Green Onions | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | October 1962 | |||
Recorded | June–August 1962 | |||
Studio | Stax Recording Studio, Memphis, Tennessee | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 34:55 | |||
Label | ||||
Producer | Jim Stewart | |||
Booker T. & the M.G.'s chronology | ||||
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Singles from Green Onions | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [1] |
Green Onions is the debut album by Booker T. & the M.G.'s, released on Stax Records in October 1962. It reached number 33 on the pop album chart in the month of its release. The title single was a worldwide hit and has been covered by dozens of artists, including the Blues Brothers and Roy Buchanan (both with Steve Cropper on guitar), as well as The Ventures, Al Kooper, The Shadows, Mongo Santamaría, Deep Purple (Live and studio versions) and Count Basie.
Three previous Stax LPs – two by the Mar-Keys, one by Carla Thomas – had been issued on Atlantic Records. Green Onions was the first album released on the Stax label. It was also Stax's first charting album, peaking at number 33 on the Billboard 200. [3] The album features only instrumental songs and features Steve Cropper playing a Fender Telecaster. [4]
The cover photo was shot by Irving Schild, who would go on to have a 52-year career as Mad Magazine's primary photographer. [5] The album was included in Robert Dimery's 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die . [6]
In 2012, the album was added to the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, and/or aesthetically significant". [7]
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Green Onions" | Booker T. Jones, Steve Cropper, Lewie Steinberg, Al Jackson Jr. | 2:53 |
2. | "Rinky Dink" (Dave "Baby" Cortez cover) | David Clowney, Paul Winley | 2:41 |
3. | "I Got a Woman" (Ray Charles cover) | Ray Charles, Renald Richard | 3:35 |
4. | "Mo' Onions" | Jones, Cropper, Steinberg, Jackson | 2:57 |
5. | "Twist and Shout" (The Top Notes cover) | Phil Medley, Bert Berns | 2:13 |
6. | "Behave Yourself" | Jones, Cropper, Steinberg, Jackson | 3:55 |
Total length: | 18:14 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
7. | "Stranger on the Shore" (Acker Bilk cover) | Acker Bilk | 2:22 |
8. | "Lonely Avenue" (Ray Charles cover) | Doc Pomus | 3:30 |
9. | "One Who Really Loves You" (Mary Wells cover) | Smokey Robinson | 2:26 |
10. | "You Can't Sit Down" (The Bim Bam Boos cover) | Dee Clark, Kal Mann, Cornell Muldrow | 2:51 |
11. | "A Woman, a Lover, a Friend" (Jackie Wilson cover) | Sidney Wyche | 2:33 |
12. | "Comin' Home Baby" (Dave Bailey Quintet cover) | Bob Dorough, Ben Tucker | 3:12 |
Total length: | 16:54 |
Name | Chart (1962) | Peak position |
---|---|---|
Green Onions | U.S. Pop Albums Chart | 33 |
"Green Onions" | U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 3 |
"Green Onions" | U.S. Billboard R&B Singles | 1 |
"Mo' Onions" | U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 97 |
"Mo' Onions" | U.S. Billboard R&B Singles | 97 |
Booker T. & the M.G.'s were an American instrumental R&B/funk band that was influential in shaping the sound of Southern soul and Memphis soul. The original members of the group were Booker T. Jones, Steve Cropper (guitar), Lewie Steinberg (bass), and Al Jackson Jr. (drums). In the 1960s, as members of the Mar-Keys, the rotating slate of musicians that served as the house band of Stax Records, they played on hundreds of recordings by artists including Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, Bill Withers, Sam & Dave, Carla Thomas, Rufus Thomas, Johnnie Taylor and Albert King. They also released instrumental records under their own name, including the 1962 hit single "Green Onions". As originators of the unique Stax sound, the group was one of the most prolific, respected, and imitated of its era.
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