Can a revolution be based on assembly line craftsmanship? She can. The soul explosion of the sixties was unthinkable here (Motown/Detroit) as there (Stax/Memphis) without the work of people who wrote song after song day in, day out and sometimes even through the night. But this 7-CD collection also makes clear a difference between the big R&B workshops: While a Smokey Robinson with his Miracles only confirmed the rule that the Motown acts saw themselves as classical interpreters until the emergence of a Marvin Gaye, they were Borders at Stax more permeable from the start.
Firsthand teen love troubles
Down south, of all places, things were a bit more emancipated, both between black and white (Booker T. & The MG’s!) and between the sexes. That’s why a Carla Thomas could only succeed in Memphis. She wrote her first hit, “Gee Whiz (Look At His Eyes),” when she was just fifteen. Teen love troubles first-hand. Even more intriguing is Bettye Crutcher, who died last fall and wrote both alone and in a trio with Homer Banks and Raymond Jackson. Her Women’s Lib anthem “Too Much Sugar For A Dime” is available here in two versions, by herself and co-author Banks.
In general, it was not unusual at the time for men to at least try to take on the women’s perspective, also out of economic necessity. Henderson Thigpen would have had to pay extra for a demo singer for his “Woman To Woman”. Which didn’t stop Shirley Brown from turning it into a signature hit in 1974. Three CDs with over 60 “uncut songs” are a treasure trove to discover. But it is just as interesting to rediscover something familiar. Anyone who’s heard Mack Rice’s “Respect Yourself” demo will find it conclusive that the Staple Singers, who made a very different hit out of it, later sang the Talking Heads’ “Slippery People.”
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