#32 Green Onions by Booker T. And The M.G.s

The art of the instrumental record appears to be one that is no longer embraced in the noughties. Where back in the sixties an album such as Green Onions or Back At The Chicken Shack received respectable a placing in the Billboard Charts nowadays they are lucky to even get a nomination for the Mercury Prize. Is this a great loss to music? Maybe it is, but in the end if you are really one for the instrumental then you just need to do a bit of delving and reach albums such as Zoe Rahman’s Melting Pot, which in itself is a reward.

Green Onions in itself has proven to be one of the more surprising albums that I have encountered so far, not only due to the legendary title track. While this may be the second album that I have encountered this week that makes use of a Hammond Organ in all it’s songs but to me it is one that makes good use of it. Don’t get me wrong here as I really enjoyed Back At The Chicken Shack but here on Green Onions Booker T & The M.G.’s have turned this obscure one into one that can show you a good time.

While it pains me to say this, and one can not say this without immediately thinking of Austin Powers, but this is the album that typifies to me the concept of ‘groovy’. It is a complete reminder of the spirit of the sixties and just makes you want to dance around the room to it. I myself found myself doing ‘The Monkey’ in the middle of the kitchen as You Can’t Sit Down was playing.

The highlight of the album is most definitely Green Onions itself. This song is like New Order’s Blue Monday in that it is a miracle of fate. While Blue Monday miraculously escaped from deletion you have Green Onions which was in fact the product of a few artists jamming in the studio while they waited for the recording session to begin. Yet out of such an improvisation a now timeless classic was produced with possibly the most recognisable riff to emerge from the sixties.

While it is hard to explain the sheer feel good factor that exudes from this record you can not blame a guy for trying. In the end though the best advice I can give is that anyone who reads this should give it a go. Whether it be Spotify or in the bargain bin at HMV this is an album that as you listen to it, it’s one that has to be seen to be well and truly believed. Even if you just listen to the title track you will know what I mean. Just amazing.

9.0/10

Fab Four:
Green Onions
I Got A Woman
Twist And Shout
You Can’t Sit Down