"The drummer, Al Jackson, looked and said, 'Well, why don't we call it Booker T. It was at Stax Records that he joined with other studio musicians - guitarist Steve Cropper, bassist Lewie Steinberg and drummer Al Jackson - to form the MGs. It was just a wonderful experience working with him." "It was one of the most exciting experiences in the studio.
"Otis was one of the premier acts at Stax (Records)," Jones says. As he tells NPR's Tavis Smiley, he began working for a local recording company as a session player when he was just 16, for musicians such as Otis Redding, Eddie Floyd and Wilson Pickett. It didn't take long for Jones to break into Memphis' music scene. Booker began playing his family's piano, but later moved on to other instruments, playing the clarinet, oboe, trombone and saxophone in high school. His parents encouraged his musical pursuits, providing him with instruments and lessons. 12, 1944, in Memphis, Tenn., Jones began playing the piano at a very early age. Jones experienced success early when he and his band, the MG's, reached number one with the song "Green Onions." On The Tavis Smiley Show, Jones talks about that 1962 hit and about his music career.īorn on Nov. Jones has been delivering smooth, soulful, gospel-tinged music for over 40 years. Neil Young with Booker T.When it comes to R&B music and what's known as the "Memphis sound," Booker T. & the MGs properly lysergic take on “Eleanor Rigby.” Mustard,” “Polythene Pam,” “She Came In Through the Bathroom Window,” “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)”īonus! Because we’re already on the topic and why the hell not, here’s Booker T. I didn’t know those songs at all.”ġ) Medley: “Golden Slumbers,” “Carry That Weight,” “The End,” “Here Comes the Sun,” “Come Together”ġ) Medley: “Because,” “You Never Give Me Your Money”Ģ) Medley: “Sun King,” “Mean Mr. the Beatles versions of those tunes, I went “Holy shit!” I was very surprised. I strictly played to what I heard Booker play. He showed me the changes and sat down to teach me the songs. I might have heard a cut on the radio but I had not sat down and listened to the album like they had. “Booker told me every note to play,” relates Steve. On the subject of Cropper, I was amazed to learn that he wasn’t present for the McLemore Avenue recording sessions, and that he overdubbed his parts later, still having never actually heard Abbey Road yet! Again from Soulsville, U.S.A.: I’d give a lot to hear the MGs do the affably goofy Ringo song “Octopus’ Garden.” It’s kind of tantalizing to imagine how Steve Cropper could have transformed that guitar lick. “Parallel masterpiece,” sure, why not, but it’s almost a shame it wasn’t a complete cover. The MG’s pull it off with aplomb, in the process creating a parallel masterpiece to the quintessential Beatles album. Mustard,” “Polythene Pam,” “She Came in Through the Bathroom Window,” and “I Want You (She’s So Heavy).” On the surface, covering a complete album of any group, let alone the Beatles, is quite a risky gambit. My favorite is the final track on McLemore Avenue, which adroitly combines “Sun King,” “Mean Mr. Every Abbey Road song except “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer,” “Octopus’ Garden,” and “Oh Darling” appears in one or another of the medleys, but the order of the songs in each medley does not necessarily follow the order of the Beatles’ album. Taking a cue from the extended medley on side two of the Beatles’ Abbey Road album, three of those tracks are medleys clocking in at seven, ten, and fifteen minutes each. McLemore Avenue was divided into four tracks. Rob Bowman’s informative history of the Stax label Soulsville, U.S.A.: The Story of Stax Records sums the album up thusly:
The music was just incredible so I felt I needed to pay tribute to it.
They were the top band in the world but they still reinvented themselves.
To push the limit like that and reinvent themselves when they had no need to that. talked about the inspiration for paying tribute to a brand-new LP in a 2009 AV Club interview:ĪVC: What inspired you and the M.G.’s to record McLemore Avenue, your instrumental cover version of Abbey Road?īT: I was in California when I heard Abbey Road, and I thought it was incredibly courageous of The Beatles to drop their format and move out musically like they did. The more you know.) A lot of you probably also guessed that the Booker T. (The studio wasn’t officially named “Abbey Road Studios” until sometime after that Beatles LP came out. A lot of you probably guessed as much, but McLemore Avenue was the Memphis street on which Stax’s studios resided, just as Abbey Road was the street on which the EMI studio where the Beatles recorded was located. and the MGs released McLemore Avenue, a near-complete tribute to that LP. In spring of 1970, mere months after the Beatles released Abbey Road, the Stax label’s elite house band Booker T.
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