Green Onions and Other Hits

Performer: Booker T. & the MG's
Distributor: Gotham Distributing Corp.

Notes: There have been few backing bands in the history of rock that were as great as Booker T. & the MG's. As the "Stax band" of the '60s, the quartet's most impressive contribution to popular music was backing some of soul music's greatest names -- Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Sam & Dave, etc. But Booker T. & the MG's also issued their own all-instrumental recordings -- scoring quite a few sizable hits on their own. While 2003's Green Onions and Other Hits doesn't include every single Booker T. highlight (at only a mere ten tracks in length, how could it?), it does include some of the band's best-known selections, including the groovy title track (which was used to great effect in the movie American Graffiti), "Hip Hug-Her" (used splendidly in another movie, Barfly), and "Boot-Leg," which features some great Jimi Hendrix-ish guitar courtesy of Steve Cropper. There are a multitude of more extensive Booker T. & the MG's collections out on the market (the single-disc The Very Best of Booker T. & the MG's, the box set Time Is Tight, etc.), but for an affordable sampler of the fantastic Booker T. & the MG's, give Green Onions and Other Hits a try. ~ Greg Prato If there's a problem with this collection, Best of Booker T. & the MG's, it's that it's way too short. One would be hard up to quibble with the main selections here, because tracks like "Green Onions," "Hip Hug-Her," "Soul Dressing," "Chinese Checkers," and the "Green Onions" sequel "Mo' Onions" are all vintage Booker T. & the MG's sides, full of that greasy precision that makes them the best-ever instrumental soul band. This band is so good, however, that a best-of collection with only ten cuts just seems criminally brief. ~ Steve Leggett

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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