All the way from Memphis

In the pantheon [Steady on - Ed] of instrumental pop, there can be few acts more iconic [You've been warned - Ed] than Booker T & the MGs. 

The rhythm section of the Stax label house band, they recorded a track called "Behave Yourself" during some down time in the studio in the summer of 1962. The label's president, John Stewart, was in the control room at the time and loved what he heard, suggesting it would make a good A-side. The band then played him what would eventually become "Green Onions" and Stewart thought it would make a good flip side. However, following a chance broadcast of the acetate of "Green Onions" on local Memphis radio station WLOK, which attracted huge listener response, the sides were switched, the record became a massive hit and the rest, as they say, is history.

Here's the MG's guitarist Steve Cropper with the full story behind "Green Onions".

Of course, an album followed. To be frank, however, I find it rather a disappointment, mainly because it consists of covers of popular hits. This was a furrow the band would continue to plough with later albums, with one exception - the often  'difficult' sophomore  second [Don't push it - Ed] album. 

It took until 1965 for the second Booker T album to be released, although the intervening years saw several of its cuts released as single A and B sides, combined with tracks from their debut long player. However, unlike their debut, the album, "Soul Dressing", only had one cover amongst its dozen tracks and sounds far less 'polite' than anything they recorded before or since.

So what makes me consider this the band's best album?

Well, it's stripped down to basics - Hammond organ, guitar, bass and drums, with no overdubs that I can hear, and just one track with a horn section. No one overplays, which is surprising given the age of soloists Steve Cropper - in his early twenties - and Booker T Jones - still in his teens. The slightly older Al Jackson Jr on drums and Lewie Steinberg on bass are rock solid, providing the foundation for the younger men to build on. Of special note is Jackson's superb cymbal work throughout - it's where most of the swing comes from!

 Jones - Cropper - Jackson - Steinberg

Highlights? Well, every track is excellent, but here are my particular favourites.

"Jellybread" swings steadily as Cropper unleashes a nasty biting solo - a simple 12 bar blues, it reverts to a one chord vamp at the end as Jones plays about with pedal notes.

Cropper plays a very odd solo in "Plum Nellie" which has two passages of strange tremelo picked notes and then concludes with a manic strangled run, which a friend once joked was due to Cropper getting his cuff links caught in the strings. This track has horns.

Once again, on "Aw Mercy", it's Cropper who gets you raising your eyebrows. This time with his quivering, almost discordant, double stops. Jones ends the track neatly towards the fade with the pedal note trick going on again, whilst the rhythm moves about under him.

"Outrage" has become a popular cover track, with versions by Georgie Fame, Pete Bardens (with Peter Green) and Soullive. The original is the best, however, with Jones' agile Hammond alternating between  the main theme's descending minor riff and the bouncy major section.

Today, only Jones and Cropper remain from the original quartet, but both are still playing and releasing albums. What they achieved with the MGs was enough to secure their place in the R'n'R Hall of Fame, but that's before you factor in the performance and composition credits with everyone from Dylan to Neil Young and Albert King to Otis Redding. 

Unfortunately, very little video exists of the band, but here's a clip showing them playing a couple of set staples - "Green Onions" and "Booker Loo" - on French TV in 1968 that shows how tight they were live and how well they could jam. Donald "Duck" Dunn was on bass by this time.

Booker T and the MGs - so much more than "Green Onions"...

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