Stay in School, Don’t Be a Dropout (1967) was not a commercial release and fewer than 10,000 copies are known to exist in its original vinyl format.

This was a DJ album, distributed to R&B/Soul radio stations in urban areas. It’s got no lead-in tracks, meaning that the DJ had to pick what announcement or song he wanted to play and place the needle by hand. Stax/Volt was clever, in that the tracks of songs they were selling were preceded by public service announcements by the artists themselves: Otis Redding, Carla Thomas, Eddie Floyd, William Bell, Sam & Dave, The MGs & The Mar-Keys.

Guess what’s in my old vinyl collection!