American, based in Memphis, Tennessee. In 1957 Jim Stewart and his sister Estelle Axton started up a label called 'Satellite', aimed initially at the Country Pop market. Its first single, 'Blue Roses' b/w 'Give Me Your Love' by Fred Byler and Tunettes (S-100), was issued in January 1958 and failed to make an impression. Five more singles followed in that same year; they too failed to sell in any numbers, though a couple of them - 'Boppin' High School Baby' b/w 'Warrior Sam' by Don Willis (S-101; 4/58) and 'You Drive Me Crazy' b/w 'Say Anything But Not Goodbye' by Ray Scott & The Demens (S-104; 10/58) - are now sought after by Rockabilly enthusiasts. Stewart and Axton then opened a record shop, which proved to be far more successful. Customers brought masters in, and in the autumn of 1959 Satellite was relaunched, with a new series of catalogue numbers and a new slant, this time towards Soul / R&B. One of those masters, 'Cause I Love You' b/w 'Deep Down Inside' by Carla & Rufus (Thomas) (S-102; 8/60), gave Satellite its first hit, when it was sold to Atlantic and reissued on the Atco label. The money from the deal financed further recordings. Carla Thomas's follow-up, 'Gee Whiz' b/w 'For You' (S-104; 10/60) was also bought and reissued by Atlantic, who then picked up 'Last Night' b/w 'Night Before' by The Mar-Keys (S-107; 6/61) on a distribution deal ('Billboard', 29th May 1961).
A change of name took place in 1961. 'BB' of the 11th of September reported that following the discovery by Stewart of another Satellite label his Satellite was being rebranded as Stax, taking its name from the first two letters of his and his sister's surnames. A couple of months later, Stax gained a sister-label, Volt. The distribution deal with Atlantic was extended to cover all Stax singles and many Volt ones, and the hits began to flow. 'BB' of the 11th of December 1961 commented that The Mar-Keys had contributed to what had been a good year for Atlantic; the following year 'BB' of the 15th of September 1962 observed that 'Green Onions' b/w 'Behave Yourself' by Booker T. & The M.G.s (S-127; 7/62) was 'currently hot', while in the late Spring of 1963 Rufus Thomas's 'Walking The Dog' b/w 'You Said' (S-140; 9/63) was reputed to have sold more than 25,000 copies on one day, the 16th of September ('BB', 5th October). By the end of 1964, Stax could boast of the presence of big-sellers such as Booker T. & The M.G.s, Rufus Thomas, Carla Thomas, William Bell and Otis Redding on its roster ('BB' 26th December). The duo Sam & Dave, previously with Roulette, came on board in 1965, as did Al Bell, who took on the job of national director of promotions and was to go on to play a prominent part in the Stax story.
The success of Stax prompted Atlantic to make efforts to give it its own label identity worldwide. 'BB' of the 29th of October 1966 revealed that its records were planned to appear under its own label in Britain - they had previously been issued on Atlantic. Not content with continually hitting the top of the R&B Charts, Stax launched a 'Pop' label called 'Hip' to complement its 'highly successful' Stax and Volt ('BB', 26th November 1966). In passing, the article noted that Stax employed six songwriters to provide material for Stax / Volt artists. Atlantic's Ahmet Ertegun was quoted by 'BB' of the 31st of December 1966 as saying that Stax / Volt was the 'Hottest R&B firm in the business', with 'the strongest artist roster'. He added that 1966 had been an 'impressive' year for the company, which is hard to dispute.
'BB' of the 8th of February 1967 was able to say that Stax would make its debut as a label in the UK in March. It duly did so, and 'BB' of the 1st of April noted that three of its early releases here - Eddie Floyd's 'Raise Your Hand' b/w 'I've Just Been Feeling Bad' (601001; 3/67), 'Soothe Me' b/w 'Sweet Pains' by Sam & Dave (601003; 3/67), and Otis Redding's version of 'Day Tripper' b/w 'Shake' (601005; 3/67) had all charted. Back in the States, Al Bell had risen to the level of executive vice president by the time that autumn rolled around ('BB', 16th September), and many companies - Stax / Volt among them - were expressing concern about singles being bootlegged. A spokesman for Stax in 'BB' of the 28th of October claimed that pirated copies of Stax singles had been 'run off by the thousands'. The article went on to say that a new label design in several colours was to be introduced in an attempt to make the bootleggers job more difficult - it made its debut in June the following year. Stax was able to celebrate a gold record for Sam & Dave's 'Soul Man' late in 1967 ('BB', 25th of November), and 'BB' of the 6th of January 1968 was able to report that Stax's sales figures for 1967 had been impressive, 100% up on those of the previous year; but the year 1967 ended badly with the death of Otis Redding in an air crash on the 10th of December. According to 'BB' of the 23rd of December he had been selected as the world's top male vocalist by the UK's 'Melody Maker' some three months earlier, dethroning Elvis Presley - Presley had held that title since 1956. Redding's untimely death led to a surge in the sales of his records: 'BB' of the 16th of March 1968 reported that his posthumously released 'The Dock Of The Bay' b/w 'Sweet Lorene' (Volt, 45-157;1/68) had sold more than a million copies and had hit the No.1 spot in the Hot 100.
1968 turned out to have some big changes in store. It started quietly enough, with the addition of a Jazz label, 'Enterprise', to the Stax / Volt / Hip stable ('BB', 27th January), and included plans for expansion both in Memphis and St. Louis ('BB', 23rd March). Then, on the 11th of May, 'BB' broke the news that Stax had parted company with Atlantic. The terms of the deal included Stax material up till that time continuing to be handled and repackaged by Atlantic - a fact which Stewart later said that he had failed to notice among the 'small print'. The label also lost Sam & Dave, who had been contracted to Atlantic but whose records had been issued on Stax for the past couple of years. The following week, 'BB' of the 18th of May revealed that Stax was to lose its independence - it was to be acquired by Gulf & Western Industries, the owners of Paramount Pictures, as part of that company's diversification into the music field. The deal covered Volt as well as Stax's publishing interests. Stewart was to continue as president, and Bell as vice president. Under its new ownership, Stax planned for expansion: 'BB' of the 29th of June talked about increasing the artist roster, building a studio, entering the Film and TV Soundtrack markets, enlarging the Hip and Enterprise labels, and addressing promotion, marketing and distribution at home and abroad. An early arrival came in the shape of The Staple Singers ('BB', 10th August), who joined from Epic Records.
Initially the signs were good for Stax under its new owners. 'BB' of the 26th of April 1969 quoted Stewart as saying that the company's first year as a fully independent division of Gulf & Western had been the most successful in its ten-year history, and that the forthcoming sales conference in May would give details of Stax's largest LP release schedule ever, consisting of twenty-five titles. At some point in 1969 Estelle Axton sold her interest in Stax, ending a relationship which had been in existence since the company's formation; and towards the end of the year Tom Nixon was named director of production control, with responsibility for overseeing all aspects of production - a task previously undertaken by Al Bell. 1970 saw the introduction of another new label, 'Respect', for spoken word recordings ('BB', 20th June); perhaps more significantly in terms of sales it found Enterprise artist Isaac Hayes shifting increasing numbers of records - 'BB' of the 11th of July told its readers that his second album had gone gold and was heading for platinum. The relationship between Stax and Gulf & Western was, however, turning out to be a difficult one, and 'BB' of the 25th of July reported that Stewart and Bell were attempting to buy Stax back, with funding from Deutsche Grammophon. If the deal went through, DGG would get equity in the company and would be given worldwide licensing rights, through Polydor. According to Bell, the problems with Gulf & Western revolved around 'philosophical difficulties' and 'red tape issues'. Happily the negotiations were successful; 'BB' of the 15th of August was able to say that the sale had taken place the previous week. The year ended with management changes: Hayes was named senior vice president of A&R, while writers and producers Steve Cropper and David Porter were made vice-presidents.
Stax continued to be one of the country's most prominent Black Music labels into 1971. The hits kept coming, and it enjoyed its first successes with Black film soundtracks, in the form of 'Shaft' and 'Sweet Sweetback's Badasssss Song'. Bootlegging continued to be a problem: according to a company spokesman in 'BB' of the 27th of November it was estimated that some 40% of the 'Shaft' LP had been lost to bootleggers. As a result, extra security surrounded the recording and release of Isaac Hayes's new album, 'Black Moses'. The measures seem to have been successful to a certain extent, as 'BB' of the 18th of December was able to report a 25% drop in the piracy figures. The company had ambitions to widen the scope of its musical interests, though 'BB' of the 22nd of May declared that it intended to do so without diminishing its involvement in its mainstay R&B. Sure enough, a couple of months or so later 'BB' of the 3rd of July informed its readers that Stax was moving 'strongly' into the Country field, and that Chuck Chellman's Nashville-based agency had been recruited to promote the company's Country product. The venture appears to have been delayed, as 'BB' of the 26th of February of the following year was still talking about Stax being about to enter the Country field with a package by O. B. Clinton, which was to come out on the Enterprise label.
At the start of 1972 Stax introduced another new label, 'Gospel Truth'. According to 'BB' of the 29th of January it was aimed at the Youth market, and its aim was to marry 'truth' lyrics to a contemporary backing. Dave Clark was put in over-all charge of it. Other expansion plans included investing in a Broadway musical and in the production of Black films ('BB', 26th of February). In addition the company upped its interest in sheet music, for the likes of piano and marching bands - the theme from 'Shaft' was proving popular ('BB', 15th January). An agreement was signed to distribute the Ardent label ('BB', 22nd April), while on the home front The Dramatics' 'In The Rain' b/w ' 'Good Soul Music' (Volt, VOA-4075; 2/72) went gold and 'I'll Take You There' b/w 'I'm Just Another Soldier' by The Staple Singers (STA-0125; 3/72) achieved platinum status ('BB', 24th June). A notable development in 1972 was that Al Bell took over ownership of the company; Jim Stewart remained on board but with reduced responsibilities. Bell signed a distribution deal with CBS for the Stax labels in November, to take effect when the current arrangement with Polygram came to an end. On the non-music side, 'BB' of the 8th of April commented approvingly that Stax was taking a prominent part in many civic enterprises in Memphis.
At the start of 1973 Al Bell was able to claim that the previous year had been one of 'landmark achievement' for Stax; the company was more heavily into the Entertainment field than ever before, a film featuring several of its artists, 'Wattstax', was due for release, and it had moved into the areas of Gospel, Country and - via the 'Partee' label - even Comedy ('BB', 20th January). 'BB' of the 10th of February remarked that a big budget had been allocated for the promotion of 'Wattstax' and its associated records; the same article quoted vice president for advertizing and promotion Larry Shaw as saying that the Stax film division was 'here to stay'. Stax's efforts on the Country front gradually began to gain momentum. 'BB' of the 12th of May observed that for a year it had had only one Country artist - O. B. McClinton - on its books, but added that Enterprise - which it referred to as Stax's 'Country' label - was increasing its efforts: four more artists had been signed and negotiations were being carried out with others. A shadow was cast over matters with the news that Stax was under investigation for an alleged 'kickback' scheme, where free records and tapes were supplied to distributors for unspecified 'kickbacks' ('BB', 1st September).
Stax's involvement in Country music continued to grow slowly in early 1974. In 'BB' of the 9th of February Jim Stewart was reported as saying that the company was 'not plunging into Country but making its move gradually and carefully'. An agreement had been signed with independent Country producer Leslie Butler, who would be bringing four more artists to the Enterprise label. A rather surprising development was reported in 'BB' of the 20th of April, which said that 10-year-old British singer Lena Zavaroni had been brought under contract. The move was put forward as evidence of Stax's determination to broaden its musical scope, and Zavaroni's management was said to have approved her signing to Stax rather than to Phonogram or Capitol - who were competing for her signature - because the other companies already had 'an abundance of white talent'. At that time, however, there were signs that all was not well. The same issue of 'BB' commented that Stax was exploring the possibility of returning to independents for distribution, which suggested that the deal with CBS was not working out. The article claimed that Stax's representatives were asking for large sums of money upfront from the distributors in the event of the company's returning to them.
Troubles started to come to a head in the autumn of that same year. Firstly Isaac Hayes was freed from his contract as part of an out-of-court settlement after bringing a $5.3m lawsuit against Stax ('BB', 5th October 1974). Then the following week 'BB' of the 12th of October revealed that a Federal Grand Jury had ordered Stax to hand over records of its 1973 financial transactions in order that officials might determine if 'additional tax liabilities' were due - the article added that Stax had been under investigation for over a year. The week after that, 'BB' of the 19th of October reported that CBS had obtained a restraining order against Stax, preventing it from breaking their distribution deal. Bell was alleged to have given verbal notice of terminating the deal on the 2nd of October, since when no Stax recordings had been supplied to CBS for distribution. Finally for the month, 'BB' of the 29th of October suggested that Stax might be in financial trouble. It said that, acting as an intermediary, Representative Dan Kuykendall had written to CBS suggesting that for CBS to sue Stax into continuing their business relationship would lead Stax into bankruptcy.
November brought no relief, just a flurry of further lawsuits. 'BB' of the 9th reported on a couple of them. In the first, Stax sued CBS, alleging that it had failed to distribute Stax's product properly and had omitted to place its records where CBS's own records were being marketed; that it had over-ordered Stax records and left them unsold; and that it had withheld more than $2.3m in due sales revenue, leaving Stax unable to meet its payroll - Stax had been forced to cancel Isaac Hayes's contract the previous month as they had been unable to pay him. In the second, comedian Richard Pryor sued Stax for $30,000 in back royalties and in addition sued the publisher for $12,500. 'BB' of the 30th of November added that the Union Planters National Bank was filing a suit against Stax and CBS in an attempt to end CBS's 'virtual ownership' of Stax - CBS had loaned Stax $2m in 1972, when the distribution deal was agreed, and one of the terms was that the sum had to be paid back before the deal was cancelled. There was time left for another lawsuit before 1974 ground to a halt: 'BB' of the 26th of December revealed that the Premier Record Company was suing Stax for more than $350k in royalties and was seeking a full accounting, alleging $200k of 'fraudulent activities'. To add to Stax's problems, its number of hit records had dwindled.
1975 brought no relief. 'BB' of the 13th of September observed that Stax's telephone had been 'temporarily' disconnected because of its financial condition, and added that a lot of people believed that, despite denials, the company was about to close its doors. Responding, a company spokesman said that Stax was releasing new LPs from its entire roster and that other releases were scheduled in the near future. The same issue of 'BB' brought news of a further legal action, with a firm called Studio Instrument Rentals seeking $9,000 for rehearsal and recording facilities and 'related goods'. In December, Stax closed down, mired in bankruptcy litigation.
The legal matters continued into 1976. 'BB' of the 16th of October told its readers that the IRS claimed that Al Bell - currently the chairman and sole stockholder of Stax - owed more than $500k in various taxes, and that taxes had been deducted from paychecks but had not been passed on to the IRS. The following week, 'BB' of the 23rd reported that Bell had counter-claimed that the IRS owed him $1m in accumulated tax credits. Six months or so later, 'BB' of the 12th of March 1977 stated that in the wake of a three-year audit by the IRS, Bell had won his legal battle against a fourteen-count fraud indictment. To return to the business of 1976, in November the bankruptcy court permitted Stax to sell 3,300 master tapes to help pay off its debts. 'BB' of the 11th of December, reporting on the development, reckoned that as the moneys raised would cover only what was owing to CBS the decision was likely to be appealed - the Union Planters National Bank was another major creditor.
Notice of the bankruptcy sale of Stax, to be held on the 26th of January 1977, was placed in 'BB' of the 22nd. The auction duly took place, and 'BB' of the 5th of February was in a position to say that the masters had been sold to the NMC Company, of Los Angeles, for $1.3m - NMC was a subsidiary of Sam Nassi & Associates. Jesse Selter, chairman of NMC, was quoted as saying that a 'new Stax' was 'a definite possibility' but that if it happened it would be in Los Angeles, not Memphis. 'BB' of the 19th of February noted that $300k from the profits of the sale had been paid to the estate of Otis Redding, against unpaid royalties. The appeal forecast by 'BB' in December of the previous year took place, brought by both CBS and the Union Planters National Bank, but it was dismissed, clearing the way for the sale to NMC to be finalized ('BB', 26th February). The bank did however end up with Stax's publishing arm, East Memphis Music; it was sold to Al Bennett, ex-president of Liberty and at that time head of Cream Records ('BB', 12th March). The article added that the bank had foreclosed on Stax early in 1976 for failure to make payments.
Unsurprisingly, Stax's back catalogue attracted the interest of other record companies. The first to make a successful move for it were Fantasy Records. 'BB' of the 11th of June 1977 reported that Ralph Kaffel of Fantasy was negotiating with Milt Israeloff - who had control of the Stax catalogue - about possible 'Twofer' album releases. A couple of weeks later 'BB' of the 25th of June was able to state that Fantasy had gained the rights to distribute Stax material in North America. The rights had been agreed with a company called Elen Entertainments, which retained ownership of the masters - by that time Elen had purchased Stax from Nassi and Selter. Fantasy intended to make a push in the contemporary Black Music market, and the licensing of the Stax material - both back catalogue and unreleased - was a part of that push. In addition new acts were to be recruited. Fantasy's Stax records were to carry a slightly modified logo. The deal appears to gone a stage further before long: 'BB' of the 24th of December referred to Fantasy's having purchased Stax's back catalogue earlier in the year. Fantasy put some effort behind its new acquisition. 'BB' of the 5th of November 1977 commented that following the release of 'several dozen' singles of old Stax material, and with albums in the pipeline, Fantasy was opening an office in Memphis with the aim of tieing it into the Stax revival. In addition, new artists were being signed. 'BB' of the 19th of November was able to name the first new signing: it was Fat Larry's Band. Fantasy brought David Porter back into the Stax fold; formerly vice president of Volt, he took on the job of vice president of A&R and Talent, and he began to negotiate with several old Stax acts ('BB', 17th December). Porter was quoted in 'BB' of the 24th of December as saying that his aims were to help to restabilize Stax and to help to preserve and augment the label and the Memphis sound. The same article noted that the first thrust of a major Stax revival was under way: several new artists had been signed and several old ones re-signed.
Sadly the Stax revival appears to have had limited success, at least in the field of newly-recorded material. David Porter resigned as the vice president of Fantasy / Stax's Memphis branch in 1979 ('BB', 5th May), and the final new Stax single was released in the States the following year. Fat Larry's Band was switched to the Fantasy label, while the other artists currently on Stax's books moved to other companies. The Stax label did however continue on into the '80s - and out of the range of this site - as a reissue concern, still owned by Fantasy.
In Britain Stax's records were initially licensed to Decca by Atlantic. They appeared first alongside those of Atlantic on the London 'headstone' label which a prominent reference to Atlantic on it; initially a mention was made of Satellite (1) or Stax on records originating with that company, but the reference disappeared at the end of 1961. From mid 1963, Stax singles were taken off the 'headstone' label and put back on the ordinary London label, with the reference to Stax restored (2). Atlantic was given its own label identity in the summer of 1964, from which point Stax singles came out on Atlantic with nothing to mark their separate origin. The practice continued after Atlantic moved to Polydor in the late spring of 1966. Stax was eventually given its own separate identity here in early 1967, alongside Atlantic as a member of the Polydor family. Its records had the same light blue label as its American parent, and catalogue numbers were in the 601-000s. As was generally the case with Polydor labels, singles came with either solid centres (3), three-pronged push-out ones (4) or large spindle holes and 'spiders' (5). 'Record Retailer' of the 2nd of February 1967 commented that the launch of Stax was due to take place on the 1st of March as part of a 'massive expansion drive' of Polydor, which would also include the introduction of the Camp and Track (q.v.) labels and the revival of Storyville.
The purchase of Stax by Gulf & Western in May 1968 didn't affect the Stax label here immediately. 'RR' of the 15th of May 1968 noted that Gulf & Western had an agreement with EMI through its Dot label (q.v.), but said that it couldn't be assumed that Stax would join Dot at EMI when the agreement with Polydor expired, as the Dot deal didn't give EMI the automatic right to other G&W labels. A few months later, however, EMI 'captured the release rights' to Stax ('RR', 28th August). 'RR' of the 25th of September was able to break the news that three Stax singles were scheduled for release on October the 18th. With the move to EMI a yellow label (6) was adopted, similar to the new one used by Stax in the USA, and singles were issued in a STAX-100 numerical series.
After Deutsche Grammophon provided funds to help Stewart and Bell buy Stax back from Gulf & Western, Stax returned to Polydor in November 1970, as reported in 'RR' of the 28th, and the first records under the new arrangement came out in January 1971. The label design remained basically the same at the time of the change-over, though a reference to Polydor replaced that to The Gramophone Co. Ltd. at 9 o'clock. Singles from this era were given numbers in a 2025-000 series, and usually had solid (7), three-pronged or large-holed (8) centres; some pressings were done by Orlake, presumably at times when the Polydor / Phonodisc presses were busy - these tended to be solid but the markings in the centre were different (9; contrast with 7). From June 1973 injection moulded labels were used (10). 'Music Week' of the 20th of May 1972 said that John Abbey's 'Contempo International' company was handling the release and promotion of Stax's records at that time; Contempo International was performing similar functions for Polydor's 'Mojo' label. Later that year the agreement with Contempo was ended and responsibility for Stax's UK issues was placed in the hands of Polydor's 'Pop product' manager Malcolm Jones ('MW', 30th September). In July 1974 Stax moved on to Pye; the numbering became STXS-2000 and paper labels returned, either four-pronged (11) or solid (12). According to 'MW' (20th of July 1974) the deal was supposed to last for five years, but, sadly, Stax's terminal financial difficulties brought it to a premature end. Stax records continued to be released by Pye for almost a year after its American parent had gone to the wall; presumably the material on them had been made available to Pye before the crash took place.
In late 1977, under its new owners Fantasy, the Stax label reappeared and made a return to EMI, which was handling Fantasy at that point; 'MW' of the 12th of November said that Fantasy had licensed the Stax catalogue to EMI. Initially a red label and a STAX-2000 series were used for reissues (13) and a purple-and-white label and a STAX-500 series for new releases (14), though copies of at least a few oldies came out on the purple-and-white label (15) probably in another burst of reissuing or re-pressing. Fantasy and Stax stayed with EMI until the autumn of 1980. Early that year the closure of EMI's Licensed Repertoire Division, which had been responsible for looking after the two labels, caused 'chaos' according to 'MW' of the 26th of January; the article added that the job of handling them and several other licensed labels was to be passed to Liberty / UA from the start of February. Perhaps because of that chaos Fantasy and Stax reached an agreement with RCA for the distribution of 'selected product' in September; RCA were already handling Fantasy's 'Prestige' and 'Milestone' labels (q.v. both). 'MW' of the 13th of September, reporting on the deal, said that a full licensing deal was yet to be agreed. When Stax singles were eventually issued through RCA, in February 1982, the yellow label returned but the numbers changed again, to STAX-1000.
Demos of the light-blue Stax singles were marked with nothing more than a date stamp, after the Atlantic manner of that period. Demos from the first EMI period were the standard EMI 'green with big white A' of the time (16); from mid 1969 these were replaced by issue labels with appropriate overprinting (17). There were no special demo labels during the second Polydor term, a small sticker on an issue being reckoned sufficient. The first few Pye demos had EMI-style overprints (18), the remainder had the Pye-style large central black 'A' (19). When Stax returned to EMI, in 1977, demos retained that Pye style (21), though on a handful of early examples the 'A' shrank (20). As for company sleeves: the purple one (16) dates from the first EMI era and the black one (17) from the Pye years, while Polydor-period singles seem to have come in plain white sleeves.
Although revered by Soul fans, and deservedly so, Stax was far less successful over here than it was in its native land, a fate that befell most American labels of the '60s and '70s. Artists who sold tons of records in the States tended to find Chart success in Britain hard to come by, and those Stax singles which made it into the Chart frequently stalled in the mid to low regions. Otis Redding's 'Dock Of The Bay' b/w 'My Sweet Lorene' (601-031; 2/68) provided the company with its biggest hit, reaching the No.3 spot, but only one of his other eleven hits, including two with Carla Thomas, managed to crack the Top 20 (five of them were on Atlantic). 'Time Is Tight' b/w 'Hang 'Em High' by Booker T. & The M.G.'s (STAX-119; 4/69) and Isaac Hayes's 'Theme From Shaft' b/w 'Cafe Regio's' (2025-069; 11/71) both peaked at No.4, while 'Private Number' b/w 'Love-eye-tis' by William Bell & Judy Clay (STAX-101; 10/68) got to No.8, but those were the only Stax singles to enter the Top 10. No Stax single was a hit here after 1972, unless you count the 1979 re-reissue of 'Green Onions' b/w 'Boot Leg' by Booker T. & The M.G.'s, which came out on Atlantic (K-10109; 11/79) and climbed to the No.7 position.
The discography below only covers the 1970s, and it is full of holes, many of which are down to the fact that the numbers were either used for overseas issues or not used at all. It should be noted that the dates on the labels of Stax singles can be misleading, as popular records were reissued several times on different types of label.
Copyright 2006 Robert Lyons.