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Melting Pot (Booker T album)

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Melting Pot
Studio album by
Booker T. & the M.G.'s
ReleasedJanuary 1971
Recorded1970 at Stax Studios, Memphis and the Record Plant, NYC
GenreR&B, instrumental rock
Length40:10
LabelStax
STS-2035
ProducerBooker T. & the M.G.'s
Booker T. & the M.G.'s chronology
McLemore Avenue
(1970) 		Melting Pot
(1971) 		The MG's
(1973)

Melting Pot is a 1971 studio album recorded by Booker T. & the M.G.'s for Stax Records. It is the last album to feature the group's classic lineup of Jones, Cropper, Dunn, and Jackson and the first of their albums to contain longer, jam-oriented compositions.

Background

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By 1970, bandleader/keyboardist Booker T. Jones had become estranged from Stax, as he protested the changing atmosphere under the leadership of executive Al Bell.[1] Jones left Memphis, Tennessee, where Stax was headquartered, and moved to California while guitarist Steve Cropper, also dissatisfied with the new Stax atmosphere, opened his own studio in Memphis, spending less and less time at the Stax studio.[1] Melting Pot was recorded in New York City, between M.G.'s gigs, as Jones refused to record in Memphis and wanted the band to create a different sound for the new album.[1]

The album's title track was edited for length and issued by Stax as a single in spring 1971.[1] "Melting Pot" peaked at number 45 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States and at number 21 on the Billboard R&B singles chart.[1]

Critical reception

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Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Christgau's Record GuideB+[3]
The Village VoiceA−[4]

The review in Rolling Stone magazine was very positive, concluding in its final paragraph: "Altogether, as an album, it works really well, with the group's customary taste and precision balanced against a new looseness and a return to earlier, funky playing patterns. That's more than enough to make it the best Booker T. album in some time, the Memphis Gas of the Year, and a Major Rock Event for everyone."[5]

Village Voice critic Robert Christgau wrote: "Here the Memphis motorvators surpass the somewhat boxy rhythms that have limited all their albums as albums except for Uptight, which had vocals. Al Jackson's solidity, a linchpin of rock drumming as surely as Keith Moon's blastoffs and Charlie Watts's steady economy, is unshaken by the shifts the arrangements demand, and his deftness permits a more flexible concept in which Booker lays back some on organ and Steve Cropper gets more melodic input. A Vegas-jazz ('L.A. Jazz Song' is a title) boop-de-doo chorus upsets the balance of side two pretty badly, but for the first twenty minutes this is unbelievably smooth without ever turning slick."[3]

Track listing

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All songs written by Booker T. Jones, Steve Cropper, Donald "Duck" Dunn, and Al Jackson Jr. except "Kinda Easy Like", by Jones, Cropper, Jackson, and Lewis Steinberg.

Side One

  1. "Melting Pot" – 8:15
  2. "Back Home" – 4:40
  3. "Chicken Pox" – 3:26
  4. "Fuquawi" – 3:40

Side Two

  1. "Kinda Easy Like" – 8:43
  2. "Hi Ride" – 2:36
  3. "L.A. Jazz Song" – 4:18
  4. "Sunny Monday" – 4:35

Personnel

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Booker T. & the M.G.s
Additional personnel

Production credits

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  • Recording engineers – Ron Capone, Gordon Rudd, Rik Pekkonen, Shelly Yakus, Jay Messina, Steve Cropper
  • Remix engineer – Steve Cropper
  • Cover photographer – George Rodriguez
  • Art director – The Graffiteria/Stan Hochstadt
  • Art supervisor – Herb Kole, Larry Shaw

Charts

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Year Album Chart positions[6]
US US
R&B 		Jazz Albums
1971 Melting Pot 43 2 5

Singles

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Year Single Chart positions[7]
US US
R&B 		US
Dance
1971 "Melting Pot" 45 21 —

Samples

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Bowman, Rob (1997). Soulsville U.S.A.: The Story of Stax Records. New York: Schirmer Trade. p. 216-219. ISBN 0-8256-7284-8
  2. ^ Melting Pot at AllMusic
  3. ^ a b Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: T". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved March 15, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
  4. ^ Christgau, Robert (June 10, 1971). "Consumer Guide (18)". The Village Voice. New York. Retrieved March 16, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
  5. ^ "Melting Pot". Rolling Stone. 18 March 1971.
  6. ^ "Booker T. & the MGs US albums chart history". allmusic.com. Retrieved 2011-06-15.
  7. ^ "Booker T. & the MGs US singles chart history". allmusic.com. Retrieved 2011-06-15.
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