Pressing identification
Original Stax and Volt
soul 45s.
Memphis was the other half of 1960s soul. Stax Records and its sister label Volt cut some of the most-played and most collected 7-inch singles of the decade — Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Booker T. & the M.G.'s, Eddie Floyd, Carla Thomas, Albert King, Isaac Hayes. Original 1960s pressings on the Stax yellow-and-blue label or the Volt fingerprint label trade significantly higher than later reissues. Northern Soul collectors and dancers in the UK have been buying these for fifty years, which keeps the market liquid and the prices firm.
01
The labels and the eras
Stax and Volt are sister labels — same studio, same house band, distinct singles imprints. The label designs evolved through three distinct eras between 1960 and 1972.
1961–1968: yellow-and-blue Stax, fingerprint Volt. The early era. The Stax label was yellow with blue text and the snapping-fingers logo. The Volt label was deep indigo with a stylized fingerprint design. Both shipped from McLemore Avenue in Memphis with the catalog number printed clearly on the label. Atlantic Records handled US distribution.
1968–1970: glove-snapping Stax. After the Atlantic distribution deal ended in 1968, Stax shifted to a redesigned label with the glove-snapping-fingers logo on a darker background. Volt was folded into Stax during this period. Pressings from this era are still collected but trade lower than the 1961–68 originals.
1971–1975: the rectangular Stax label. The final Stax era used a rectangular center logo. Most of these pressings are reissues of the earlier catalog and are not first-press for the 1960s singles.
02
Value by canonical single
Recent sold-listing ranges for original Stax/Volt 7-inch singles in NM condition with the era-appropriate label and matching matrix runout. Northern Soul-favored sides trade at the top of the range.
| Single (year) | Label / catalog | NM value |
|---|---|---|
| Carla Thomas — Gee Whiz (1960) | Satellite 107 (pre-Stax) | $200–500 |
| Booker T. — Green Onions (1962) | Stax 127 (yellow) | $60–200 |
| Otis Redding — These Arms of Mine (1962) | Volt 103 (fingerprint) | $80–250 |
| Sam & Dave — Soul Man (1967) | Stax 231 (yellow) | $30–100 |
| Eddie Floyd — Big Bird (1968) | Stax 0007 (Northern Soul side) | $50–200 |
| Wendy Rene — After Laughter (1964) | Stax 161 (rare) | $150–600+ |
Sources: Discogs sold listings (90-day window), Popsike.com auction archive, Northern Soul Top 1000 pricing references. UK demo copies and promo pressings trade higher.
03
Why Northern Soul matters to the value
Northern Soul is the UK club scene that built itself around obscure American soul 45s starting in the late 1960s. The dancers prized rare imports from Stax, Volt, Motown, and dozens of smaller US labels. Some sides that flopped commercially in the US became Northern Soul standards in the UK and now command four-figure prices.
The Wendy Rene single “After Laughter (Comes Tears)” on Stax 161 is the classic example: modest US sales in 1964, a Northern Soul classic by the early 1970s, and now a $300–600 record in clean condition. The same dynamic applies to dozens of lesser-known Stax and Volt singles. A US-side seller asking $25 for a Wendy Rene 45 may be unaware of the UK collector market that values it at ten times that.
The Northern Soul effect is one reason original Stax/Volt 45s in clean condition consistently trade higher than equivalent LPs from the same artists. LPs went to home listeners; singles went to UK dancers, and the dancers wore out their copies.
04
If you have one
Pull the single. Look at the label first. The 1961–68 yellow-and-blue Stax label and the fingerprint Volt label are the first-press indicators for the canonical era. The catalog number is printed at the bottom of the label (Stax 1xx for the earliest era, then Stax 2xx; Volt 1xx through Volt 4xx).
Confirm with the matrix runout in the dead wax. Stax first-press codes are short — usually the catalog number plus an A1/B1 cut number. Promotional pressings have “DJ COPY” or “NOT FOR SALE” printed on the label and command premium prices, especially for Northern Soul-favored sides.
Or scan with Crown Vinyl. The app reads the label, catalog number, and matrix runout from a single photograph and returns the pressing era plus a current value estimate. Free on the App Store.
A few questions
The ones that come up.
Among commercially-released Stax/Volt 45s, Northern Soul rarities like Wendy Rene's 'After Laughter (Comes Tears)' on Stax 161 and obscure early Volt sides reach $300–600+ in NM condition. Promotional pressings and DJ copies trade higher. Pre-Stax Satellite Records singles (the predecessor label, 1957–61) are among the most valuable Memphis soul records in existence.
Same studio, same house band (Booker T. & the M.G.'s, the Memphis Horns), different singles labels. Stax was the parent imprint launched by Jim Stewart in 1959. Volt was launched in 1962 as a sister label to expand the artist roster without overloading the Stax catalog. Both were folded into Stax in 1968. Original singles on either label are collected with equal interest.
Northern Soul is the UK club scene that built itself around obscure American soul 7-inch singles starting in the late 1960s. UK dancers prized rare imports — including Stax and Volt sides that flopped commercially in the US. Some Stax singles that sold modestly in 1964 became Northern Soul standards in the UK by 1972 and now trade at multiples of their original retail price.
Generally no. Stax was primarily a singles label — most of the catalog's commercial weight was in 7-inch 45s. Original Stax LPs from the 1960s are collectible at $30–80 for clean copies, but the singles dominate the high-value end of the catalog because the singles defined the era and Northern Soul collectors specifically collect the 45s.
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