The Best Of Booker T. & The MG's
View on Discogs
Album Summary
Released in 1968 on Stax Records, 'The Best Of Booker T. & The MG's' was a carefully curated collection pulling from the group's celebrated run of instrumental singles and album cuts recorded at the legendary Stax Studios in Memphis, Tennessee. The sessions that birthed these tracks were helmed by the band themselves alongside Stax production architects Jim Stewart and Al Jackson Jr., capturing that raw, organic chemistry that made the MG's the heartbeat of the entire Stax sound. This compilation arrived at a moment when the world was finally catching up to what Memphis had been cooking all along, giving new listeners and devoted fans alike a front-row seat to the groove.
Reception
- 'The Best Of Booker T. & The MG's' served as a definitive showcase of the group's commercial appeal, drawing renewed attention to singles like 'Green Onions' that had already proven themselves on the charts earlier in the decade.
- The compilation was warmly received as a testament to the group's instrumental prowess, with critics recognizing it as an essential document of the Memphis soul and funk movement.
- The album reinforced the MG's status as one of the most commercially and artistically successful instrumental acts to emerge from the Southern soul tradition.
Significance
- Booker T. & The MG's were living proof that the rhythm section wasn't just support — it was the soul itself, and this album crystallized that truth for an entire generation of musicians and listeners.
- The collection helped cement Stax Records' identity as the premier home of raw, unpolished groove music, standing in beautiful contrast to the more polished sounds coming out of Motown at the same time.
- Tracks like 'Green Onions' and 'Hip Hug-Her' on this album became cornerstones of the funk and soul instrumental tradition, directly inspiring the direction that rhythm-driven music would take through the 1970s and beyond.
Samples
- Green Onions" — one of the most recognizable instrumental riffs in American music history, this track has been sampled and interpolated by a wide range of hip-hop and R&B artists across decades, its hypnotic Hammond organ line proving irresistible to producers hunting for that raw Memphis feel.
- Hip Hug-Her" — the driving groove and punchy brass hits of this track have found their way into the crates of hip-hop producers, with its tight rhythmic pocket making it a natural source for sample-hungry beatmakers.
- Boot-Leg" — its propulsive, no-frills funk energy has made it a touchstone for producers looking to tap into that authentic late-60s Southern soul rhythm, appearing in various sampled forms across hip-hop and funk-influenced productions.
- Groovin'" — the MG's cool, laid-back reading of this track has attracted sampled use in hip-hop contexts, where its relaxed rhythmic feel lends an effortless smoothness to tracks built around it.
Tracklist
-
A1 Hip Hug-Her —
2:22
-
A2 Slim Jenkins' Place —
2:25
-
A3 Green Onions —
2:45
-
A4 Soul Dressing —
2:24
-
A5 Jellybread —
2:27
-
A6 Groovin' —
2:40
-
B1 Mo' Onions —
2:50
-
B2 Summertime —
4:35
-
B3 Boot-Leg —
2:03
-
B4 Can't Be Still —
2:57
-
B5 Tic-Tac-Toe —
2:30
-
B6 Red Beans And Rice —
1:55
Artist Details
Booker T & the MG's were the house band that held down the groove at Stax Records in Memphis, Tennessee, coming together in 1962 and laying down a sound so tight and soulful it became the very backbone of Southern soul and R&B. This interracial quartet — organist Booker T. Jones, guitarist Steve Cropper, bassist Donald "Duck" Dunn, and drummer Al Jackson Jr. — didn't just back legends like Otis Redding and Wilson Pickett, they stepped into the spotlight themselves with stone-cold classics like "Green Onions," a track so funky it still makes the floor move half a century later. Their significance runs deeper than the records, though, because in the racially charged South of the 1960s, four men of different backgrounds making music together at Stax was a quiet, powerful statement that the music itself didn't see color.
