Melting Pot

Booker T. & The MG's | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 1, 1991)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Stax
• ASIN: B000000ZIK
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #74,220 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #80 in Music > R&B > Soul > Memphis Soul

Editorial Reviews

Remastered reissue of 1971 album packaged in a digipak with original sleeve. Includes multimedia-track with video, biography and pictures. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finishing Off In A Blaze of Unsung Glory, January 2, 2001

By 

BluesDuke "A sacred cow is worth but one thin... (Las Vegas, Nevada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Melting Pot (Audio CD)

It was the last album of the classic lineup (almost - see below) and they went out, for the most part, in a blaze of glory which probably surprised fans of both their easy-grooving, compact instrumental workouts and all the work they had put in as the funkiest backing band in deep Southern soul. The remarkable achievement was that Booker T. & the MGs let their adventurism run free without burying entirely the foundation that got them there in the first place - the deep, wide, spine-slicing groove of bassist Duck Dunn and drummer Al Jackson, Jr.; the spare, effective chords and licks of guitarmeister Steve Cropper (who could also, in fact, take a short solo turn with the best of them and never forgot the blues entirely); and, the magisterially funky keyboard beds and punctuations of Booker T. Jones.

The title cut alone is worth the price of the ticket, a swirling, rolling union of esoteric, dreamy jazz and steady rolling funk whose simplicity and modal melodiousness beats damn near all the ill-begotten "fusion" movement hollow and doesn't let you out of its allure for its entire eight minute run. (Guitar chauvinists, please note - Cropper's brief solo turn here could be an object lesson of "less is more"; he nudges out, simply, a spare solo the shredmeisters would have nervous breakdowns trying to nail.) Almost as effective is the equal-length, soul blues workout "Kinda Easy Like," admittedly a kind of "Green Onions" played inside out but oh, what a groove they cut - and if, as I suspect, it's unearthed from their earlier days with original bassist Lewie Steinberg, well, maybe Lewie wasn't Duck Dunn, but he certainly knew how to lay down the blues bottom without obstructing the feeling; and, anyway, you're too busy enjoying the themes and punctuations Jones and Cropper lay across Steinberg's bottom and Jackson's crackling beat to nitpick.

The rest of the album veers between the two ends of the two longer cuts with equivalent grace and power, and by the time it's over you mourn the breakup of the band and even more so the fact that his still-unsolved murder (in 1976) means that, without Jackson, no regrouping of this exquisite outfit will ever sound quite the same. And you also realise that, of any and everything they did in a long and distinguished career, "Melting Pot" deserved way better than its original weak (on their terms) sales got them. You won't even mind the one or two legitimately lesser moments, so gripping is the meat of the album.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 5 stars is not enough, March 31, 2002

By 

thestaxman (Jackson, MS United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Melting Pot (Audio CD)

In all honesty, there aren't enough stars to rate this stellar album. Unfortunately, the last by these four members of Booker T. & the MGs. Booker T. Jones plays his B-3 organ with unbelievable fire and passion. Steve Cropper's rhythm and lead guitar is just unrivaled. Duck Dunn lays down some of his most inspiring bass lines ever, and as always, the perfect time keeping of the great Al Jackson, Jr. on drums makes this album a sonic delight from beginning to end. It opens with, in my opinion, the greatest piece of music ever recorded, the title cut, "Melting Pot". From start to finish it is perhaps, the most fitting example of each member's equal contribution to the sound and soul of the band. Four guys doing four distinctive things, with it all coming together like magic, and all the while, none of them having enough of an ego to detract from the other. Tragic circumstances made this the last outing by these four, and the direction they were going in here makes it all the more tragic. However, this was certainly a perfect crowning achievement for the group. Not many bands can go out as they came in. On fire.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Perhaps their last really fine work, February 18, 2000

By 

Eric V. Moye (New York, by way of Dallas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Melting Pot (Audio CD)

Booker T & the Memphis Group have a long history as the background of the Memphis sound (even before the rebirth with the Blues Brothers). This album has some of their really best work, led my the title cut. While a couple of cuts are a bit tepid, all in all, Melting Pot, Kinda Easy like and most of the rest are tight tight grooves. The final cut, Sunny Monday is as strong as anything on the album.

Worth more than the price!