The Memphis-based Stax label featured male/female duos from the very start, indeed two of their first releases were by the father and daughter duo of Rufus and Carla Thomas. It was not until 1969 though, that the duo idea developed into a full concept. At that time, Al Bell, the Stax executive, was trying to turn the Stax stable from a singles-based label into an all-round record company with strong album material. As part of that thrust, the company commissioned a special project to showcase the best female and male talent in a series of duets and this led to the release of Boy Meets Girl. In the US this was one of Stax's few double albums, but when released later in the UK, only a single-album subset saw the light of day.
Given her previous experience, it was not surprising that Carla Thomas was featured amongst the female artists on Boy Meets Girl. Carla has vocal pairings with Johnnie Taylor, William Bell and Eddie Floyd and also with Pervis Staples of the renowned gospel and secular group the Staple Singers. As the Staple Singers were a mixed female/male line-up that sang easily and well together, it made a lot of sense to use the Staples family as the other main source of artists for the concept. Consequently the strong-voiced Mavis Staples also appears singing with William Bell, Eddie Floyd and Johnnie Taylor and her sister Cleotha shares a song with Eddie. All the singers appear on the opening track Soul-A-Lujah.
The tracks for Boy Meets Girl were recorded principally at Ardent studios in Memphis and at the Fame Recording Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama with the backing musicians which later became known as the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section.
Additionally, some tracks were worked on at United Sound and at Terra Shirma studios in Detroit. As well as being the architect behind the concept, Al Bell was also the principal producer of the sessions, with help on many tracks from the likes of Isaac Hayes, Don Davis and Steve Cropper of Booker T & The MGs. Drawing on a mixture of specially commissioned songs and some pop/R&B classics such as That's The Way Love Is, Piece Of My Heart and All I Have To Do Is Dream, the double album became a clear artistic success. However, its sales recognition probably suffered from the project being in the midst of a welter of both Stax singles and album releases, not all of which could attract Stax's buying public at the same time. Here it is for the first time re-issued on CD
by Peter Gibbon.
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Track listing
ShowSide 1
- 01 Preview Soul-A-Lujah - Johnnie Taylor,Eddie Floyd,William Bell,Pervis Staples, Etc
- 02 Preview I Ain't Particular - William Bell & Mavis Staples
- 03 Preview Just Keep On Loving Me - Johnnie Taylor & Carla Thomas
- 04 Preview Ain't That Good - Eddie Floyd & Mavis Staples
- 05 Preview I Can't Stop - William Bell & Carla Thomas
- 06 Preview I Thank You - William Bell & Mavis Staples
- 07 Preview Love's Sweet Sensation - William Bell & Mavis Staples
- 08 Preview I Need You Woman - William Bell & Carla Thomas
- 09 Preview Never, Never Let You Go - Eddie Floyd & Mavis Staples
- 10 Preview Hold On This Time - William Bell & Mavis Staples
- 11 Preview That's The Way Love Is - Johnnie Taylor & Mavis Staples
- 12 Preview It's Our Time - Eddie Floyd & Carla Thomas
- 13 Preview It's Unbelievable (How You Control My Soul) - Pervis Staples & Carla Thomas
- 14 Preview Piece Of My Heart - Eddie Floyd & Mavis Staples
- 15 Preview Leave The Girl Alone - William Bell & Mavis Staples
- 16 Preview I'm Trying - Pervis Staples & Carla Thomas
- 17 Preview Don't Make Me A Storyteller - Eddie Floyd & Carla Thomas
- 18 Preview Strung Out - William Bell & Mavis Staples
- 19 Preview My Life - Johnnie Taylor & Carla Thomas
- 20 Preview It's Too Late - Eddie Floyd, Cleotha Staples
- 21 Preview I've Just Been Feeling Bad - Johnnie Taylor & Carla Thomas
- 22 Preview All I Have To Do Is Dream - William Bell & Carla Thomas
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