Can't See You When I Want To - Stax 1965)
David Porter wrote the above great track which was played at the Blue Note and Wheel clubs in Manchester. However
David Porter is highly regarded and best remembered by soul fans everywhere as
half of the Stax song writing team Porter Hayes - with Isaac
Hayes.David Porter was born in Memphis, 21st November 1941 and lived in the McLemore Avenue area where Stax was later to be based inside a local defunct cinema.
Isaac Hayes and David Porter
He started his recording career as ‘Little David’ and as ‘Kenny Cain’.
He co-wrote a massive amount of songs for the Stax stable of artists.
Eventually he moved back into singing and found a new writing partner: Ronnie Williams.
STAX DISCOGRAPHY
Singles
Stax 163 : Can't See You When I Want To / Win You Over
Enterprise 9014 : One Part Love, Two Parts Pain / Can't See You When I Want To
Enterprise 9037 : If I Give It Up, I Want It Back Pt. I / If I Give It Up, I Want It Back Pt. II
Enterprise 9049 : Ain't That Loving You / I'm Afraid The Masquerade Is Over
Enterprise 9055 : When The Chips Are Down / I Wanna Be Your Somebody
Enterprise 9071 : Long As You're The One Somebody In The World / When You Have To Sneak, You Have To Sneak.
Enterprise 9090 : I Got You And I'm Glad / Falling Out, Falling In
Albums
GRITTY, GROOVY AND GETTIN' IT - Enterprise 1009
I Only Have Eyes For You/Guess who/I'm A-Tellin' You/Just Be True//The Way You Do The Things You Do/Can't See You When I Want To, Parts 1 & 2/I Don't Know Why I Love You.
INTO A REAL THING - Enterprise 1012
Hang On Sloppy/Ooo-Wee Girl//Too Real To Live A Lie/Grocery Man/I Don't Wanna Cry/Thirty Days.
VICTIM OF THE JOKE? AN OPERA - Enterprise 1019
If I Give It Up I Want It Back/When You Have To Sneak You Have To Sneak/Help/I'm Afraid The Masquerade Is Over//Storm In The Summertime/Pretty Inside/Human/Airplane Ticket-Bus Ride-Can I Borrow Your Car?
SWEAT AND LOVE - Enterprise 1026
Didn't Know Love Was So Good/Somebody Owns A Piece Of My Rock/(Seems Like) The One You Can't Have All By Yourself//Funny Money/I Can't Live With My Conscience/This Song Has No Title/Long As You're The One Somebody In The World/Falling Out Falling In.
VARIOUS : Win You Over (Ace CD 102); There's Something About Your Baby (Ace CD 116).
Stax Time line – from The World's Oldest Teenager, Rufus Thomas
1957 First Tennessee banker Jim Stewart begins recording country music in his wife’s uncle’s garage in North Memphis. Satellite Records is launched.
1958 Stewart moves his "recording studio" to Brunswick, Tennessee. Stewart’s sister Estelle Axton, then employed by Union Planters, mortgages her home to pay for recording equipment for the company.
1959 Stewart and Axton move to the old Capitol Theater, currently abandoned on McLemore Ave.
1960 WDIA disc jockey Rufus Thomas hustles over to the studio with his daughter, Carla and together they cut Satellite’s first hit, "Cause I Love You."
1961 Local high school r&b band the Mar-Keys cut an instrumental hit "Last Night" that sends Satellite Records soaring. Stewart takes the first two letters from his last name (ST) and adds the first two letters of his sister’s last name (AX) to form the new label name—STAX RECORDS. For the next 14 years, the hits from the corner of McLemore and College cannot be stopped.
1962 The Mar-Keys evolve into Booker T. and the MGs— forming the house band for the next 8 years of Stax hits, beginning a b-side, "Green Onions." Georgia crooner Otis Redding comes to the studio and begins a career that shoots straight to the top of the r&b as well as the pop world. William Bell hits with "You Don’t Miss Your Water."
1963 Rufus Thomas begins his dance-craze hit parade with "The Dog," "Walking the Dog," and "Can Your Monkey Do the Dog?" wiritten by Stax award-winning song-writers Isaac Hayes and David Porter.
1965 Sam & Dave come on the Stax scene. Immediately local musicians and Stax writers Isaac Hayes and David Porter take them under their wing and crank out an endless streak of hits including "I Take What I Want," "Soul Man," "You Don’t Know Like I Know," "Said I Wasn’t Gonna Tell Nobody," and "Hold On, I’m Coming."
1966 Eddie Floyd "Knocks on Wood," Carla Thomas hits on "B-A-B-Y," Albert King cuts the "Crosscut Saw," and Sam & Dave hit again with "You Got Me Hummin.’"
1967 Stax takes its show on the road to Europe—shaking the whole continent with Booker T. & the MGs, Carla Thomas, the Mar-Keys, Sam & Dave, and then wiping the audience out with Otis Redding. Redding slays the hippies at the Monterrey Pop Festival in California. The Bar-Kays score with "Soul Finger." The year ends on a sour note as Otis Redding’s plane goes down into Lake Monono, Wisconsin, killing Redding and most of the Bar-Kays who were touring with him.
1968 "(Sittin’ on) the Dock of the Bay," released posthumously, goes to number 1 on both the pop and r&b charts. Martin Luther King is shot in Memphis in April; riots ensue. Film company Gulf & Western buys Stax from Jim Stewart, Estelle Axton, & Al Bell in exchange for stock.
1969 In an effort to create a new catalog, Al Bell launches an aggressive release campaign—releasing 27 albums and 30 singles in one month. Stax hits hard with "Time is Tight" by Booker T. as well as "Who’s Making Love" by Johnnie Taylor. Isaac Hayes unleashes Hot Buttered Soul, his first of a string of million selling long-form albums.
1970 Stewart and Bell re-purchase Stax from Gulf & Western--expanding the label into jazz, comedy, country, spoken word, African, and rock.
1971 Isaac Hayes becomes a mega-superstar with the release of the soundtrack to Shaft, which eventually wins Grammies and an Oscar.
Staple Singers turn on the Wattstax crowd
1972 The Staple Singers come on board with "I’ll Take You There" and "Respect Yourself." Luther Ingram scores with "(If Loving You is Wrong) I Don’t Want to be Right." Bell negotiates a lucrative deal for CBS to distribute Stax. Wattstax concert takes place in L.A.—recorded and filmed for a later release.
1973 CBS begins ordering large quantities of records, paying large advances, then warehousing them. Unusual music business practices at Stax are investigated. IRS begins investigating Stax about another employee found carrying $100,000 in cash through an airport.
1974 Stax experiences extreme cash flow problems and cannot pay its bills or high overhead—including salaries for over 200 local employees. CBS sues Stax; Stax counter sues CBS. Union Planters takes over Stax’s publishing arm. Union Planters sues Stax, CBS, Al Bell, and Jim Stewart. CBS counter sues Union Planters.
1975 A record pressing company sues Stax and Stax cannot not meet payroll. Stax owes millions to Union Planters and loses most of its artists. Al Bell is indicted by a federal grand jury for bank fraud. Isaac Hayes sues Stax. Al Jackson is murdered. Union Planters forecloses on the publishing arm of Stax. Three small creditors—encouraged by Union Planters--force Stax into involuntary bankruptcy December 19, 1975.
1977 Stax’s master tapes are sold at bankruptcy auction for a fraction of value--$1.3 million. Fantasy Records in California buys the Stax catalog from Nassi & Assoc.
1981 Union Planters deeds Stax Recording Studios to Southside Church of God in Christ for $1.00.
1989 Southside Church of God in Christ tears down Stax Recording studio.
2000 Soulsville announces plans for Stax Museum of American Soul Music, Music Academy, and Performing Arts Center.