I've just discovered that two tracks here actually have been released on CD before - Carla Thomas' "A Boy Named Tom" and Eddie Floyd's "Hey Now" were released in 2007 on their respective Platinum Collections via Warner UK, and Carla's track was also released back in 1994 on her Rhino US collection GEE WHIZ: THE BEST OF CARLA THOMAS.
ReviewGreat little collection that has hardly been off my CD player since it arrived on my doorstep a couple of days back.
It consists of 24 "B" sides from the "Blue Stax" era of 1964-68, none of which have ever before appeared on CD ..... and it is well over 30 years since CDs became commonplace!!
Generally the music is very typical of the mid-sixties Stax sound, with many of the tracks being very close to 12 Bar Blues and everything being totally devoid of any string sections.
Why some of these have never been made available on CD is a complete mystery to me as some of them are worth the price of the CD in their own right.
Current favourites are Rufus Thomas's embittered "Sho' Gonna Mess Him Up" (which he actually sings rather than shouts), Eddie Purrell's beat ballad "My Pride Won't Let Me", Lynda Lyndell's stormer at Track #23 and Dorothy William's perky "Watchdog" (one of those "Needle In A Haystack"/"Soulful Dress"/"Peaches 'N' Cream" type things that firmly places it in 1964).
Copies of these tunes available on YouTube aren't too clear in their sound quality. I wonder why? Oops, sorry, just remembered .... they've only recently become available on CD .....