Melting Pot (Booker T album)

Background

By 1970, band leader Booker T. Jones had become estranged from Stax, as he protested the changing atmosphere under the leadership of executive Al Bell. Jones left Memphis, Tennessee, where Stax was headquartered, and moved to California. 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. 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.

The album's title track was edited for length and issued by Stax as a single in spring 1971. "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.

Reception

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."

Track listing

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

1. "Melting Pot" – 8:15
2. "Back Home" – 4:40
3. "Chicken Pox" – 3:26
4. "Fuquawi" – 3:40
5. "Kinda Easy Like" – 8:43
6. "Hi Ride" – 2:36
7. "L.A. Jazz Song" – 4:18
8. "Sunny Monday" – 4:35

Personnel

Production credits

Samples