Memphis trio of guitar, B-3 organ, and drums. This instrumental trio has embraced their roots and are doing their part to keep traditional Memphis soul alive. They play in the tradition of the Bar-Keys and Booker T & the MGs. You need more soul music in your life so check out some of this stuff. For this particular CD, the trio had a vision of recording an old LP. On the track listing, they actually break the songs down into Side One and Side Two and the total time is under 40 minutes. I'd rather have 40 minutes of solid tunes like these than to have a 60 minute CD with 20 minutes of filler. Good choice, guys. Some liner notes woulda been appreciated, though.
Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart
Tracks: Of the original tunes, I like Takin' State and Poppin'. An interesting cover of Amy Winehouse's Love is a Losing Game is actually one of the better tracks, sounding like something of an old '60s Grant Green album on Blue Note. The CD ends with a slow cover of the standard Comin' Home Baby.
Personal Memory Associated with this CD: I love visiting Memphis and any type of Memphis soul music makes me fondly remember my trips there. Originally from north Mississippi, I was in Memphis many times as an infant, but only twice as an adult as of this writing: in March 2007 (for family vacation over spring break) & December 2010 (to run in the St Jude Half Marathon). Here's a picture of me at the "new" Stax studios in '07.
Thanks for the tip on this one. Starred it on Spotify for futrther listening after just a few seconds of the title track. Starred their 2010 follow-up (The Set-Up) as well.
ReplyDeleteMade me go looking for my Memphis pics - I had Stax, Sun and another music studio in the city from our 2003 pilgrimage. Sadly, I believe they were among the casualties of catastrophic PC failure last year.
Back-up your important stuff people! Take it from me and my tale of woe. Really important stuff like pictures should be backed up in at least two different places in addition to original storage.