This is one of Booker T. and the MGs mightiest performances, but (and please feel free to correct me on this if I'm wrong) it's one that seems to be unavailable anywhere other than the original 45. There's a live version that shows up on a couple of greatest hits compilations, and it's good, but not this good. On the Stax/Volt live in Norway DVD, whoever did the titles calls one of the tunes Red Beans and Rice, but it's actually Tic-Tac-Toe. Not that the titles matter too much.
The MGs were somehow more than the sum of their parts, but what parts! Without overanalyzing things too much, take a listen to the greatest drummer who ever lived, Al Jackson, Jr. The rat-a-tat drum fills he plays starting at about 1:13 in (and by the way, what the hell is Steve Cropper doing there? Jesus.) are simple enough, nothing flashy, and technically speaking anyone could learn to do 'em, but you try it and see how it sounds. Further proof that it ain't what you do, it's the way how you do it. "It ain't what you eat, it's the way how you chew it" is a topic best left for a future posting.
Thanks to Bill Judkins for the loan of the 45.
7 Comments:
Great rip from the 45! This is on Ace's CD, Great R&B Instrumentals. I don't know if I have it anywhere else on a comp. I love your blog.
Nice post. Love the pics!
Starring the Great Jones Jukebox! Love it.
I think that jukebox deserves it's own article. Didn't Mr Rex do a radio spot on it once (on another station)?
Rex's Great Jones Cafe juke report:
http://www.onthemedia.org/yore/transcripts/transcripts_092702_jukeboxes.html
Thanks Grandpa!
WoW!
Gyro 1966 is right!
Being such of big fan of Booker T and the MGs and also the Mar-Keys, I thought surely this track was on one of the many comps I have of this stuff. It's not even on Time is Tight, the 3 disc Booker T. box! I had to look a while to even find the single copy of the 45 I own!
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