Album of the Day

While the years between the heyday of Elvis Presley and the arrival of The Beatles are often thought of as a fallow period, there was still a lot of wonderful music being made, much of it by girl or instrumental groups. One of the finest of the latter was Booker T & The MG's, with Hammond organ great Booker T. Jones fronting a band whose name was both a play on the popular car and their status as a “Memphis Group”: guitarist Steve Cropper, bassist Donald “Duck” Dunn and drummer Al Jackson, Jr. The quartet went on to back such '60s soul royalty as Otis Redding and Sam & Dave as well as scoring a number of hits on their own – none greater than “Green Onions,” an instro that reached #3 on the pop chart and opens the quartet's first album. While that song's simmering keyboard work and lean guitar riff may be the set's most recognizable music, the other 11 tracks on the debut are equally impressive – nearly 60 years after its original release, GREEN ONIONS remains as tasty as ever.