The Very Best Of Booker T and The Mg's

let's make this simple: if you don't own any albums by this seminal memphis groove collective, without whom what we nowadays refer to as 'soul music' would have been impossible, buy this album. if you've ever enjoyed a song by any stax recording artist - otis redding, wilson pickett, sam and dave, or rufus thomas, for example - chances are excellent that the mg's were the backing band. their inimitable guitar / bass / drum /organ groove was the cornerstone and essence of the memphis sound. this 20 track compilation features the band's early singles, including 'groovin', 'hip hug-her' and, of course, 'green onions', next to their late '60s hits such as 'hang 'em high' and 'time is tight'. donald 'duck' dunn and drummer al jackson's in-the-pocket locks, steve cropper's stinging guitar lines and booker t. jones' funkified organ create a sound that comes across as fresh and infectious today as it did in the early '60s.