Stax Records, Craft Recordings Mark 50th Anniversary Of Wattstax Benefit Concert With New Releases

Celebrating 50th Anniversary

STAX RECORDS and CRAFT RECORDINGS will release a flurry of new titles paying homage to the iconic WATTSTAX BENEFIT CONCERT, which took place at the LOS ANGELES MEMORIAL COLISEUM on AUGUST 20th, 1972. "Soul’d Out: The Complete WATTSTAX Collection," "WATTSTAX: The Complete Concert" and "The Best Of WATTSTAX," plus two-LP reissues of the original soundtrack albums "WATTSTAX: The Living Word" and "The Living Word: WATTSTAX 2" will all be released on FEBRUARY 24th and are available for pre-order.

In celebration of the 1973 COLUMBIA PICTURES music documentary, SONY PICTURES will re-release "WATTSTAX" at participating ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE locations throughout the U.S. from FEBRUARY 24th. 

Created in conjunction with the annual WATTS SUMMER FESTIVAL to commemorate the seventh anniversary of the WATTS uprising in LOS ANGELES, the WATTSTAX benefit concert was attended by more than 100,000 people. It featured performances from STAX RECORDS’ most popular artists of the time, including ISAAC HAYES, THE STAPLES SINGERS, RUFUS THOMAS, CARLA THOMAS and THE BAR-KAYS. These releases are the first complete audio collections of what WATTSTAX creator and then-President Of STAX RECORDS, AL BELL calls the “most jubilant celebration of AFRICAN AMERICAN music, culture, and values in AMERICAN history.”

"Soul’d Out: The Complete WATTSTAX Collection" is a 12-CD box set featuring the complete 1972 concert plus recordings from the SUMMIT CLUB, including 31 previously unreleased tracks across the collection.  These recordings are housed in a folio with a 76-page, full-color book featuring an introduction by AL BELL, and new essays by ROB BOWMAN and SCOTT GALLOWAY. A previously unreleased version of the iconic soul funk anthem “Theme From Shaft” by ISAAC HAYES from his headline set at the concert is available to stream and download.  

Said BELL, “I believed then that soul music is an art form born of the AFRICAN AMERICAN culture, and that STAX should support the people who supported us. I also wanted to garner more recognition for our roster of Southern Soul artists by taking them to HOLLYWOOD for a performance that no one would ever forget.”

The double-LP soundtrack of the concert’s highlights, "WATTSTAX: The Living Word," was released several months after the benefit concert, selling more than 500,000 copies just weeks after its release. This was followed in 1973 by the MEL STUART-directed concert film, "WATTSTAX," which features RICHARD PRYOR as host and went on to be nominated for a GOLDEN GLOBE for Best Documentary in 1974. In 2020, the film was selected for preservation in the NATIONAL FILM REGISTRY by the LIBRARY OF CONGRESS as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

Just this week, STAX RECORDS founder JIM STEWART passed away at the age of 92 (NET NEWS 12/6).

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