The Best of Booker T. And the M.G.S

Booker T & The MG's: Booker T. Jones (keyboards); Steve Cropper (guitar); Lewis Steinberg, Donald "Duck" Dunn (bass); Al Jackson (drums).
Additional personnel: Wayne Jackson (trumpet); Charles Axton (tenor saxophone.
One of the finest soul instrumental bands ever, Booker T. and The MGs were originally employed as the house band at Stax Records. Their widely imitated guitar/bass/drum/organ groove (a formula they essentially invented) propelled legendary tracks by the likes of Wilson Pickett, Sam and Dave, and Otis Redding. In addition to helping develop and pioneer the Memphis sound as a back-up band, the MG's also released original material to great commercial success. Those records have, over time, become classics in their own right.
This impeccable Atlantic compilation features all of the band's singles up to 1968 (the early Stax catalogue went to Atlantic, the later to Fantasy Records--see Fantasy's BEST OF collection for the MGs' later hits). Arguably, the band's finest material is here: the slinky, minor key jam of "Soul Dressing," the propulsive drive of "Can't Be Still" the loping funk of "Hip Hug-Her" and, of course, "Green Onions," possibly the most grooving song in history. Bassist Donald "Duck" Dunn and drummer Al Jackson's in-the-pocket rhythm, Steve Cropper's stinging guitar lines and Booker T. Jones' swelling, funk organ combine to create a sound that still seems as fresh today as it did in the early '60s.