Animated Video Focuses on Gospel Aspect of Historic Wattstax Benefit Concert

Craft Recordings created an animated video of an Eric Mercury track “I Shall Not Be moved (Live From Wattstax).” The video focuses on the gospel aspect of the historic Wattstax Benefit Concert in Los Angeles on August 20, 1972.

Created in conjunction with the annual Watts Summer Festival to commemorate the seventh anniversary of the Watts uprising in Los Angeles, the Wattstax benefit concert was attended by more than 100,000 people. It featured performances from Stax Records’ most popular artists of the time, including, but not limited to, Isaac Hayes, The Staple Singers, Rufus Thomas, Carla Thomas and The Bar-Kays. These releases are the first complete audio collections of what Wattstax creator and then-President of Stax Records, Al Bell calls the “most jubilant celebration of African American music, culture, and values in American history.”

In celebration of the 1973 Columbia Pictures music documentary, Sony Pictures will re-release Wattstax at participating Alamo Drafthouse locations throughout the U.S. from February 24.

Also available on February 24: Stax Records presents Wattstax: The Complete Concert. Released by Craft Recordings, the collection celebrates the 50^th anniversary of the iconic WATTSTAX concert that took place at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in 1972. The six-CD package includes the full Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum show with speeches and other talk from the stage. The set also features a full-color book with introduction by Wattstax creator Al Bell, plus new essays by Rob Bowman and A. Scott Galloway. Featured artists include Isaac Haves, Eddie Floyd, The Staple Singers and more.