Rockabilly singer Billy Lee Riley had booked some studio time and needed a backing band. Little did anyone realize at the time that those musicians would later be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.<\/p>\n
Organist Booker T. Jones, guitarist Steve Cropper, bassist Lewis Steinberg, (replaced by Donald \u201cDuck\u201d Dunn), and drummer Al Jackson Jr. were respected session musicians when they decided to jam with the leftover studio time from the Riley sessions. The result was \u201cBehave Yourself,\u201d which Stax label president Jim Stewart decided to release as a single. The only problem was a B-side was needed and so one of the most recognizable instrumentals in rock history was born. \u201cGreen Onions\u201d became a huge pop and rhythm & blues hit and Booker T. & The M.G.s were born.<\/p>\n
Their debut album, named after their big hit, was released during October of 1962. It included both sides of their hit single, another original titled \u201cMo\u2019 Onions\u201d and nine covers. It remains a seminal instrumental release and a key issue in the brilliant Stax catalogue. It now returns as a part of the Stax Remasters Series in a cleaned-up form with 24-bit remastering, a nice booklet which presents a history of the band and album, plus two live bonus tracks.<\/p>\n
The three original tracks are the highlights of the album as they are a fusion of funk and blues. Steve Cropper\u2019s riff on the title track is both subtle and memorable. One can almost feel the rhythms as the song percolates along. \u201cBehave Yourself\u201d is a lot rawer and has a more jam like feel to it. \u201cMo\u2019 Onions\u201d may not be the equal of the first two, but it remains a fine funky concoction in its own right. Cropper\u2019s playing off Steinberg\u2019s bass lines was unique at the time.<\/p>\n
It was customary during the late 1950s and early 1960s to surround a hit or two with covers of some memorable songs of the day when creating an album. Booker T. & The M.G.s followed this formula but managed to take many of the songs in unexpected directions. Ray Charles \u2018 \u201cI Got A Woman\u201d and \u201cLonely Avenue,\u201d The Isley Brothers\u2019 \u201cTwist And Shout,\u201d Herbie Mann\u2019s \u201cComin\u2019 Home Baby,\u201d and Jackie Wilson\u2019s \u201cA Woman, A Lover, A Friend\u201d are twisted and tuned all out of shape but eventually return to their basic structure.<\/p>\n
The two bonus tracks are live versions of \u201cGreen Onions\u201d and \u201cCan\u2019t Sit Down\u201d recorded at the Ballroom in Los Angeles during 1965 with Duck Dunn on bass. While they have been released previously, they are always welcome.<\/p>\n
In many ways, Green Onions <\/i>is a trip back in time but one well worth taking as it catches one of the best instrumental groups in American music history at the beginning of their career. Booker T. & The M.G.s have created a lot of good music during the last 50 years but Green Onions <\/i>remains one of their best works of art.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":31055,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[8712],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-42739","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-booker-t-the-m-g-s","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42739\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42739"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=42739"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=42739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}