1) It is Booker T and the MGs live. These guys are the quintessential American band, honing their skills at dances,bars and clubs before becoming one of the great studio bands of all time. The only other large document of them live that I see on a regular basis is their performance with Otis Redding at Monterey. While that is a classic moment in American music, too me sometimes it seems a little frantic, almost verging on punk. This performance is muscular without being manic.
2)You get to hear The MarKays, Carla Thomas, Eddie Floyd and Otis Redding all on one disc! A great introduction to some of the earlier stars of the Stax label.
3)22 tracks of tunes. At a going rate of about 2 dollars at the local flea market, that is a lot of bang for the buck!
Really, I did not know what to make of this disc when I first saw it. It is obviously not a regular release from Stax. It is dated 1992 and carries the Fantasy imprint on the back cover, which could lead you to believe that this could be some horrible repackaging of other material. In fact, this disc contains all unissued tracks of great sound quality.
There are some amazing highlights on this disc. "Green Onions" is sultry yet aggresive. Carla Thomas rolls through "Something Good". Eddie Floyd tries to work up the polite Euro audience during "Knock on Wood" and then you get a huge chunk of Otis Redding including one of my favorites "Fa Fa Fa Fa Fa (Sad Song)".
There are a couple clunkers too...Carla should have stayed away from "Yesterday" and "My Girl" by Otis is one of the few times Stax get trumped by Motown, but track for track, this is a great listen for anybody from the casual soul fan to hard core Stax listeners. The Cat Daddy says.."put on your mohair suit and groove along, this disc is most certainly the cat's meow."
