And Now…Plus + In The Christmas Spirit

In the 50s, “The Memphis Sound” was the phrase coined to describe the music of Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and dozens of other young hopefuls that flocked to former radio engineer Sam C. Phillips’ Sun studio on Union Avenue. But as far as the 60s go, ‘The Memphis Sound’ was owned pretty much by Stax Records, and the great music that poured out of the company’s studio on McLemore Avenue. The blaring horns and tight rhythms that were a feature of almost every Stax record virtually defined southern soul from 1962 to 1967. And on almost every one of those records, the musical accompaniment was provided by Booker T and the MGs. Between 1962 and 1968 Booker T and the MGs released six albums that – along with a selection of non-album singles – form the core of Edsel’s three volume collection of their complete surviving recordings from that period. This second volume features their 1966 collection “And Now” with four non-album bonus tracks, plus their excellent holiday offering for 1967 “In The Christmas Spirit”. The booklet is extensively annotated by Tony Rounce."