McLemore Avenue (Stax)

Performer: Booker T. & the MG's
Producer: Booker T. & The MG's
Distributor: Fantasy (distributor)

Notes: Booker T. & The MG's: Booker T. Jones (keyboards); Steve Cropper (guitar); Donald "Duck" Dunn (bass); Al Jackson, Jr (drums). Engineers: Ron Capone, Gordon Rudd, Rik Pekkonen. Digitally remastered by Phil De Lancie (1990, Fantasy Studios, Berkeley, California). Let it never be said that Booker T. and the MG's were conceptually timid. McLEMORE AVENUE, released in 1970, is a tribute to/cover of the Beatles' ABBEY ROAD, right down to the cover art featuring the MG's crossing McLemore Ave. (the location of Stax Studios) in the fashion of John, Paul, George and Ringo. The MG's recording takes tracks from the Beatles original (only "Maxwell's Silver Hammer," "Oh Darling!" and "Octopus's Garden" are absent), rearranges and threads them together in three distinct medleys. The treatments are generally faithful to the originals, though the occasional stylistic deviation, such as the lounge boogie of "Here Comes the Sun," keeps things interesting. The band fares best on the funkier numbers such as "I Want You" and "Come Together," while Booker T.'s keyboards nicely round out the "orchestral" feel of songs such as "Sun King." Thirty years of Beatles covers in elevators and department stores the world over may have made it difficult to listen to instrumental versions of "Something" without cringing, but the playing here is outstanding as always, and the disc/concept remains of interest to Beatles collectors and serious MG's fans alike.

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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