i dont think you can put issac in the 'stax' category.... for me its mainly weak soul with no drive.... the singers are good admittedly but still its not real for me....

u cant say dock of the bay has anywhere near the lyrical content of whats going on or living for the city etc....

issac was controlled and forced to obey throughout his time at stax.... it wasnt until he released hot buttered soul and shaft ost etc that he realised he was the label lol

im really annoyed that stax are winning this poll!

apart from the wilson/booker t/issac stuff i think stax is a really weak label to be honest.... i think the best stax would have ended up at atlantic anyway! i agree with their business ethics but they did go bankrupt as a result, and again treated ike like sh!t

the only REAL talent on stax for me are the female singers like Carla Thomas / Wendy Rene / Deanie Parker etc.. and theyre not even mentioned here!

cant believe you lot would put sam and dave over stevie wonder lol thats shameful !

i agree with right track (again).... add Checker/Chess to the poll and ill vote for that!!




:)

Hard to get down on Marvin ***e, James Jamerson, Supremes, Stevie Wonder, etc. Motown was definitely more prolific, but, as James Brown himself said, they turned down the bass and adjusted the sound more for mass consumption.

I'm a Stax guy. Love that raw sound. Sad to hear Duck Dunn etc say in the Stax movie that the black people drove out the white people, but still, it started out with a mix and thats partly what made it special.

How do you choose, really?

:band:

I voted Stax.

Motown had some true visionaries, including Marvin and Stevie (Before the Soft Pop that many only know him for now...), and the Soul of it's best moments has a serious Cool. Still, despite having music that moved and singers that were powerful, there was still a bit of a showbiz that crept in by the Late 60's that killed off most of it's effect for me. No dismissing how Gordy ran things, though, although the move to LA in '72 seriously turned things for the worse despite having some major highlights.

Stax had a Soul that really hit, and Booker T and the MGs were among the first to break barriers while being stars and not just a backing band while Otis Redding and Sam and Dave had an intense style. As for the Post-Atlantic days, there's plenty of classics with Issac Hayes beyond "Shaft" that make him stand out as a visionary as well as many fine tracks by The Staple Singers, Johnny Taylor, and The Bar-Kays that stand out as solid examples of Soul and Funk that move.

Sadly, however, Stax as a business was for the most part in tough waters after their fateful parting with Atlantic as a Distributor who wound up with their Pre-1968 masters. Still, even with the failures which later marked their original demise by the Mid-70's, it had some good moments while trying to broaden the range of music it presented, even if some of it went little heard in it's day due to the obvious distribution problems. With the intense feelings running in Memphis after the assassination of Dr. King and the (In retrospect, understandable) defecting of some of it's major talent at the time (Booker went to LA, for example), the Soul that it was best with only grew in boldness, and it's Wattstax festival was both a good thought-provoking event and a fine promotional powerhouse for the label (that was, of course, until trouble struck with the Distribution deal with CBS shortly after the the finalization of the deal, setting off the rest of the mess that wound up in a sad place by '75).

With it's releases of Soul, Funk, and Gospel, Stax stayed very close to it's fanbase even if times were troubled on the business side and some of the releases trying too hard to reach the market CBS was more comfortable distributing to (Just thinking of some of their albums of 74/75 can make a true fan cry...Mike Douglas? How about Lina Zavaroni? Or, get this, Morton Downey, Jr.?). Forgetting all of the side steps that never could have worked, their final days at least introduced Richard Pryor to the Comedy album market and had a few standout tracks like Shirley Brown's "Woman to Woman," among many great highlights, many that were not promoted well the first time around, but still remain easy to find in the digital age to remind how the Soul and Funk of Stax holds up very well.

Have to go with Stax, motown was good, but Stax brought the funky soul of the 70's.

The Funk Brothers.

I love both. It's a tie.

Both labels are great but I'd give the edge to Motown.

The Temptations > Otis Redding
Marvin Gaye > Sam and Dave
Stevie Wonder > Rufus Thomas
Diana Ross & The Supremes < Isaac Hayes
Smokey Robinson & The Miracles > Wilson Pickett
The Four Tops < Albert King
Martha & The Vendellas < The Staple Singers
Jackson 5 < Booker T & The MGs
Gladys Knight & The Pips < Johnnie Taylor

Had to add Johnnie Taylor to the list to even the two sides. So with a score of Motown 4 - Stax 4, Its a tie.

I'm from Detroit and the influence of Motown here is so tremendous. I learned how to be a recording engineer from Bob Dennis who mastered everything Motown put out from '64-'68 and who actually ran Hitsville before he split to go to Hotwax which was HDH's label. And that's the other thing about Motown were the spin-offs they indirectly created.

Stax was certainly very good. I listened to enough of their records. But I have to say in terms of legacy that Motown wins hands down. The changes they brought to the industry are indelible.

But let's also not forget the Philly sound of Gamble & Huff.

Wow! Thats some interesting info there Lord Larehip!

Thats certainly one I'm going to check out. Ive always been a fan of Philly R&B/Soul.

Hope you going to be a permanent member here at MB? Welcome my friend and thanks for the tip. :)