The vaults of the Volt and Stax labels are raided once again for more rare & unreleased tracks from Memphis finest.
A Stax Sessions high voltage series of rare or unreleased tracks from one of the greatest of all soul labels. 3000 Volts Of Stax contains 21 tracks drawn from the Stax company's 'blue' label period and 18 of these are previously unreleased titles or takes of songs. The quality of the music is reflected by the legendary stature of many of the artists involved - Otis Redding, Booker T & The MGs, Johnnie Taylor and Albert King, among them - but there are some lesser known, though equally fascinating, names, too. Johnnie Jenkins, for instance, with whose band The Pinetoppers, a young Otis Redding sang and toured. Jenkins went on to make a great lost R&B album Ton Ton Macoute for Capricorn, and he can also be heard on Spunky on our recent Teen Beat: 30 Great Rockin' Instrumentals (CDCHD 406). Here he kicks out with Big Bad Wolf. Bluesman Albert King burns on an alternate take of The Hunter, a number which, within a few short years, became a staple of the rock group Free. There is a gospel dimension courtesy of the sides made for Stax subsidiary Chalice by the Stars Of Virginia and The Dixie Nightingales and, of course, there is dear Otis with a previously unissued version (this one with horns) of Come To Me and a first take of Remember Me (how could we ever forget?).
