Thank you for buying this record. What follows is its documentation: the pressing identified, the matrix / runout transcribed by hand from the dead wax, and the condition as assessed before it was listed. It is yours to keep with the record.

— Paul, Vinyl Curator

Margie Joseph

Margie Joseph Makes A New Impression

1970 · Volt Records VOS-6012 · Stereo · US · LP · 33 1/3 RPM

Pressing details

Label	Volt Records
Catalogue number	VOS-6012
Year	1970
Mono / Stereo	Stereo
Country	US
Format	LP
Speed	33 1/3 RPM
Genre	Soul - Southern Soul/Deep Soul
Producer	Fred Briggs, Darryl Carter (A Colsoul Production)
Performer / Orchestra	The Bar-Kays and Stax staff musicians; Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section
Musicians	Margie Joseph (vocals); Fred Briggs (keyboards), Winston Stewart (keyboards), Michael Toles (guitar), James Alexander (bass), Willie Hall (drums), Roy Cunningham (drums) on Stax tracks A2, A4, A5, B1, B6; Barry Beckett (keyboards), Eddie Hinton (guitar), Jimmy Johnson (guitar), David Hood (bass), Roger Hawkins (drums) on Muscle Shoals tracks A3, B2, B4; Lester Snell (keyboards), Marvell Thomas (keyboards), Cornell McFadden (guitar), Kirk Dudley (bass), Willie Pettis (drums) on Stax tracks B3, B5; Bobby Manuel on guitar on Stax-recorded tracks though credited only as engineer on the jacket - individual players are not credited on the original sleeve.

Matrix / Runout

Side A:  VS-0158
MATESTERCRAFT
HL
15323-X (1)
Side B:  VS-0157
M
HL
15323
(1)

Condition

Cover: VG
Vinyl: VG

Variant chronology

c.1970 - standard dark-blue label with red double-bolt device (Terre Haute or Monarch pressing)
c.1970 - yellow field with black double-bolt device, Monarch plant-error variant  <- this copy

This Pressing

Original US press (stereo, c. 1970) - Monarch yellow-bolt-label plant-error variant; VS-0157/VS-0158, Mastercraft marks, Δ15323/Δ15323-X.

The Album

Mississippi-born and church-trained, Margie Joseph arrived at Stax's Volt imprint in 1970 after early sessions cut with Muscle Shoals players while she was still based in New Orleans, and this debut LP became her definitive introduction to soul audiences. Producers Fred Briggs and Darryl Carter, working as the Colsoul team, built the record around a striking reinterpretation of the Supremes' "Stop! In the Name of Love," stretching it into an extended, dramatically monologue-prefaced centerpiece that showcased Joseph's gospel-trained phrasing and improvisational daring. The remaining material blended fresh Stax-Memphis originals with Muscle Shoals-cut sides, giving the album a hybrid Southern-soul sound that sat between the grit of Memphis funk and the polish of Alabama session musicianship. Joseph's voice - flexible, melodic, and more restrained than the era's belters - distinguished her from contemporaries and helped establish her as an underappreciated but critically respected deep-soul singer. The album arrived at a pivotal moment for Stax, newly independent from Atlantic and reshaping its Volt subsidiary's identity, and it helped signal the label's continued vitality in the early 1970s soul marketplace. Though never a major commercial blockbuster, it has grown in stature among soul collectors and critics as a showcase for both Joseph's artistry and the fertile Stax/Muscle Shoals creative exchange of the period.

Tracklist

Side 1

1. Monologue: Women Talk
2. Stop In The Name Of Love
3. Punish Me
4. Medicine Bend
5. Come Tomorrow

Side 2

1. Sweeter Tomorrow
2. Same Thing
3. How Beautiful The Rain
4. I'm Fed Up
5. Make Me Believe You'll Stay
6. Temptation's About To Take Your Love

The Label

Both side labels show a bright yellow field with the black "VOLT RECORDS" wordmark and a single large freestanding black double-zigzag/bolt device beneath it, followed by the artist name, quoted album title, catalog number VOS-6012, STEREO, and side/matrix data (VS-0157/VS-0158) at upper right - no ring text or arc band is present. This bold yellow-and-black bolt design is Volt's earlier/mid-1960s Atlantic-distribution-era house style; by the time this LP was actually issued in the newly-independent post-1970 Stax/Volt era, the era-correct VOS-6000-series design had shifted to the dark-blue label with red bolt seen on most copies of this catalog number, including Terre Haute and standard Monarch pressings. Monarch's pressing plant used leftover stock of this older yellow-bolt label in error on some VOS-6000-series titles, and the printed matrices (VS-0157/VS-0158) with Mastercraft/Monarch stampers on this copy are consistent with that recognized plant-error variant rather than the standard contemporary blue-label pressing.

Fidelity

This is the original-era analog US cut, with Mastercraft metalwork and Monarch pressing. The cutting engineer initials on this yellow-label variant are typically read as HC (Howard Craft) on standard blue-label pressings; the runout etching on this copy reads HL, so that attribution remains probable rather than certain. Monarch's work here is competent but not audiophile-grade, yielding a warm, dense midrange and the somewhat compressed presentation typical of early-1970s Stax/Volt product; clean vinyl is especially important through the extended eight-minute "Stop! In the Name of Love." No standalone modern audiophile LP reissue exists for this title, and collectors on the forums have not settled a fidelity consensus for it, so a clean original US pressing (blue or yellow label) remains the sonic reference point; the 1993 CD twofer reissue is not a fidelity competitor to a well-preserved original vinyl copy.

Notes

Original US Volt VOS-6012 stereo, pressed by Monarch, bearing the scarce older-style yellow-and-black double-bolt Volt label rather than the era-correct dark-blue/red-bolt design used on most copies of this title. This is identified by the yellow label design itself, the printed side matrices VS-0157 (Side One) and VS-0158 (Side Two), and the Mastercraft marks with Monarch Δ15323/Δ15323-X. The standard issue carries blue labels on both Terre Haute and Monarch pressings, confirming that this yellow-label copy is the deviant plant-error pressing. The album was first advertised/released in late 1970, though its chart run has led some to date it to 1971; it is not the 1972 "Phase II" follow-up, VOS-6016.

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