26 REDS & A BOTTLE OF WINE

Booker T and the MGs – McLemore Avenue (Stax Records) 1970

1 Medley: Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End/Here Comes The Sun/Come Together 15:48
2 Something 4:09
3 Medley: Because/You Never Give Me Your Money 7:26
4 Medley: Sun King/Mean Mr. Mustard/Polythene Pam/She Came In Through The Bathroom Window/I Want You (She's So Heavy) 10:40


I finally got M-CAT his Christmas present, squeaking by at just under a month late. Well actually I think as long as it was there before the Feast of the Epiphany we would have been alright and we’re less than two weeks back from that. Actually if we were Russian Orthodox it would be right on time. Anyway, it was early for next year.

I gave him this record out of my collection. Booker T has always been my favorite musician to come out of the powerhouse Memphis label Stax. (I don’t count Otis Redding because he recorded for Stax’s splinter label Volt.

The cover itself should be the first giveaway; the title the second McLemore Avenue in Memphis was the home to Stax Records’ recording studio. Actually, East McLemore and College, in an old Capital movie theatre.
More after the jump!.

Recorded less than two years after The Beatles original version, McLemore Avenue is less a tribute album than a reimagining. The albums three medleys are great; Booker T arranges them for maximum change in tempo and time signature. On the albums final track they move from the low hypnotic Sun King to a funky Mean Mr. Mustard, more reminiscent of Booker T’s first single, Green Onion, in zero seconds flat. They’re almost show off, and they get away with it. With Al Jackson and Steve Cropper and Donald “Duck” Dunn. Both of Blues Brother and Saturday Night Live fame, Booker T and the Memphis Group were at their tightest. The next year they recorded Melting Pot, Booker T Jones’ most fully realized album.

Yet I would argue that the tight, almost military execution of tracks like Back Home and Sunny Monday came straight out of what I imagine were long experimental sessions exploring The Beatles source material. I don’t think ANYWAY gives the Beatles such a thorough working over again until Dangermouse uses The White Album as the source material for his infamous mixtape The Grey Album.

The albums best tracks are it most complex and toughest; Because, Come Together, Something and Mean Mr. Mustard. Yet, even at it least inspired; Polythene Pam and She Came in Through the Bathroom Window, it’s still magnificent.

It’s also an amazing testament to genre crossing openness of musician of the time. A culture of exploration and appreciation that spawned much of a decade and a half worth of musical growth. McLemore Avenue stands not only on it’s own but also as a compendium to The Beatles original. Listening to Abbey Road after McLemore Avenue is a lot like going to the MET on mushrooms