Otis Redding was the native king of singers in Stax of Memphis, but the fact was that Sam & Dave, dispatched from Atlantic, had larger hits. As you can hear Hold On, I'm Comin', When Something is Wrong with My Baby, Soul Man, I Thank You and so on, their gospel-derived dynamite singings and call-and-responses were the one and only attraction among duos of that age. I used to find and lend not only Otis' albums but Sam & Dave's at libraries and to enjoy listening to their music and looking at their original sleeves. On "The Best of Sam & Dave" you can have their essential tunes, many of which were written and produced by Isaac Hayes and David Porter.
Originally each of them formed a doo-wap group and contested each other and cut some sides from non-Stax labels, and then they could join in Stax because of skills in keyboard-playing for Hayes and in song-writing for Porter. Since then they teamed up with each other in song-writing. According to the interviews of David Porter which I read on a book called "Soulsville U.S.A.", which was written by Rob Bowman who had gathered almost everything about Stax for years, it seemed that Hayes mainly did composing tunes and directing instrumentals and Porter mainly did making lyrics and instructing singings. While Stax sides of the age commonly had loose and tight and comfortable grooves performed by Booker T & the MG's and Memphis Horns, and had non-dilutedly passionate and fervent singings delivered by singers, what made Hayes=Porter compositions more characteristic than others was that the two men tied up melodies for a song's stirring development and linked up the part of each singer's solo or chorus or call-and-response for a song's variety. Mr. Porter admittedly told that they fairly referred to Motown's Holland=Dozier=Holland, and , meanwhile, they exerted soulful operations on their tunes in the way they brought traditional spirituals into the lyrics. The definitive Stax compilation "The Stax Story" gives you Hayes=Porter sides including not only Sam & Dave but pretty Carla Thomas' B-A-B-Y and Let Me Be Good to You and sorrowful Mable John's Your Good Thing (Is About to End).
The two golden song-writing men, however, met the turning point. That was exactly that Stax ended distribution contracts with Atlantic and it led to Sam & Dave's return to Atlantic. Although just after the affair they produced new-face artists, the success and heavy schedule of Isaac Hayes as a singer naturally ended the two men's partnership. After deeply depressed, David Porter decided to team up with Ronnie Williams for song-writing but ended with less successes. As a singer you can hear David Porter's Can't See You When I Want to in '65 on "The Stax Story". In spite of his tasty delivery, he seems to be hidden behind Stax's soulful singers because of his thinner impression. It's a pity that he also should have no charm like Isaac Hayes' sexy low voice. On Isaac Hayes' rare compilation "Wonderful", Hayes had duets with Porter in Ain't That Loving You (For More Reasons Than One) and Baby I'm-A Want You, both of which remind me of the former Sam & Dave tunes with early '70s' funkiness and show their brief reunion. It is said that Hayes and Porter used to sing Sam & Dave tunes and win applause at some local clubs. I come near to catching the scene in my eyes.
Moreover, Porter released three albums in his own right, only one of which can be got on CD, "Victim of The Joke?--An Opera". It has a pretty ambitious and unique construction : a story of a man who fell in love with other man's woman is played on interludes of songs. The tunes are pop souls with female choruses and strings, different from those of Sam & Dave. Ironically, many of its reviews on Amazon.com say that they need the rest two albums' re-print rather than commenting on the album itself. Most of various ideas are brought from artists and ended without others' recognition in reality. David Porter's solo activity was likely to be among them, though he never came back to the good past. It is interesting that he shows the aspect which you cannot find only in success stories of the kind. (2005/03/16)(2006/11/28)