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Booker T. & The MG's: Booker T. Jones (trombone, keyboards); Steve Cropper (guitar); Charles "Packy" Axton (tenor saxophone); Floyd Newman (baritone saxophone); Wayne Jackson (trumpet); Lewis Steinberg, Donald "Duck" Dunn (bass); Al Jackson, Jr. (drums). Reissue producer: Yves Beauvais. Recorded between November 1962 and November 1964. Originally released as Stax (705). Includes original liner notes by Bob Altshuler. Digitally remastered by Bill Inglot and Dan Hersch (DigiPrep). This is part of Rhino's Atlantic & Atco Remasters Series. SOUL DRESSING, the follow-up to Booker T. And The MG's debut GREEN ONIONS, is even stronger than its predecessor. With the exception of one tune (a ragged, thumping version of Don Covay's "Mercy Mercy"), all the material is penned by the band, an achievement repeated only twice in the MG's long discography (the albums "Up Tight" and "Melting Pot"). As anyone who has paid even casual attention to the band's sound will know, the upshot here is a thick instrumental stew of soul, R&B, and jazz, all helped along with insistent proto-funk grooves. The band's chemistry crackles. Steve Cropper's wiry guitar lines wind around the in-the-pocket locks of bassist Lewis Steinberg and drummer Al Jackson, while Booker T.'s soulful, syncopated organ licks float over the top. SOUL DRESSING includes some of the band's strongest tunes, from the mellow swing of the title cut and the shuffle funk of "Tic-Tac-Toe," to the irresistible "Can't Be Still," one of the MG's most overlooked singles. SOUL DRESSING adds up to one of the band's strongest and most sustained doses of Memphis soul.
