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5458 - BOOKER T. & THE MG's - Time Is Tight, Disc One (1998)

BOOKER T. & THE MG'S
''TIME IS TIGHT, DISC ONE''
OCTOBER 6 1998
229:06

1/Green Onions
Steve Cropper / Booker T. Jones / Al Jackson, Jr. / Lewis Steinberg/2:53
2/Behave Yourself
Steve Cropper / Booker T. Jones / Al Jackson, Jr. / Lewis Steinberg/3:52
3/Jelly Bread
Steve Cropper / Booker T. Jones / Al Jackson, Jr. / Lewis Steinberg/2:27
4/Home Grown
Steve Cropper / Booker T. Jones / Al Jackson, Jr. / Lewis Steinberg/3:11
5/Burnt Biscuits
Booker T. Jones / Chips Moman/2:00
6/Chinese Checkers
Steve Cropper / Booker T. Jones / Al Jackson, Jr. / Lewis Steinberg/2:25
7/Mo' Onions
Steve Cropper / Booker T. Jones / Al Jackson, Jr. / Lewis Steinberg/2:50
8/Tic-Tac-Toe
Steve Cropper / Booker T. Jones / Al Jackson, Jr. / Lewis Steinberg/2:30
9/Fannie Mae
James Brown / Terry Lewis / Smokey Robinson/2:07
10/Soul Dressing
Steve Cropper / Booker T. Jones / Al Jackson, Jr. / Lewis Steinberg/2:24
11/Can't Be Still
Steve Cropper / Booker T. Jones / Al Jackson, Jr. / Lewis Steinberg/1:57
12/Boot-Leg
Charles "Packy" Axton / Donald "Duck" Dunn / Bonnie Hayes / Isaac Hayes / Wayne Jackson / Al Jackson, Jr/2:03
13/Outrage
William Allan / Steve Cropper / Booker T. Jones / Al Jackson, Jr. / Lewis Steinberg/2:31
14/Be My Lady
Steve Cropper / Donald "Duck" Dunn / Booker T. Jones / Al Jackson, Jr./2:29
15/My Sweet Potato
Steve Cropper / Booker T. Jones / Al Jackson, Jr./2:40
16/Hip Hug Her
Steve Cropper / Donald "Duck" Dunn / Booker T. Jones / Al Jackson, Jr./2:22
17/Summertime
George Gershwin / Ira Gershwin / DuBose Heyward/4:35
18/Slim Jenkins' Place
Steve Cropper / Donald "Duck" Dunn / Booker T. Jones / Al Jackson, Jr./2:25
19/Groovin'
Eddie Brigati / Felix Cavaliere/2:40
20/Soul Sanction
Steve Cropper / Donald "Duck" Dunn / Booker T. Jones / Al Jackson, Jr./2:30
21/Pigmy
James Brown / Mel Brown / Billy Larkin / Henry Swarn/3:55
22/Booker's Notion
Steve Cropper / Donald "Duck" Dunn / Booker T. Jones / Al Jackson, Jr./2:25
23/I Can Dig It
Steve Cropper / Donald "Duck" Dunn / Booker T. Jones / Al Jackson, Jr./2:44
24/Expressway to Your Heart
Kenny Gamble / Leon Huff/3:00
25/You Don't Love Me
Willie Cobbs/2:52
26/Never My Love
Dick Addrisi / Don Addrisi/2:45
27/Blue on Green
Steve Cropper / Donald "Duck" Dunn / Booker T. Jones / Al Jackson, Jr./2:29
28/Ode to Billie Joe
Bobbie Gentry/3:59

DISC TWO
1/Soul Limbo
Steve Cropper / Donald "Duck" Dunn / Booker T. Jones / Al Jackson, Jr.//2:23
2/Heads or Tails
Steve Cropper / Donald "Duck" Dunn / Booker T. Jones / Al Jackson, Jr./2:30
3/Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy
James Cobb / Ray Whitley/2:59
4/Hang 'Em High
Dominic Frontiere/3:53
5/Willow Weep for Me
Ann Ronell/3:42
6/Over Easy
Steve Cropper / Donald "Duck" Dunn / Booker T. Jones / Al Jackson, Jr.//4:05
7/Time Is Tight
Steve Cropper / Donald "Duck" Dunn / Booker T. Jones / Al Jackson, Jr./4:54
8/Johnny, I Love You
Booker T. Jones/2:58
9/Lady Madonna
John Lennon / Paul McCartney/3:32
10/Mrs. Robinson
Paul Simon/3:41
11/Soul Clap '69
Steve Cropper / Donald "Duck" Dunn / Booker T. Jones / Al Jackson, Jr./2:40
12/I've Never Found a Girl (To Love Me Like You Do)
Eddie Floyd / Alvertis Isbell / Booker T. Jones/2:49
13/You're All I Need to Get By
Nick Ashford / Valerie Simpson/3:54
14/It's Your Thing
O'Kelly Isley / Ronald Isley / Rudolph Isley/3:02
15/Something
George Harrison/4:07
16/Sunday Sermon
Art Jerry Miller/3:53
17/McLemore Avenue/1:00
18/Medley: Sun King/Mean Mr. Mustard/Polythene Pam/She Came in ...
John Lennon / Paul McCartney/10:39
19/Chicken Pox
Steve Cropper / Donald "Duck" Dunn / Booker T. Jones / Al Jackson, Jr./3:26
20/Melting Pot
Steve Cropper / Donald "Duck" Dunn / Booker T. Jones / Al Jackson, Jr./8:15

DISC THREE
1/Gotta Serve Somebody
Bob Dylan/5:04
2/Lay Lady Lay
Bob Dylan/4:00
3/MG Party
Steve Cropper / Donald "Duck" Dunn / Booker T. Jones / Al Jackson, Jr./2:22
4/Terrible Thing
Steve Cropper / Donald "Duck" Dunn / Booker T. Jones / Al Jackson, Jr./2:31
5/Hole in the Wall
Steve Cropper / Booker T. Jones / Al Jackson, Jr./2:48
6/(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay
Steve Cropper / Otis Redding/5:07
7/Booker's Theme
Steve Cropper / Donald "Duck" Dunn / Booker T. Jones / Al Jackson, Jr./3:06
8/Albert's Rap/1:15
9/Born Under a Bad Sign
William Bell / Booker T. Jones/3:30
10/Medley: I'm with You/I Don't Mind/Oh, Baby Don'y You Weep
James Brown / Lowman Pauling/4:02
11/Meditation
Booker T. Jones/3:59
12/Green Onions
Steve Cropper / Booker T. Jones / Al Jackson, Jr. / Lewis Steinberg/4:37
13/Sarasota Sunset
Steve Cropper / Donald "Duck" Dunn / Anton Fig / Booker T. Jones/6:18
14/I've Been Loving You Too Long
Jerry Butler / Otis Redding/3:58
15/Hang 'Em High
Dominic Frontiere/5:30
16/Time Is Tight
Steve Cropper / Donald "Duck" Dunn / Booker T. Jones / Al Jackson, Jr./10:47
17/(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay
Steve Cropper / Otis Redding/4:50

REVIEW
by Richie Unterberger
A three-CD, 65-song box set that includes all their hits from 1962 through 1971, in addition to numerous LP tracks and failed singles; the third disc is devoted entirely to previously unreleased live material (most from 1992-1994) and rarities. Greatest-hits compilations will serve the needs of all but intense Booker T. and Stax fans. However, if you really dig their instrumental sound, this is a fine package. It might skip an odd, worthy track from their catalog, but basically has just about everything deserving of attention, concentrating more on their original compositions than their covers. Some of the more obscure selections, like their jazzy 1967 LP cut "Pigmy" and their inventive 1969 cover of "Lady Madonna," are overlooked standouts. A number of sides here, like "Burnt Biscuits," "Fannie Mae," "Sunday Sermon," "MG Party," and the moody, dignified "Meditation," were never on album before. Other oddities fans will want to know about is a live medley of James Brown material from 1968, Albert King doing "Born Under a Bad Sign" with them live (also from 1968), a hit 1965 single ("Hole in the Wall") released under the name "the Packers," and "Booker's Theme," which was only available on the 1969 Stax various-artists sampler Soul Explosion. The 1992-1994 live cuts (all previously unreleased), with various drummers in place of the late Al Jackson, show the band in decent though not amazing form, including a ten-minute jam on "Time Is Tight" and a version of "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" with Neil Young on vocals. The booklet contains extensive liner notes by Stax Records authority Rob Bowman.

BIOGRAPHY
by Richie Unterberger
As the house band at Stax Records in Memphis, Tennessee, Booker T. & the MG's may have been the single greatest factor in the lasting value of that label's soul music, not to mention Southern soul as a whole. Their tight, impeccable grooves could be heard on classic hits by Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Carla Thomas, Albert King, and Sam & Dave, and for that reason alone, they would deserve their subsequent induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. But in addition to their formidable skills as a house band, on their own they were one of the top instrumental outfits of the rock era, cutting classics like "Green Onions," "Time Is Tight," and "Hang 'em High."
The anchors of the Booker T. sound were Steve Cropper, whose slicing, economic riffs influenced many other guitar players, and Booker T. Jones himself, who provided much of the groove with his floating organ lines. In 1960, Jones started working as a session man for Stax, where he met Cropper. Cropper had been in the Mar-Keys, famous for the 1961 instrumental hit "Last Night," which laid out the prototype for much of the MG's (and indeed Memphis soul's) sound with its organ-sax-guitar combo. With the addition of drummer Al Jackson and bassist Lewis Steinberg, they became Booker T. & the MG's. Within a couple years, Steinberg was replaced permanently by Donald "Duck" Dunn, who, like Cropper, had also played with the Mar-Keys.
The band's first and biggest hit, "Green Onions" (a number three single in 1962), came about by accident. Jamming in the studio while fruitlessly waiting for Billy Lee Riley to show up for a session, they came up with a classic minor-key, bluesy soul instrumental, distinguished by its nervous organ bounce and ferocious bursts of guitar. For the next five years, they'd have trouble recapturing its commercial success, though the standard of their records remained fairly high, and Stax's dependence upon them as the house band ensured a decent living.
In the late '60s, the MG's really hit their stride with "Hip Hug-Her," "Groovin'," "Soul-Limbo," "Hang 'em High," and "Time Is Tight," all of which were Top 40 charters between 1967 and 1969. Since the presence of black and white musicians made them a biracial band, the MG's set a somewhat under-appreciated example of both how integrated, self-contained bands could succeed, and how both black and white musicians could play funky soul music. As is the case with most instrumental rock bands, their singles contained their best material, and the band's music is now best appreciated via anthologies. But their albums were far from inconsequential, and occasionally veered into ambitious territory (they did an entire instrumental version of the Beatles' Abbey Road, which they titled McLemore Avenue in honor of the location of Stax's studios).
Though they'd become established stars by the end of the decade, the group began finding it difficult to work together, not so much because of personnel problems, but because of logistical difficulties. Cropper was often playing sessions in Los Angeles, and Jones was often absent from Memphis while he finished his music studies at Indiana University. The band decided to break up in 1971, but were working on a reunion album in 1975 when Al Jackson was tragically shot and killed in his Memphis home by a burglar. The remaining members were active as recording artists and session musicians in the following years, with Cropper and Dunn joining the Blues Brothers for a stint in the late '70s.
the MG's got back into the spotlight in early 1992, when they were the house band for an extravagant Bob Dylan tribute at Madison Square Garden. More significantly, in 1993 they served as the backup band for a Neil Young tour, one which brought both them (and Young) high critical marks. The following year, they released a comeback album, arranged in much the style of their vintage '60s sides, which proved that their instrumental skills were still intact. Like most such efforts, though, it ultimately failed to re-create the spark and spontaneity it so obviously wanted to achieve. Jones continued with his own musical output through the following decades, often lending his instrumental skills to other artists and occasionally issuing his own albums, such as the 2009 solo effort Potato Hole. Bassist Dunn, intermittently active with festival and tour appearances after the turn of the millennium, had been touring with Cropper and Eddie Floyd in Japan during May 2012 when he died in his sleep in a Tokyo hotel.
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