THE MEMPHIS SOUND AT THE FORUM : AN ALL TOO BRIEF, DIM ALL-STAR REVUE

As Mr. Presley was slipping ever deeper into the shadows during the mid-’70s, another Memphis legend was going down for the count. The brain child of a country fiddler named John Stewart, Stax Records--the second most successful black label in history--was the county seat for Southern soul music throughout the ‘60s and early ‘70s.

Blending gospel, R&B; and country, the Memphis sound put most of its money on the rhythm section; a Stax record tends to mosey real easy through a slow, sexy groove that’s punched up with sassy eruptions from the horn section and career performances by some of the finest black vocalists in pop history. A series of corporate miscalculations led to Stax’ demise in 1975 and few of the artists who made their name at the label have matched the work they did there.

Some of the prize ponies from the Memphis stable were reunited at the Forum on Saturday for an all-star revue best described as frustrating. Playing to a small if enthusiastic audience, Wilson Pickett, the Staple Singers, Booker T. Jones and Sam Moore turned in brief, greatest hits sets that were all too obviously tailored to the phalanx of TV cameras that surrounded them.

Opening the show was Sam Moore, who, along with former partner Dave Prater, served as the model for the Blues Brothers. Backed by Billy Cioffi and the Monte Carlos, Moore proved that the dudes who wrote the book still tell the story best. A powerful vocalist of great charm and spirit, he could still teach the new breed a thing or three about how to put a song over.

Next up was Booker T. Jones who scored a handful of instrumental hits in the ‘60s as the leader of the MG’s. The group’s string of easy-listening pearls made for a rather low-key set; however, they sounded positively incendiary compared with his new material which is cast in the formulaic “Miami Vice” sound-track mode. Booker sings on the new tunes and in so doing, illustrates why the MG’s hits were all instrumentals.

Things picked up considerably with the Staple Singers, the vocal quartet responsible for fantastic pop-gospel gems like “I’ll Take You There” and “Respect Yourself.” Mavis Staples is one of the most distinctive female soul singers to ever sneak out of church and slip into the local juke joint, and those two threads come together beautifully in the Staples’ music, which is warm, joyful and a tad lowdown and dirty.

Closing the show was Wilson (“In the Midnight Hour”) Pickett, and though the Wicked Pickett still sings like a werewolf, he seems to be a voice in need of career guidance. Pickett recently released his first album in seven years and it doesn’t bode well that the highlight of the LP is a re-recording of 1965’s “Midnight Hour.” In keeping with the plan of the evening, Pickett ran through his impressive backlog of hits and had the crowd dancing in the aisles.

All told it was an enjoyable enough evening but it seems sad that these artists, still in their relative prime, are reduced to the golden oldies circuit; with proper production and some good advice they could scale the charts again. But of course, we’ve seen time and again that when an artist scores a classic pop hit, the public will never let him forget it. They’ll want to hear it over and over, and what’s more, they’ll pay him to do it. It’s a temptation many artists seem unable to resist.