How do you condense fifteen years of arguably the most
important soul label (and Motown is the only reason it’s arguable) down to 60
songs? The new triple-disc comp Soulsville
U.S.A.: A Celebration of Stax
has the pluck to answer this question, and the answer is “as best as you can.”
The label’s most vital artists—among them: Sam & Dave, The Staple Singers,
William Bell, Rufus Thomas, Carla Thomas, Isaac Hayes, Eddie Floyd, Booker T.
& The M.G.’s, the immortal Otis Redding—are present with their very best-known
records. You don’t have to check the track listing to know that “Dock of the
Bay”, “Soul Man”, “Walking the Dog”, “Theme from Shaft”, “Green Onions”, “Mr. Big Stuff”, “Knock
on Wood”, “Gee Whiz”, “I’ll Take You There”, and “Soul Finger” are on board, which is the best one can
hope for when a CD set has to take on what Soulsville
U.S.A. takes on. Just be sure to manage your expectations when hunting out
your favorite oddities, because the ones I had my fingers crossed for—The
Astors’ “In the Twilight Zone”, Wendy Rene’s “Bar B-Q”, Rufus’s “Jump Back”, to
name a few—didn’t make the cut. But that’s just a testament to the greatness of
the rawest, wildest soul label, because capturing its greatness in any completely
satisfying way can only be accomplished by a massive undertaking like the 28-disc Complete Stax/Volt Singles
Collection series. As far as distillations go, Soulsville
U.S.A. completes the task with an unbreakable parade of essential hits and
powerful sound (loud but not quite brick-walled) that keeps it mono until well into 1968.
