Booker T. & The MG's - The Best of Booker T. & The MG's (1991)

These four gentlemen may have been the most important players in all of soul music. They were an interracial group before it was popular or even accepted. They formed the core of the house backing-band at Stax Records, wrote classic soul songs, and discovered and produced artists at Stax. And as this CD makes very clear, they recorded great songs in their own right. All instrumentals, the MGs wrote their own classics-"Green Onions," "Time Is Tight"--and interpreted others--"Groovin'," "Hang 'Em High." The contemporary sound and feel of these 20- and 30-year old tracks proves what visionaries they were. --Robert Gordon