On this week’s edition of the Bovine Ska and Rocksteady, in honor of Fundraising Week at WMBR, we decided to pick a special theme for the show. After a few weeks of debate, we finally settled on the winner in the wee hours of the morning a few days before the show….Stax versus Motown covers!

The rules were as follows:

1. Each artist from each label would get three songs to be represented by covers by Jamaican artists.
2. One Motown artist would face one Stax artist at a time

Heralding from the famed Hitsville U.S.A., our Motown competitors were:

1. The Temptations
2. Smokey Robinson and The Miracles
3. The Four Tops
4. Stevie Wonder
5. The Jackson Five

And, battling against those Detroit giants were the Memphis Stax champions:

1. Booker T. & the M.G.’s
2. William Bell
3. Eddie Floyd
4. Otis Redding

With brilliant source material from these American soul champions, Jamaican stars such as The Heptones, Pat Kelly, Ken Parker, and Bob Andy recorded some incredible interpretations that we were thrilled to share for this special occasion on the Bovine Ska and Rocksteady.

Decide who should win the battle between Stax and Motown by listening to the show HERE.

Enjoy! The archive link will be available until 11/24/2014.

THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO PLEDGED!  SPECIAL THANKS TO KEVIN DAVLIA, SABINA MADDILA, and ELLE TRAIN for answering the phones.