Friends, hold on to The Complete Stax/Volt Singers Collection. Squeeze it. Never leave it. After all, the best-known songs on Disc One alone are more than enough to make the case for Otis Redding You May Also Like: Otis Redding’s “Dock of the Bay” emerged out of crushing grief: ‘IRead More

Booker T.’s “Father Son Blues” — which, yes, features his talented offspring Ted Jones — opens with a grease-popping organ lick before recapturing a groove familiar to anyone who ever soaked up a Stax Records side back in the day. You May Also Like: It’s unclear when, or if, BookerRead More

Sporting a three-piece all-girl band, Prince recently asserted that he didn’t have time for collaborating with “old people.” Apparently, however, that doesn’t apply to his cover choices. You May Also Like: Pearl Jam, “Soon Forget” from ‘Binaural’ (2000): One Track Mind Is This the Best-Ever Prince Cover? Pearl Harbor andRead More

Anyone who came of age in the 1980s can instantly visualize one scene when hearing the name “Billy Vera and the Beaters”: Michael J. Fox and future wife Tracy Pollan slow dancing to “At This Moment” on the TV sitcom Family Ties. You May Also Like: Robin Eubanks Mass LineRead More

The best peace, love and harmony anthem of 1985 didn’t come from the composing pen of Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, wasn’t produced by Quincy Jones and not sung by hordes of rock music’s biggest stars. You May Also Like: How the Isley Brothers Made Seals and Crofts’ ‘Summer Breeze’Read More

The last recordings of an early rock legend had none of the crunchy grit of “Dizzy Miss Lizzy.” Instead, Larry Williams reimagined his sound.

It would be easy enough to tag this as Southern rock, or as blues, or even — at times — as gospel, were Randall Bramblett’s The Bright Spots not so consistently all of those things, and something more. You May Also Like: Sea Level, “That’s Your Secret” (1977): One TrackRead More

This is a first-time CD reissue in any form of Sam The Sham’s fine 1971 solo album, originally released on Atlantic Records and produced by the legendary Tom Dowd at Criteria Studios in Miami You May Also Like: Boz Scaggs + Duane Allman, “Loan Me a Dime” (1969): One TrackRead More

Michael McDonald’s “Judgement Day” has a ballsy gumption that his smoothed-out pop hits and plasticine Motown remakes scarcely aspire to.

Long a shadowy figure, Shuggie Otis had become known more for his absence than for psychedelic soul successes like 1974’s Inspiration Information and writing songs like Brothers Johnson’s No. 5 1977 hit “Strawberry Letter 23” You May Also Like: Otis Redding’s “Dock of the Bay” emerged out of crushing grief:Read More