Banana Juice / The Shovel
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Album Summary
Cut from the same raw, sweaty cloth as everything else coming out of Stax's hallowed McLemore Avenue studio, 'Banana Juice / The Shovel' was a two-sided instrumental single dropped by The Mar-Keys in 1965 on the Stax label out of Memphis, Tennessee. By this point in their run, the group had seen some shuffling through the ranks, but what never changed was that deep, unpolished Southern soul pocket they lived in — the kind of sound that felt like it was recorded in a room that still had soul soaking through the walls. The production carried all the hallmarks of the Stax house approach: lean arrangements, rhythm up front, and a groove that didn't ask permission from anybody. This was Memphis talking, plain and simple.
Reception
- As a mid-period Stax release, 'Banana Juice / The Shovel' was aimed squarely at the R&B market, where the Mar-Keys had always found their most faithful listeners, though this particular single did not reach the chart heights the group had seen in their earlier years.
- Within soul and R&B circles, the record was received as a solid, dependable entry in the Mar-Keys' catalog — a testament to their mastery of the Memphis instrumental groove even as their commercial momentum had begun to slow.
- Critical attention to this specific single was modest at the time of release, as it arrived as part of the group's steady stream of instrumental output during a transitional period for both the band and the Stax label itself.
Significance
- This single stands as a genuine artifact of the Memphis soul and funk instrumental tradition, representing the kind of rhythm-forward, feel-first artistry that The Mar-Keys helped build from the ground up at Stax.
- Releases like 'Banana Juice / The Shovel' were essential in cementing the Stax house band aesthetic — tight, groove-locked, and rooted in a rawness that set the Memphis sound firmly apart from the polished pop-soul coming out of Motown during the same era.
- The Mar-Keys' mid-1960s instrumental output, this single included, laid foundational groundwork for the Southern soul style that would go on to deeply influence funk, soul, and hip-hop producers in the decades that followed.
Tracklist
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A Banana Juice —
2:23
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B The Shovel —
2:16
Artist Details
The Mar-Keys were a soulful, gritty instrumental outfit out of Memphis, Tennessee, who came together in the late 1950s and burst onto the scene in 1961 with their raw, honking hit Last Night on Satellite Records, a track that practically invented the blueprint for the Memphis soul sound that would define an era. These cats weren't just a band — they were the house musicians at Stax Records, laying down the funky, sweat-soaked grooves behind some of the greatest soul records ever cut, making them one of the most influential and unsung forces in the history of American rhythm and blues. Their significance runs deep, because without the Mar-Keys churning out that infectious, organ-drenched sound in the Stax studios, the whole landscape of soul music might have taken a very different road.
