Elvis selects Booker T tracks
Booker T. & the MGs - Stax Profiles (Selected by Elvis Costello), released April 25 '06
Concord Records comments -
(extract)
Elvis Costello was a teenager when Booker T. & the MGs began hitting the British charts with their deceptively simple R&B instrumentals. The Memphis quartet’s most successful single in the U.K. was 1969’s “Time Is Tight,” with which Costello leads off this personal 15-track selection. Besides that tune and such other signature songs as “Hip Hug-Her,” “Hang ’Em High,” “Green Onions,” and “Boot-Leg” (the latter two presented here in live versions), the singer has picked numerous lesser-known nuggets. In his booklet notes, Costello offers insightful commentary on each performance. He observes, for instance, that on “Soul Clap ’69” (a hit in the UK only) Steve Cropper’s mellow guitar playing predicted the fade of the Beatles’ “Come Together” and drummer Al Jackson, Jr.’s beat was a blueprint for his later work with Al Green. Booker T. & the MGs were clearly ahead of their time, and their music remains utterly timeless.