Booker T & The MG's – Soul Limbo

Evoking long summer days in the UK, Booker T And The MGs’ track “Soul Limbo” has long since been known as the theme for the BBC’s cricket coverage, a status it attained during the 70s when the West Indies epitomized a swashbuckling style of play. But the track – and accompanying Soul Limbo album – represent something far different in the long career of Booker T And The MGs.

This is the pinnacle of their period as the hippest instrumental act in 60s America – as cool as they come. Even the sleeve, with its super-retro (and rather cheesy) George Whiteman photo of a girl in a white bikini posing flirtatiously in front of the band under a boardwalk, suggests something out of a groovy beach movie more than the nitty gritty of Stax R&B in September ’68. Hey, look at these hipsters, it suggested. The album’s original title was intended to be Over Easy, hinting at just how relaxed Booker T and co were (early US copies even bore this title on their label, which was changed when “Soul Limbo” became an unexpected pop smash). But the music? It remains high-class soul, even if the group, as they had on their previous album, Doin’ Our Thing, cast their net quite wide when it came to choosing Soul Limbo’s material.

AllMusic rating: