Various Artists - Stax '68: A Memphis Story (2018)

This wonderful "book set" is described on the Stax website thusly:

The five-disc box set contains the A- and B-sides of every single released under the Stax banner in 1968, including the company's sub-labels. With a 56-page book including revelatory, in-depth liner notes by Andria Lisle, Robert Gordon, and Steve Greenberg, as well as rare and previously unseen photos, the set presents more than 120 songs from this unprecedented creative period in American music.

And on the set's hype sticker:

More hype:

To be honest, I was initially weary about getting all the b-sides because I usually dismiss them completely, saying something like "b-sides are b-sides for a reason," but once I heard this entire set, I changed my mind. In many cases, the b-side is just as good or better than the a-side. In one case, it was the b-side that charted: Tribute To A King, a memorial to Otis Redding. I didn't do any research so I'm just guessing here, but I'd wager this box set was the first time some of these b-sides have appeared on a CD.

The book does a fantastic job of describing the included singles within the context of the Memphis culture of 1968: civil unrest, the sanitation strike, and the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The photo used on the cover is of the MLK memorial march down Main Street in Memphis on April 8.

Tracks, with just a few of my many favorites indicated with ✔.

Sub-labels of Stax¹ included in this set are Volt², Enterprise³, Hip⁴, Magic Touch⁵, and Arch⁶.

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DISC ONE
26 tracks, 69 minutes
Released January - March

Artist	Single	R&B	Pop
Otis Redding2	(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay b/w Sweet Lorene	1	1	✔
Sam & Dave1	I Thank You b/w Wrap It Up	4	9	✔
The Memphis Nomads1	Don't Pass Your Judgement b/w I Wanna Be (Your Lover & Your Honey)			✔
Shirley Walton3	I Was Born To Love You b/w I'm So Glad You're Back
Otis Redding & Carla Thomas1	Lovey Dovey b/w New Year's Resolution	21	60
Ollie & The Nightingales1	I Got A Sure Thing b/w Girl, You Have My Heart Singing	16	73
Eddie Floyd1	Big Bird b/w Holding On With Both Hands			✔
The Bar-Kays2	A Hard Day's Night b/w I Want Someone
Johnnie Taylor1	Next Time b/w Sundown	34
William Bell1	Every Man Oughta Have A Woman b/w Tribute To A King	16	86
Mable John1	Able Mable b/w Don't Get Caught
Rufus Thomas1	The Memphis Train b/w I Think I Made A Boo Boo			✔
Jeanne & The Darlings2	What Will Later On Be Like b/w Hang Me Now

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DISC TWO
22 tracks, 60 minutes
Released March - May

Artist	Single	R&B	Pop
Derek Martin2	Soul Power b/w Sly Girl			✔
Linda Lyndell2	Bring Your Love Back To Me b/w Here I Am
Carla Thomas1	A Dime A Dozen b/w I Want You Back
Kangaroo's4	Groovy Day b/w Every Man Needs A Woman
Isaac Hayes3	Precious Precious b/w Going To Chicago Blues			✔
The Mad Lads2	Whatever Hurts You b/w No Time Is Better Than Now	31
Otis Redding2	The Happy Song (Dum-Dum) b/w Open The Door	10	25	✔
Albert King1	(I Love) Lucy b/w You're Gonna Need Me	46		✔
Johnnie Taylor1	I Ain't Particular b/w Where There's Smoke There's Fire	45		✔
Eddie Henderson Quintet3	Georgy Girl b/w A Million Or More Times			✔
Shirley Walton3	Send Peace And Harmony Home b/w The One You Can't Have All By Yourself

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DISC THREE
29 tracks, 79 minutes
Released May - September

Artist	Single	R&B	Pop
Booker T. & The MG's1	Soul-Limbo b/w Heads Or Tails	7	17	✔
Eddie Floyd1	I've Never Found A Girl (To Love Me Like You Do) b/w I'm Just The Kind Of Fool	2	40
Delaney & Bonnie1	It's Been A Long Time Coming b/w We've Just Been Feeling Bad
Linda Lyndel2	What A Man b/w I Don't Know	50		✔
Harvey Scales & The Seven Sounds5	Broadway Freeze b/w I Can't Cry No More			✔
Johnny Daye1	Stay Baby Stay b/w I Love Love
Bobby Whitlock4	Raspberry Ring b/w And I Love You
Judy Clay & William Bell1	Private Number b/w Love-Eye-Tis	17	75
Jimmy Hughes2	I Like Everything About You b/w What Side Of The Door	21
The Delrays6	Lollipop Lady b/w (There's) Always Something There To Remind Me
Lindell Hill6	Remone b/w Used To Be Love
The Aardvarks6	Subconcious Train Of Thought b/w Unicorn Man
Fresh Air6	Somebody Stole My Gal b/w Somebody Stole My Gal (Instrumental)
Judy Clay1	Bed Of Roses b/w Remove These Clouds
The Staple Singers1	Long Walk To D.C. (b-side starts next CD)			✔

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DISC FOUR
29 tracks, 79 minutes
Released September - November

Artist	Single	R&B	Pop
The Staple Singers1	Stay With Us
The Soul Children1	Give 'Em Love b/w Move Over	40
Johnnie Taylor1	Who's Making Love b/w I'm Trying	1	5	✔
Rufus Thomas1	Funky Mississippi b/w So Hard To Get Along With			✔
Carla Thomas1	Where Do I Go b/w I've Fallen In Love	38	86
The Mad Lads2	So Nice b/w Make Room	35		✔
Charmells2	Lovin' Feeling b/w Sea Shell
Jeanne & The Darlings2	It's Unbelievable (How You Control My Soul) b/w I Like What You're Doing To Me			✔
Southwest F.O.B.4	Smell Of Incense b/w Green Skies
The Village Sound4	Sally's Got A Good Thing b/w The La La Song
Eddie Floyd1	Bring It On Home To Me b/w Sweet Things You Do	4	17
Booker T. & The MG's1	Hang 'Em High b/w Over Easy	35	9	✔
Ollie &amp The Nightingales1	You're Leaving Me b/w Showered With Love	47
The Popcorn Generation4	Kitchy Kitchy Koo b/w Shake It
The Bar-Kays2	Copy Kat b/w In The Hole

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DISC FIVE
28 tracks, 78 minutes
Released November & December

Artist	Single	R&B	Pop
Dino & Doc2	Mighty Cold Winter b/w A Woman Can't Do (What A Man Do)
William Bell1	I Forgot To Be Your Lover b/w Bring The Curtain Down	10	45
The Goodees4	Condition Red b/w Didn't Know Love Was So Good
Mable John1	Running Out b/w Shouldn't I Love Him
Billy Lee Riley4	Family Portrait b/w Going Back To Memphis
William Bell & Judy Clay1	My Baby Specializes b/w Left Over Love	45	104
The Soul Children1	I'll Understand b/w Doing Our Thing	29
The Staple Singers1	The Ghetto b/w Got To Be Some Changes Made
Albert King1	Blues Power b/w Night Stomp			✔
The Epsilons1	The Echo b/w Really Rockin'
Rufus Thomas1	Funky Way b/w I Want To Hold You			✔
This Generation4	The Children Have Your Tongue b/w Give Her What She Wants
Daaron Lee4	Who's Making Love b/w Long Black Train
Johnnie Taylor1	Take Care Of Your Homework b/w Hold On This Time	2	20	✔

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Personal Memory (Loosely) Associated with this CD: My favorite civil rights story comes from 1966, not 1968, but the writings in the included book reminded me of this story so here it goes: My father attended Union Theological Seminary (now Union Presbyterian Seminary) in Richmond, Virginia and, upon graduation in 1962, was called to the Sardis Presbyterian Church in Sardis, Mississippi. Sardis is a small town on the edge of the Delta, about an hour's drive south of Memphis. A young preacher, 24 years old, dropped into a position of moral leadership in the Deep South, in the middle of the civil rights movement - I can't even imagine.

My parents in front of the church manse, 1962.

In June of 1966, James Meredith, who had integrated the nearby University of Mississippi in 1962, walked alone in the Meredith March Against Fear "to promote black voter registration and defy entrenched racism." Headed to Jackson, the march started at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis on June 5; Meredith was shot on June 6. Other organizations rallied to take Meredith's place and complete the march to Jackson. More on the march here or check out the 2014 book, Down to the Crossroads: Civil Rights, Black Power, and the Meredith March Against Fear by Aram Goudsouzian.

The march eventually entered Sardis on Hwy 51 and passed directly in front of the Presbyterian church. Like many churches in rural small towns, the church didn't have any locks on the doors. In preparation for the incoming marchers, the church's (white, male) board of deacons had met without my father's knowledge and decided to have locks put on the doors of the church in order to keep out any marchers; I feel confident in saying the deacons used the N-word instead of the term "marchers." In any case, my father walked up to the church to work one morning and saw the local locksmith putting strong Yale locks on the doors of the church. I'm sure my father made some small talk with the locksmith and carried on with his morning. After lunch, when he was alone, Dad returned to the church and removed the new locks. He simply believed (as I do) that a church is no place for bigotry (sadly, a message that many churches still need to hear these many decades later). Dad then took the locks and placed them on the bookcase directly behind his desk in his office so that anyone who entered the office would know precisely who had removed the locks. He claims nobody ever said a word to him about it. I'll bet there was plenty of talk about it, though.

Within six months, Dad had wisely accepted a call to another congregation. In December 1966, the family, including an infant named Mark, moved from Mississippi to the oil fields of West Texas, where they lived until 1978. Here's a photo of that infant child taken in 1968, around the time the songs found on disc 3 were released: