Breathes new life into these classic sounds... visceral -- a Memphis tour-de-force.

A band steeped in tradition but with a thoroughly updated sound... a bubbling stew of Southern-fried soul.

This is funky, greasy, gritty soul, rooted in the tradition, but timeless in its heat-seeking groove stealth... the perfect disc for that time when the party kicks into overdrive.

Soul stew from heaven... partly soul groove flashback and nouveau R&B, with tastes of Latin and hip-hop thrown in for seasoning, the Bo-Keys jam with the kind of confident voguish swagger that reminds you why the soul of Memphis burns eternal.

There's a growing movement in retro-soul... Up-and-coming artists like the Bo-Keys, Joss Stone, Ricky Fante and Ellis Hooks make no concessions whatsoever to the music of their peers.

There aren’t enough superlatives in the dictionary & thesaurus combined to lavish on The Royal Sessions... unquestionably one of the best releases of 2004. They’ve managed to capture the greatest soul music in the world and bring it into the 21st century intact and updated.

Jam band nation won't have to stretch its ears far to fall for the Bo-Keys, an all-instrumental Memphis band with a groove-oriented approach...

"To have these classic musicians is the icing on the cake to shooting a little movie in Memphis," said filmmaker John ("Boyz N the Hood") Singleton, executive producer of "Hustle & Flow."

Infectious grooves filled with fatback drumming, elastic bass runs, shimmering wah-wah guitar, swirling organ, wailing horns, and percolating percussion...

If the awesome wah-wah guitar at the beginning of Isaac Hayes' "Theme from Shaft" has ever put a grin on your face, you've got the Bo-Keys' effects-obsessed guitar player Skip Pitts to thank for it.

A wonderful album reminiscent of the instrumental grooves made famous by groups such as Booker T. & the MGs and the Mar-Keys... great soulful music.

This record provides strong evidence that the genre and its original practitioners still have a lot more to say... A joy to listen to.

This is an incredible, incredible record... these guys are still making it sound fresh! An unbelievable album that you must buy...

Mostly instrumental funk-and-soul group... features noted players, including Charles (Skip) Pitts, the guitarist who put the wah-wah in Isaac Hayes’s “Theme from Shaft.”

Funkier than a two-day-old bucket of Church’s fried chicken... a bubbling beacon of human beauty.

The opening track... powered by slinky Hammond organ come-ons, “Shaft”-esque wah-wah guitar and strutting horn charts... sounds like a lowrider cruising scene from a vintage blaxploitation flick.

Worth noting is how timeless the sound is... simply an example of great players grooving.

An old-school Memphis soul instrumental group inspired by the Mar-Keys and Booker T & the MG's...

Get the funk out with the Bo-Keys, a cross-generational, all-instrumental Memphis soul band in the great tradition of the Mar-Keys, Booker T & the MGs and that whole Stax/Volt era...

"The Royal Sessions" has earned the multiracial and multigenerational band comparisons to Booker T. & the MGs, the famed Stax house band...

Excellence, pure unadulterated smoky soul like you thought you’d never hear again... these boys aren’t mimicking greatness by any stretch, they’re creating it with something new, something challenging and provocative for the senses to feast upon.

Track after track of some of the most soulful grooves to have come out of Memphis in recent years... One of the albums of the year.

The Bo-Keys ramble through just about every imaginable permutation of ’60s and ’70s soul-funk-jazz instrumental styling...

Greasy and responsive interplay that manages to craft the conundrum balance of simultaneous "loose" and "tight" communication... My thumbs are up-ended enthusiastically on this one.

Willie Hall's heavy beats sound like the samples for hip-hop records (in fact, they probably were)... this vital mix of old and new is what makes the well seasoned grooves of the Bo-Keys extra crispy.

Evokes memories of the golden days of Stax, but with a discreet contemporary touch... instrumental funk played from the heart.

Perhaps the stone grooviest record to land in my CD player all year... The Bo-Keys is where Memphis Soul is at today.

Exhilarating... reminds us of what we lost with the demise of Stax, but, more importantly, revels in what we still have.

Brings together the old with the new in a seamless sound and delivery that you can't help but bounce to, no matter how little rhythm you have...

If only all modern R&B could be this hot and this cool!

Filled with extraordinary rhythms, syncopated funk and old school grooves... The Bo-Keys are not about just playing old school sounds, they are also about the business of adding jazz into a mix of rhythmic fusion.

Heavy on overdriven organ and enthusiastic horn section, it is the music about which Rufus Thomas commented several decades ago, "It will make you want to do something nasty, like rub chicken grease all over your clean, white shirt."

There's been some talk about the Bo-Keys using words like revival, revisionism, and the dreaded retro but that plain don't get it... that's just a pinch of the spice in the recipe for this new and greasier Memphis stew.

You've got to hear this blistering new Memphis band to believe them.

With vocal and instrumental tracks, these Memphis boys could be cousins to The Meters from New Orleans...

If you haven't been listening to National Public Radio the past couple of months, you're missing a classic Memphis soul revival...

Loose and improvisational, slow and funky, laced with sexual heat and percolating with the simple joy of playing... this is the kind of hip-shifting, slow and sensual funk that utterly stops you in your tracks.

The Bo-Keys’ funk is perfect for keeping cool on a hot summer night...

Seasoned and simmered, updated and relevant...

These guys are the real deal...

Serves up a heaping helping of memorable tunes with a generous side of deep-pocket grooves...

Even adds tastes of hip-hop to its musical mix . . .

Incendiary instrumental soul-funk groove straight outta Memphis... a killer outfit.

Like a throwback to funky instrumentals from the 1970s but also sounds contemporary...

Music that perfectly mixes nostalgia with freshness. Be it on CD or in person, the Bo-Keys are a can't-miss proposition.

It’s funky R&B, jazzy, beat-strong... you can cut the funk with a knife.

The Bo-Keys wowed the crowd...

This is just as good as the old stuff, and defies the word revival.

A joy to listen to, The Royal Sessions is equally suited to the dance floor or for just kicking back with the sound turned way up.

Captures the Memphis soul sound in a fresh contemporary way... perfect for a party. There are ten cuts on this CD and I would call them a perfect 10!

Glory days of soul music at its finest... for a quick pleasure ride to the back streets of Memphis in its heyday, give this record a spin.

A modern, funky, authentic yet timeless groove...

Simply left me with goose bumps...

In these days when the word funk is overused and misused, this album will help to redefine it...

If my life had a soundtrack, these two songs would definitely be on it... if you're into pure, good music, then this album will be right up your alley.

Chunky wah-wah guitars, big fat Hammond organs, a kick-ass horn section and a rhythm section tighter than a mouse's derriere...

It doesn't come mo' Memphis than Beale Street, Stax Records or Willie Mitchell's Royal Studio over on South Lauderdale... Put these three things together and you have the Bo-Keys' The Royal Sessions. Put all this Memphis talent together in a setting like the Royal... and you are creating new Memphis history.

This is the stuff great dance tunes are made of... For Stax-lovers like me, this is a must-listen.

A record that ably pays tribute to the likes of Booker T. and the MGs and the Mar-Keys but with a more modern twist...

Simmers with the true nature of funk... it's the music in the air, not just from yesterday, but a continual process of today building on the past.

Funky Soul Jazz masterpiece... nasty wah-wah guitar, wailing Hammond organ, tight bass, and poppin' drums.

Memphis soul legends in the making.

Mildly entertaining.