Wattstax: Highlights from the Soundtrack was issued in tandem with the restored DVD in 2004. Wattstax, referred to as the African-American Woodstock, was held in 1972 at the Los Angeles Coliseum with over 100,000 in attendance to hear live performances from the then-current roster of Stax Records. This single-disc reissue differs from the original double-disc collection in that it contains full performances of the songs included in the film as opposed to the actual concert, making this a much tighter program. The highlights include the Staple Singers’ “Respect Yourself,” the Bar-Kays’ “Son of Shaft/Feel It,” Albert King’s “I’ll Play the Blues for You,” and the previously unreleased versions of Luther Ingram’s “(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don’t Want to Be Right” and Isaac Hayes’s climactic rendition of “Theme from Shaft,” which alone makes this CD worth the price. – Al Campbell
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