Steve Cropper - With A Little Help From My Friends

Guitar legend! Songwriting Legend! Producer Legend! Blues Brother & Stax Legend!

Founding member of Stax house band Booker T & The M.G.'s first solo album, reissued

Like the first words of a book, the opening notes of an album can make you lean in. Sometimes it's like meeting a stranger who later becomes a lifelong friend, or on rare occasions, a spouse. Please drop your stylus on this record and say hello to your new best friend. Hear the confidence, hear the tone, feel the vibe." — Robert Gordon (from his liner notes)

As a founding member of Stax house band Booker T. & The M.G.'s, guitarist Steve Cropper was involved in some of the most important music of the 1960s as a player, songwriter, and producer. The following decade introduced him to a new group of fans as guitarist for The Blues Brothers, appearing on both their records and film. A two-time Gramm winner and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, Cropper has been an integral thread in the cloth of American music, writing, playing and producing into the 21st century to this very day.

In 1969, Cropper released his first solo album, producing and arranging its 11 tracks himself. His backing band? While there is no actual record of who played on the album itself, Grammy winner Robert Gordon's liner notes point to his fellow M.G.'s, Buddy Miles, Jim Keltner, the Bar-Kay's James Alexander, and more as candidates. From original tracks to its well-known covers (including The Beatles classic the release shares its name with), it is a tour de force of pure Memphis rock and soul.

The core eleven tracks now appear again on an all-analog cut, new pressing of the LP as With A Little Help From My Friends returns for a new generation to experience. Add in Robert Gordon's notes and this release is as much a history lesson as it is a timepiece of pure musical magic.

 

 

 

 

Side A

Crop-Dustin

Land Of 1000 Dances

99-1/2

Boo-Ga-Loo Down Broadway

Funky Broadway

Side B

With A Little Help From My Friends

Oh, Pretty Woman

I'd Rather Drink Muddy Water

The Way I Feel Tonight

In The Midnight Hour

Rattlesnake

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