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Across the country people are plotting their strategy for the fifth annual Record Store Day taking place this Saturday, April 21. Although an argument can be made for being among the first in line to open, that takes some of the fun out of it, and agoraphobics may wish should probably sleep in. On the other hand, cruising in after the crowd thins out means running the very real risk of discovering that the vinyl you were interested in sold out already.
There’s also the burning issue of deciding which releases are essential and which ones you can live without. There will be hundreds of records to choose from, and hundreds of hands pawing through them. Over in the 45 bins you’ll run across a box set that soul, funk and 45 fans that might be a bit much to process during the feeding frenzy, so here’s a heads-up: Never to be Forgotten: The Flip Side of Stax 1968—1974 brings together ten Stax 45s that are both overlooked and memorable. DJs hoping to play less obvious gems will be interested, but this Record Store Day will also appeal to folks like myself who gravitate less to the more pop oriented soul of that period and more to the more hard-edged stuff.
The Flip Side of Stax is split pretty evenly between songs that tell a story and tunes that are much more about the groove. The story-tellers include Mable John, a fine vocalists who kicks things off in style with the done-me-wrong saga “Running Out,” and Johnnie Taylor, whose “Hijackin’ Love” conveys urgency from the first notes he sings. The Mad Lads’ “Gone! The Promises of Yesterday” is a heartfelt great vocal group performance with more of a pop feel; stick around for the more upbeat B side, “I’m So Glad I Fell in Love with You.” The Emotions also deliver back-to-back gems with “My Honey and Me” and “Blind Alley.” Arranged chronologically, the box set ends with the 1974 pop-oriented piece, “The Whole Damn World is Going Crazy” by John Gary Williams.
Other cuts succeed due a strong groove and singers who are quite comfortable in the role of front man: Bernie Hayes’ “Cool Strut,” Lee Sain’s “Them Hot Pants,” Rufus Thomas’ “Itch and Scratch” and Roy Lee Johnson & the Villagers “The Dryer” all carry through to the B side because one side of a 45 isn’t enough when the dance floor’s hopping. That leaves Melvin Peebles, whose “Sweetback’s Theme” calls to mind Herbie Hancock circa Fat Albert Rotunda and whose “Hoppin’ John” may well be the funkiest track in this collection.
The packaging for The Flip Side of Stax is both practical and visually appealing. The flip-top box will fit neatly next to your 45 cases, and the black and white photographs of the locked-up Stax recordings tell you the end of the story in two stark images. The 84-page booklet gives the details from the beginning to the end and provides interesting background information on all the singles. The package comes with a digital download of all the tracks, which because playing all the vinyl would require dropping the needle twenty times makes it a lot easier to appreciate the gestalt of The Flip Side of Stax.
