 3:21

12 Eddie Floyd - Hometown Lover 2:23

13 Frederick Knight - I Like The Way You Groove Me 3:09

14 Homer Banks - Grandpa's Will 3:28

15 Jimmy Hughes - I Got To Keep On Taking Chances 2:25

16 Mack Rice - Every Now And Then 2:49

17 Mack Rice - Bread Winner 3:04

18 Shirley Brown - I Don't Care Anymore 3:55

19 William Bell - Thank You For Loving Me 3:20

20 Willie Singleton - Somewhere In Somebody's Heart 3:07

21 Willie Singleton - Love Treaty 2:43

Bonus CD - MOJO sampler

01 Eddie Floyd - 634-5789 (Soulsville, Usa) 2:48

02 William Bell - Slow Train 2:36

03 Carla Thomas - Don’t Let The Love Light Leave 2:33

04 Rufus Thomas - Come On, Dance With Me 2:29

05 Mack Rice - Respect Yourself 3:23

06 Homer Banks - If You’re Ready (Come Go With Me) 3:06

07 Eddie Floyd - Stay With Me 4:01

08 March Wind - Until I Lost You 2:55

09 Shirley Brown - I Don’t Care Anymore 3:52

10 Bettye Crutcher - Too Much Sugar For A Dime 3:36

11 Joe Shamwell & Eddie Floyd - Don’t You Know That It’s All Right? 3:35

12 Homer Banks - (If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don’t Want To Be Right 2:56

13 Henderson Thigpen - Woman To Woman 3:46

14 Bettye Crutcher - Everybody Is Talking Love 4:02

15 Homer Banks - I’ve Got A Feeling (We’ll Be Seeing Each Other Again) 3:36

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