Green Onions

This sounds like something that Feathers McGraw from Wallace and Gromit would enjoy. And that Chicken/Penguin has great taste. A really catchy and enjoyable instrumental R&B/soul record, with a distinctive Hammond organ sound front and centre. It would perfectly soundtrack various daily tasks like doing the washing up, spreading toast or walking through a town or city. I'm glad they didn't try to put vocals on it, as any words matching the unashamedly joyous, and cool vibe would probably be really cheesy and ruin it. It's a perfect example of what it is and still sounds fresh almost 60 years after it was recorded. 5/5.

Green onions is the best candidate to be turned into an 8-bit game soundtrack.

This is an enthusiastic “ok”. The title track throws thunderbolts down on everything around it, but the record is consistently pleasant. It just makes me wish they’d stretched to write more of their own compositions, rather than this bunch of covers that slide smoothly down amnesia alley. Gives me the feeling of walking into a sleazy bar in an old movie, which I like.

Reading about it prior to listening, the title track is called out as one of the most recognized instrumental tracks... No idea. Hearing it the penny drops immediately, and I'm reminded again fo the depth and breadth of my ignorance.

Ok for a couple of songs (green onions) but the one trick of organ & guitar becomes tired very quickly

Imagine recording this when you’re 17? Like that’s all you need to know about this record. This record is so smooth and for 1962 was largely new landscape for soul and R&B. You can put this on at any time and you know you’re going to have a good time. Favorite song: Green Onions Least favorite: honestly didn’t have one

I can remember about 15 facts and one of those facts is that Steve Cropper was in The Blues Brothers. And that's all I knew about Steve Cropper. I expected his obit to read, "Former Blues Brother Steve Cropper died". I'm not proud of any of this. Some other useless facts I know: * Rod Stewart really likes soccer. * In Smokey and the Bandit, The Bandit's real name was Bo. * Steve Busby threw two no hitters for the Kansas City Royals. * Joe Walsh was on campus during the Kent State Tragedy. * Jason Patric is Jackie Gleason's grandson. * There's no instrumental album quite like this one.

Hammond organ. Lovely for a track or two but a whole album............

I’ve always loved the title track, Green Onions. To me it’s always been more than just a fun song to hear in movies, but just a really good listen on its own merits. I like the tone of the guitar and organ, and I really enjoy drums like this, where they are both assertive in the mix and also really simple. The only real problem I have with this record is that it is instrumental. Plenty of the songs hold up without vocals, but I felt a few tracks would have been improved by them. Also, is there a music genre whose meaning has evolved more than R&B? My personal enjoyment: 4/5 Did it belong on this list: 4.5/5

Opening track is iconic, repeated again slightly different later on. The rest of it is funky instrumental versions of other people's songs. Do I like it? Yeah, it's great background music with a bit of oomph and fun, but it's not really anything more than that. Tough to give a high score based on one original song and a load of instrumental cover versions really, opening track almost drags it up to a 3 but doesn't manage it. 2/5.

What can I say? Funky 60s Instrumentals? One of the best organ song ever written?

All our classic in the genre. Booker T. remains a badass mother fucker.

might be an interesting historical document, but was it really essential that I hear a Hammond organ noodling its way aimlessly around an Acker Bilk tune? doesn't even have the cricket theme on this one. hence, 2 stars given although perhaps a bit stingy

I'm only familiar with the title track that I'm aware of, but I really love it so this should be fun! Green Onions - an excellent blues/funk sound. 9/10 Rinky Dink - easy listening with some familiar chord progressions. 7/10 I Got a Woman - Great Memphis Blues twist on this familiar classic I've heard by Elvis and Ray Charles. I'm not sure which is the original, but this instrumental is fun. 8/10 Mo' Onions - A variation on "Green Onions" that's more bluesy. I like it a lot! 9/10 Twist & Shout - Another instrumental cover. Pleasant but nothing spectacular. 7/10 Behave Yourself - Truly Memphis Blues, feels like walking down Beale Street! 9/10 Stranger on the Shore - Feels like a 50s slow dance hit. 7/10 Lonely Avenue - Typical blues sound, the organ is a bit more creative on this one. 8/10 The One Who Really Loves You - Heavy organ with nice guitar riffs. 7/10 You Can't Sit Down - Nice funk/blues track 8/10 A Woman, A Lover, A Friend - Slow typical blues track. 7/10 Comin' Home Baby - Nice cover with just the right blues flavor. If you like the blues, you'll enjoy this album. Just be warned it's more organ driven than guitar. It's an interesting twist on blues though. I don't know if it beats out other blues artists as far as a must hear, but it's a fun listen.

The cafeteria at work puts green onions in their chicken salad (“scallions”, if you’re nasty…wait… what?) and I don’t mind it, but I also wouldn’t go out my way to add green onion to my chicken salad if I was making it at home, you know what I mean?

I didn't have a bad time, but I have to admit that this sounds like a bunch of dude noodling around in a garage. Maybe it was revolutionary for its time, but in a modern context this just feels like laid back covers of mostly existing songs.

4/2 Some classic instrumentals on here, replayability is low for me. Standout Tracks: Green Onions, Mo' Onions, Behave Yourself, Stranger On The Shore, Comin' Home Baby

WTF, how influential can an album be?

Yes. This is the shit I’m here for. Twelve songs in 36 minutes, and the first one is fucking Green Onions. Automatically the coolest on the list.

Classic vibe record, if that makes sense. At a certain point, Twist and Shout started sounding more like REM's Stand. I know they were big fans of 60s rock and pop so I would not at all be surprised if this infected their minds.

Stax house band? Yes, please. And also, you kind of see why they were a house band.

Brooker T. & the M.G.'s released their single 'Green Onions' and the people loved it so they went back and recorded it again but completely different 11 more times, put it on an album and made a surprisingly impactful album. It not only smoothly blends the still very young Soul with established Rythmn & Blues and does all of it without saying a single word but they also gave Soul a whole new light and how there can be instrumental Soul without it being Soul Jazz. The legendary title track 'Green Onions' starts off the album with a classic Electric Blues song that smoothly goes through its parts. I absolutely understand how the song became such a classic because it is a very playful and fun song while not taking too much attention away from you. The song features rhythmic playing and a well added organ which was already established in the Soul and especially Soul Jazz scene even if this is far from being latter. The song is definitely great but it doesn't do enough for me so that I actually love it. Rather it's very nice and beautiful but I don't care for it too much. Another very catchy track is 'Rinky-Dink' which plays with much more Soul aspects. It's definitely a good song but I do think that some organ parts are a little bit annoying after a while and the overall structuring is a little bit too broken up in between to actually flow well enough the whole way through and the second part just doesn't hit well enough anymore. Also, I am not a big fan of how the songs just tune out instead of ending properly. 'I Got a Woman' might be the best achievement they got on this album. It's fast paced and energetic and easily the catchiest song on the entire album. I get why the title track gets all the attention but this should maybe get an equal amount of love. I personally think this is probably the closest they ever got to making a perfect track although some parts here and there are a little bit too rushed or left alone which do hurt the song especially in the second half enough for to "just" view this as a great track. The themes of the first track return on 'Mo' Onions' which is just the same song but a little bit different with a little more Blues added. It's definitely not a bad song but it does feel like a bad cover song. It isn't of course but as a continuation it does feel very, very average. After the Beatles version, this next track might be the second best known version of 'Twist and Shout'. It's very much a R&B and Soul song and the melody is nice to hear in that organ style but it is far from a good or interesting song. Maybe I am biased but it feels dull and not played around with enough. It gets stale the second it starts to repeat itself in the first few moments. It's a pretty boring song overall. The purest Soul song on the album is without a doubt 'Behave Yourself', it strips away all the Blues and makes a calm and relaxed organ Soul song to close off the albums first half with. It is not a bad song the songwriting especially when more instruments join at a few points do make this much more interesting but I think that the song should've just extended on these additions instead of going right back. Overall it again, feels a little bit dull and boring after a while. 'Stranger on the Shore' starts the second side of the album with the same melancholia the first half ended. This is not a song to start anything with, it should be a closer at best. The song is just tiring and sometimes even annoying when it takes too long to end properly. Not a good song by any means. 'Lonely Avenue' starts off way more promising but falls in the same trap of overindulging melancholia and coolness which ends up making the track boring and simply not enjoyable. They can make really fun and playful songs but when they don't do that it automatically makes it tiring and basic. Luckily, 'One Who Really Loves You' comes in to save the album from this boring spiral of doom. It returns with a fun and playful tune with a much better organ playstyle than on the other songs. It is genuinely a fun and actually really good song. The song that feels the most like Blues is definitely 'I Can't Sit Down'. It starts off by sounding like a Muddy Waters tune but replaces the voice with the organ. It does sound very silly and it is but it works at least a little bit. The song isn't the greatest but it is without a doubt an above average track with multiple very enjoyable moments. The mellow style of 'A Woman, a Lover, a Friend' is done much better in comparison to other songs on here but it still gets a little bit stale and old after a while and turns a good starting song quickly into a pretty average one but at least it doesn't get as boring (or even bad) as some tracks before did. The album closes with 'Comin' Home Baby', another quite mellow but this time much more dull sounding one. It gets annoying very quickly as the rhytmn guitar and the bass play in a very halting style that isn't played around well enough with the organ to make it work at any point. The song is genuinely bad because of it. It is not pleasent at all to listen to it especially as it is supposed to end the album. favourites: Green Onions, I Got a Woman least favourites: Comin' Home Baby, Stranger on the Shore Rating: decent to strong 5 https://rateyourmusic.com/~Emil_ph for more ratings, reviews and takes

Apart from the first track, I felt like I was at the enchantment under the sea dance before Marty McFly spices things up.

Amusement park remixes of popular hits... Opening track is obviously embedded in our musical cultural identity. But aside from being groovy background music I don't know what purpose this music serves.

Nr. 10/1001 Green Onions 3/5 Rinky Dink 2/5 I Got A Woman 2/5 Mo' Onions 2/5 Twist And Shout 3/5 Behave Yourself 2/5 Stranger on the Shore 2/5 Lonely Avenue 2/5 One Who Really Loves Me 3/5 You Can't Sit Down 2/5 A Woman, A Lover, A Friend 2/5 Comin' Home Baby 2/5 Average: 2,25 Features some well known arrangements. Beyond that it didn't have a lot to offer

The rock organ has completely lost all appeal to me. Also I prefer chives.

All instrumental. A lot of tunes are extremely recognizable based on their usage in movies or remixes of other songs. Overall boring album though.

When the 1st track played l perked up, "I know this song!" Now sure how I know it or from where though! I'm playing catch-up and randomly selecting albums from various genres, and this was my Soul selection. It's an enjoyable album and I will listen again!

Green Onions is a great track, the album also. Never listened to the full album before. Superb!

Groovy as hell man

So smooooth... Instrumentals with hammond organ + guitar, brilliant! Favorite track: Green Onions other tracks: mo onions, behave yourself, stranger on the shore

Insanely cool and seemingly without effort. Kept trying to find ways to not let this be 5 stars but I failed

I grew up listening to this album. I love it so much.

Fantastic album. One of those "oh shit, it's that group?" Definitely saving this one.

Awesome, no notes :P Booker T is the OG

Unsure if it’s because I really liked this or nostalgia

Honestly, perfect album. An album that will make you ask "Does my band need an organist?" Early rock sounds delivered in the tradition of a Jazz combo. Fantastic musicianship, songs that tell the story without needing vocals. They do blend together a bit given the same sound on each track (not a lot of tonal variation despite the use of electric instruments), but they are also 100% bops.

Pure class!

An absolute classic jam. Great from start to finish.

🤩

Groovy and simplified. Extra stars for being forerunners of this type of sound.

This was really enjoyable! I hadn't been familiar with this group before, but I listened to some of their other albums as well and have added them to my regular playlist.

This album sounds like they had a really good time recording it.

Cooler altes Zeug

Foundational

5/5

I saw the light

Great

Cookin'!

Classic sound, classic tunes. Songs are short enough that they don't get boring. Could've listened to this thing on repeat all day.

4/4/25. Blues classic right here, excellent musicians and lovely instrumentals. Will always remind me of summer, I blame the Sandlot!

classic, many songs sampled from here!

Delightful, so many songs I heard from my youth

Twelve songs in 36 minutes, and the first one is fucking Green Onions. Automatically the coolest on the list.5/5

Really good. Have been enchanted by the same titled track for years and glad i finally listened to the whole album. Very enjoyable and never getting too repetetive, just some really nice jazz

I’m surprised I’m giving this a five. I have kind of started to think of five stars as a rarified space for the albums that are truly exceptional music, while also being something I connect with personally. So I didn’t think an instrumental album would make that new criteria. But, it’s catchy, it makes me happy, and it’s super replayable. I listened to it twice yesterday and caught new things each time. And I know that I’ll listen to it again. If that’s not a five star, I don’t know what is.

just cool and groovy to a tee. Also these instrumental covers are taking me out. That Twist and Shout one had me grinning the whole time.

Green onions?!? Groovy instrumentals of popular songs?!? Groovy instrumental originals?!? I can dig that SUCKAAAAH

Very good listening! Reminds me of my Dad. I think we'd enjoy listening to it together.

Kako dobar album!! Preteča sve glazbe koju volim danas, baš kultno remek-djelo 🫶🏻 Jedan od onih albuma za koje ti je žao da traje tako kratko. Nakon dugo, dugo vremena morat će pasti petica ko kuća! 5/5, 9.5/10

-Okay, this is where that Tune (Green Onions) is from! -This would be a good record for my 'Yakety Sax Organ' genre collection! -Fun version of Twist & Shout ..Feel like I saw a copy of this Album down in my Mom's basement Old Record storage area. May go have a look-see.. -This would be a good Classic to own.

In my dream life, it would be southern California weather and we would all get around on roller skates and this album would be the default soundtrack being broadcast on transistor radios laying around everywhere.

Coming into this, everyone knows what Green Onions is. Amazing song, sure, whatever, but fuck me - I was not expecting quality up to the same par for the rest of the album whatsoever. What a delightful listen. Nice to get an instrumental so I don't have to listen to a talentless (usually British) lead singer yap on about something I don't care about. Though, the organ is really a lead singer in the context of this record. This is top tier shit. I could listen to this all day.

A very charming little album that is perfect for idle/background listening. An incredibly worthwhile listen even beyond its iconic opening/title track. The way the organ is used to essentially fill in for the absence of vocals is a real delight. Pretty crazy that he somehow went on to become a pro wrestler like 35 years after this album came out

Even on old timey steal from the black man recording contracts the amount of money these guys must have cumulatively made from samples and covers from this album must be mind boggling. Has to be one of the most influential albums of all time purely in its reach purely on the basis of everything coming after it.

The ultimate vibe man, just 30 minutes of good music. Setting a scene with instruments is a beautiful skill to possess!

This album makes me want to go out gamble, fuck, and do drugs. Gets me in a weird mood that makes me feel like a mobster or something. Solid 4-4.5 goin up to 5.

Smooooooth. Not big on instrumentals, but they take the cake. Dim lights, smoky room.

Every time I hear Green Onions I feel bliss. This album opened me up to a whole new world of music. Takes me back to the best part of my youth. Thank you Booker T & The MGs.

Certified classic.

The very definition of the Stax sound. The laid-back R&B/Soul grooves. Everyone knows the title track. Loved this album.

What a great journey - who says you need to use words to say anything

Total bop

I love Green Onions, and I’ve been wanting to do a deeper dive into Booker T and the M.G.s. I’m keeping that last track “Coming Home” as a favorite. Surprisingly dramatic.

So glad this album popped up. I've always been a fan of the song Green Onions but never got a chance to listen to the entire record. I absolutely loved the funk organ. Easy 5 stars.

Groovy

This is The instrumental band yeah. I can recognize the sounds sampled from other songs.

Sample city, loved this album.

Green Onions is such a classic. Fun to play on bass and a staple of a lot of blues and R&B bands. With playing as good as this, who needs words?

Cool

Can't quite place where from, but I know I've heard the title track somewhere before, and always found it intriguing and fun, but never bothered to take the time to find where it's coming from to hear more like it, so I'm happy this finally forced my hand to do so! I can't say this is music that I could listen to regularly, but this perfectly fits the niche feeling I occasionally get, where I want something fun and groovy, that I haven't yet oversaturated myself with, or for some more focused sessions where lyrics would be a bit too distracting.

I could listen to this all day!

Yes, loved this!! Green Onions - on a debut album, incredible! A great example of a song thats lasted the test of time Great tracklist and I recognised majority of these songs. Really enjoyed this listen 5 ⭐️

Great covers! Would buy as a record

So pleasant a listen on a Sunday morning.

Amazing instrumental album 9.4/10

An exceptional instrumental blues album. It’s one of those records that has songs you’ve heard here and there but didn’t know who what where or when they came from. The covers are great, but come for the onions.

From the best rhythm section comes an instrumental masterpiece.

a simple idea done to perfection, the continued escalation of the same feeligns throughout this album are done really well, a great chill album to lose yourself into

9/10. Loved it. And the song Green Onions is one of the best of all time. Album as a whole was great.

Vibes : The Album. Impossible not to like this. And with a band made up of Stax Records session players it's always going to be tight and funky. Couldn't be more in the pocket. Foot was tapping the whole way through and I love how each member has their chance to shine on the songs. Nice pacing throughout so it doesn't feel to one note which is a risk with instrumentals and that much organ. Quite short so doesn't outstay its welcome either. Highlights: Green Onions Rinky Dink I Got a Woman Mo Onions Twist and Shout Lowlights: Stranger on the Shore was a bit dull if I'm being picky.

Album 618 of 1001 Booker T. & The MG's - Green Onions (1962) Rating : 5 / 5 Some great instrumental soul. Steve Cropper on guitar and Booker T. Jones's Hammond organ are the driving force. Rated high because it is just an awesome album.

Very much enjoyed

nice instrumental album

Never heard of it, but then recognised a lot of the songs. Fantastic instrumental which I wasn’t expecting.

My kind of album. Instrumental album, but full of soul. Impressive.

4.5 rounded up got me popping my pussy and shit highlights: green onions, rinky dink, one who really loves you (nov 27 2024)

Green Onions is the debut album from Booker T. & the MG's, who were the house band at Stax Records in Memphis. Their sound is an essential part of southern soul of the 60's, as they appear on recordings of Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Sam & Dave, among many others. When they weren't working as the supporting band for other artists, they recorded almost-exclusively instrumental tracks as Booker T. and the MG's . The band was successful as a rare, instrumental rock band; the title track is one of the most popular instrumental tracks in modern popular music. Their core members provided a great, funky basis for other artists - organ, piano, guitar, bass, and drums - and were all talented enough to create these instrumental classics.

Of course I knew the first track already and I‘ve listened to this (and the album) many times. In the right mood this music can add the right atmosphere to an relaxing evening!

This is a really exceptional record. It’s almost hard to believe that Mr. Booker T Jones could have written such a legendary song as “Green Onions” at just 18 years old. He was still in high school for goodness sake. The tone he got out of his Hammond B3 organ has been imitated and duplicated ever since, but no one has come close to the soulful playing of Booker T. I’ve always really admired the amount of emotion he can convey through such a simple instrument. I first noticed this when I saw him play an exceptional set opening for Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings at the Saddledome back in 2009. Most of this album consists of covers, but the way he plays them really makes them feel like more than the originals. Everything else instrumentally here is top notch, the drumming is steady and funky, and the guitar playing is almost on par with the emotional power of the lead organ. I own a few copies of this record on vinyl, and it still gets semi-regular playtime. 5 stars.