PHILLIP RAULS SHARES A DOSE OF REMINISCENCE

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Photo Page 3 offers a collection of photographs featuring friends and associates who touched people's lives thru their original music. The time frame captured here is regarded as one of the greatest periods in rock 'n' roll history. These artists along with their music combined with classic snapshots seen throughout this website are some of the most defining moments in pop-culture.

The photograph below is a noteworthy Christmas Card sent-out in 1972 to radio station Disk Jockeys and print media Music Journalist as a tongue-and-cheek holiday greeting. The Atlantic Records promotion team earned the industry nickname as known as "The Heavies" hence the T-shirt boasting 'Atlantic Is Heavy.'

Pictured below: British Rock group YES in their original lineup consisted of Steve Howe, Tony Kaye, Chris Squire, Jon Anderson and Bill Bruford.

YES first American tour benifited by landing on the bill opening for the heralded Jethro Tull's "Aqua Lung Tour." After pleading with his supervisors at Atlantic Records, Phillip was given the approval to tour with the band and schedule media interviews for the up-and-coming Rock group.

James "Jimmy" Griffin (1943-2005) was the co-founder of the soft-rock supergroup, BREAD. Griffin was known for his sincere charm and warm personality which established him as everyone's favorite rock star.

Jimmy Griffin of BREAD was a Memphian who holds the proud distinction of co-writing the Oscar-winning song titled "For All We Know" by The Carpenters. Known for his Blue Eyed Soul vocals, silky harmonies and darn-good looks, Jimmy's career expanded over four decades.

The entrance to STAX Records was located in the hood of South Memphis and was a converted movie theater also known as "Soulsville USA."

Stax Records was founded by Jim Stewart and Astell Axton and grew from a small record company into a major force within the industry. The company was located in an old movie house in South Memphis. Through these doors came the likes of The Mar-Keys, Booker T. & The MG's, Carla & Rufus Thomas, William Bell, The Bar-Kays, Johnny Taylor, Eddie Floyd, Sam & Dave, Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, Luther Ingram, Albert King, Fredrick Knight, Little Milton and The Staple Singers. Stax's Pop Division produced artists Don Nix, Larry Raspberry and The Highsteppers and Big Star.

Legendary producer Chips Moman

Lincoln "Chips" Moman's long list of production credits reads like an encloypedia (for details see Phillip Rauls Photolog 'Archives October 2005'). After leaving Stax and opening his own studio, American Recording Studio became known as a haven for the top musicians and songwriters.

Bassist Donald "Duck" Dunn of Booker T. & The MG's is another Memphian who is tops in his profession.

Duck Dunn along with guitarist Steve Cropper, drummer Al Jackson Jr. and keyboardist Booker T. Jones made-up the instrumential combo known worldwide as Booker T. & The MG's. As a spin-off from The Mar-Keys, the band would become the bedrock of Stax's studio sound. Duck along with Don Nix produced Delaney & Bonnie's 1st album released on Stax Records.

Robert Palmer first surfaced in the late 1960's as a vocalist in a 12-piece jazz-rock outfit named Dada. When the group disbanded Palmer joined the R&B based group named, Vinegar Joe.

In 1970, Atlantic Records' Vinegar Joe won the prestegious award Group of The Year in UK music magazine Melody Maker. But Robert Palmer was only a back-up singer in the Brit's version of a Soul band. After several unsuccessful American tours, Vinegar Joe disbanded and Palmer persued a solo career with Island Records distributed by Atlantic. A very unusual career circumstance occured as Phillip promoted Robert Palmer's music on three different record labels over a period of four decades; Atlantic Records, Island Records and EMI Records. His long-term association with Robert Palmer and his music remain as his most memorable.

YES's bassist Chris Squire turns to ask a question as Phillip snaps a photo.

Many of Phillip's photos were snapshots that were captured while traveling between venues.

Original tour shirt from the early 70's

Phillip Rauls and Jimmy Griffin (below) were both from the same hometown of Memphis, TN. They remained good friends and business associates through the years.

Although Memphis was considered a large metropolitian city, it remained small enough for most local musicians to work together on various recording projects as seen below.

In this rare STAX Records press photo (courtesy The Stax Site), here Booker T. Jones along with The Staple Singers with Duck Dunn, Al Jackson Jr. and Steve Cropper pose as they rehearse for a recording session.

STAX Records' extensive history is well documented by clicking-on the above link.

Producer Chips Moman (L) departed STAX (Satellite Records) to start his own recording studio and struck gold with his first million seller titled, "Keep On Dancing" by The Gentrys. Pictured here is Moman with The Gentrys leader Larry Raspberry and former road manager of the group, Phillip Rauls.

Phillip Rauls and Robert Palmer*

*Phillip Rauls and Robert Palmer worked together in the early 70's when Palmer was a vocalist with the British soul band, Vinegar Joe on Atlantic Records. Then again in the 1980's on Robert Palmer's Island Records monster release, "Riptide" that gained platinum status. In the 1990's they were reunited for still a third stint when Robert Palmer signed with EMI Records and experienced multi-success both as a platinum selling recording artists and also a video superstar.

Photo Page 3 concludes with this defining narrative by Phillip reflecting on the emergence of two great record labels; "Out of all the successful record company alliances, the STAX Records and Atlantic Records era together offer a wealth of material for archive review and remain as the greatest combination of two independent artistic resources working together to conquer a single economic agenda. While Stax and Atlantic were riding the charts, other competitive record companies and recording artists alike were trying to capture an idenitical sound for their own product. The timeless music produced during that magical period sounds just as good today as it sounded way back then."

To my knowledge, I am the only remaining person who worked for both Stax and Atlantic Records" offered music industry veteran Phillip Rauls. "I'm speaking of being an employeCe of both compaines rather than working in their distribution system" he further stated. "Stax Records and it's association with Atlantic Records was extremently benificial to both compaines and will Copyright 2005-2021 All Rights Reserved - Duplication Prohibitied as one of the most profound periods in history of American music. Names like Jim Stewart, Steve Cropper, Otis Redding and Jerry Wexler will reign in music history for many generations."