Soul Men

Performer: Booker T. & the MG's
Distributor: Ryko Distribution

Notes: Booker T. & The MG's: Booker T. Jones (keyboards); Steve Cropper (guitar); Lewie Steinberg, Donald "Duck" Dunn (bass); Al Jackson Jr. (drums).3 Compilation producers: Roger Armstrong, Colin MacKenzie, Alan Taylor, Peter Gibbon. Includes liner notes by Rob Bowman. Personnel: Steve Cropper (guitar); Booker T. Jones (keyboards); Al Jackson, Jr. (drums). Liner Note Author: Rob Bowman. Arranger: Ramsey Lewis. Although all of these 25 cover versions were recorded in the '60s, none of them were released at the time. Unfortunately, info as to the exact dates of the individual tracks has been lost, though Stax scholar Rob Bowman's liner notes figure that most of them were cut between 1965-1968, with some possibly dating from 1962-1964. Putting all of them onto a single disc decades later might seem like a vault-cleaning exercise of secondary material. But this turns out to be a surprisingly good and vibrant collection of instrumental soul interpretations of rock, soul, and pop hits of the '60s, even if it's not up to the level of Booker T. & the MG's more famous hits and original numbers. Even though these were often laid down quickly before or after sessions on which the band was backing other artists, most of these don't sound like throwaways. They're characteristically disciplined and imaginative, and the scope is remarkably wide, taking in Beatles songs, blues ("Wang Dang Doodle" and "Baby Scratch My Back"), Motown, straight pop ("Downtown"), and even some songs on which Booker T. & the MG's actually played on the original recordings (Sam & Dave's "Soul Man" and "When Something Is Wrong with My Baby," and Eddie Floyd's "On a Saturday Night"). Not all of the reworkings are top-notch; the Beatles' "You Can't Do That" is taken at a jazzy shuffle that doesn't suit the tune. But most of them are very good, and not straight copies of the original arrangements, with the band effectively cooking up different tempos and simmering guitar/organ interplay. ~ Richie Unterberger

Living Blues (11/03, p.101) - "...Finely crafted little gems that perfectly meld the leader's minimalist organ with Steve Cropper's pungent guitar lines, rock-solid bass from Lewis Steinberg or Duck Dunn and the nonpareil drumming of Al Jackson..."

Booker T. & the MG's, led by soul organist Booker T. Jones, were the house band for much of the music that came out of Memphis in the 1960s on the Stax label. Their instrumental releases--typified by their minimalist classic "Green Onions"-- were the very definition of soulful economy, supple chops and laidback funk--truly regal stuff.

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