The Very Best of Booker T. and the MG's [Stax]

by Booker T. & the MG's

Overview

It's impossible to imagine Southern soul existing at all without the powerful input of Booker T. & the MG's, one of the grittiest and most precise rhythm sections in the history of pop music. The MGs were the house band for Stax Records and its imprints Volt and Chalice, and played on virtually everything the label released, backing Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Wilson Pickett and any other Stax artist one can think of, and managed as well to release 23 singles and 11 albums under their own name between 1962 and 1971. The core lineup included keyboardist Booker T. Jones, guitarist Steve Cropper, drummer Al Jackson, Jr., and bassist Donald "Duck" Dunn (Lewis Steinberg was the bassist for the first two years, replaced by Dunn in 1964), and together they managed to sound both loose and offhand while still being tight as a piano wire, turning out seemingly effortless and bottomless soul grooves. This set has the obvious Stax highlights, including the classic "Green Onions," "Hip Hug-Her," "Time Is Tight" and several others, and it essentially duplicates Rhino's 1994 release that sports the same title. The liner notes to the package are brief but informative (one learns that Booker T. did not play on "Boot-Leg," for instance, since he was away working on a music degree at the University of Indiana when the tracking was done and was replaced for the session by the one and only Isaac Hayes), and while this set isn't that different from several other "best of the MGs" albums on the market, it hits all the right notes in all the right places, and that should be the tagline for this band: they hit all the right notes in all the right places. And they did it, time and time again, with soul. ~ Steve Leggett

Product Details

Release Date:	06/19/2007
Label:	Fantasy / Stax
UPC:	0888072302938

Tracks

1. Green Onions
2. Chinese Checkers
3. Mo' Onions
4. Soul Dressing
5. Boot-Leg
6. My Sweet Potato
7. Booker-Loo
8. Hip Hug-Her
9. Groovin'
10. Slim Jenkins' Place
11. Soul-Limbo
12. Heads or Tails
13. Hang 'Em High
14. Over Easy
15. Time Is Tight
16. Mrs. Robinson
17. Soul Clap '69
18. Something
19. Sunday Sermon
20. Melting Pot

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Booker T. & the MG's   Primary Artist

Technical Credits

Paul Simon   Composer
Jennifer Peters   Project Assistant
Rikka Arnold   Project Assistant
Kirk Felton   Remastering
Isaac Hayes   Composer
Cheryl Pawelski   Compilation Producer
Chris Clough   Project Coordinator
Eddie Brigati   Composer
Felix Cavaliere   Composer
Charles "Packy" Axton   Composer
Donald "Duck" Dunn   Composer
Dominic Frontiere   Composer
George Harrison   Composer
David Gorman   Design
Rob Bowman   Liner Notes,Compilation Producer
Stuart Kremsky   Project Assistant
Art Jerry Miller   Composer
Al Jackson, Jr.   Composer
Steve Cropper   Composer
Booker T. Jones   Composer
Lewie Steinberg   Composer
Larissa Collins   Art Direction
Arthur Nakata   Design