Southern Jazz Music

This is my prize CD. I am shocked tht it is not available for purchase on Amazon right now. It is an essential in any music lover's collection. This is AMERICAN MUSIC! It digs into your soul, it makes your whole body move, it transforms you. Those gravelly harmonies, the amazing range, the entire CD is full of memorable unforgettable songs. You do NOT have to be a bible thumping Christian to "get" the music. The inclusion of the legendary back-up artists, musicians is a testament to the respect and admiration the Blind Boys of Alabama enjoys in the real world of music. It transcends gospel. It is Gospel that that gets into your heart and mind and makes you glad you have ears to hear such joy, such rhythm, such music that makes you glad to be alive.
It is an essential album.

Yeah, that's right, I'm an atheist and a secular humanist. But I dig great music, period. And this is some rockin' sockin' gospel music, given a real nitty-gritty bluesy edge by the backup musicians. Their cover of Tom Waits' "Way Down in the Hole" is one of my favorite tracks of all-time in any genre (if you watched season one of "The Wire" you'll recognize it as the theme song). No need to believe in supernatural deities, folks - just believe in the power of the music to move a funky carbon-based life form.

They might have started singing over 60 years ago, and be older'n dirt but these boys can rock the house down. With the addition of some splendid steel guitar finger picking here, and some funky double bass there, it was a Grammy winner in 2001.

This was bought as a gift for a friend of mine who plays guitar and sings spirituals. He loves it and listens to it to lift his spirits!

They just have amazing voices. There are two Tom Waits songs on the album; and while i'm a big fan of Tom Waits, sometimes it's hard to hear how to sing his songs yourself. The Boys bring out their musicality in a way that's accessible for everyone - i can sing those songs in the shower now! ;) Great album!

I bought this package after visiting the Stax Museum of American Soul Music in Memphis. I've always enjoyed the old soul sound from the 60's, as performed by people like Sam and Dave, Otis Redding and many others. What I hadn't realized until touring the museum was that all this great music was truly produced out of love by a relatively small group of musicians and producers in an old abandoned theater they'd converted into a studio from scratch. For those not in a position to tour the museum, this album tells the story not only in printed word but with fifty of the best known hits they recorded. Read through the track listing and you'll see what I mean. And one thing about Stax, since the musicians and the artists worked together almost as a family, chances are if you like a song by one artist, you'll like them all. Among the best tracks here are Otis Redding's I've Been Loving You Too Long, Johnnie Taylor's Who's Making Love and the late Isaac Hayes' mind blowing Theme From Shaft. There are also some long forgotten gems like William Bell's You Don't Miss Your Water and Mel and Tim's Starting All Over Again. The Stax 50th Anniversary Collection is great music that needs to be heard not only for its historical place in popular culture, but also because it's as much fun to listen to now as it was thirty, forty and fifty years ago. And if you're not familiar with the story behind the music, the booklet provided will shed some light into the blood, sweat and tears that was Stax records. Plus, the cover has a really neat hologram of the famous Stax logo. You can actually make the fingers snap by moving the box! And finally, after listening I highly recommend you find time to tour the museum in Soulsville, Memphis, Tennessee. It's outstanding!

If the hologram snapping fingers on the cover don't give any indication of the lively, funky, toe-tappin' Southern soul that Stax put out, you should put on this box set for an introduction. For a very affordable price, it covers most of the major hits from the biggest artists of the label, including Otis Redding, Carla Thomas, Booker T. and the MG's, Sam and Dave, Johnnie Taylor, and Isaac Hayes, and includes songs by less famous acts that you'd be hard-pressed to find represented by an easily available compilation. Stax was the best soul label ever, grittier than Atlantic and Motown, and with an exuberant, passionate spirit that made it all its own.

I used this CD at a happy hour and got many compliments on it. It is such easy listening, smooooooooooth and smoky! Highly recommend it. gz

This is a very good selection, and it all sounds good- it's a good remastering job all the way through.

After seeing a 2-hour program on Stax records on PBS, I think, I simply had to get this 2 CD set. It was a bargain and well worth it.