GEORGE BENSON — The Other Side of Abbey Road (review)

GEORGE BENSON — The Other Side of Abbey Road album cover

Album · 1970 · Pop/Art Song/Folk

3.5/5 · 2011-03-17
Chicapah

Roundabout 1973 one of my fellow musician roommates had this album on his stereo one afternoon as I was raiding the fridge and it grabbed my attention immediately. I asked him if it was new and he informed me that he’d picked it up on a whim several years earlier. I really wasn’t familiar with George Benson but I liked what I was hearing so much that I went out and got this LP for myself post haste. While it’s not a record I play all that often, I’m always pleasantly surprised when I pull it out of the stack and remind myself of what he, producer Creed Taylor and arranger Don Sebesky did with these Beatle songs. But when I started to do a little research ere to writing this review my admiration for what they accomplished increased substantially and here’s why: The Fab Four’s Abbey Road album was released in the USA on October 1, 1969 and, unless they were privy to a priceless bootleg copy, that would’ve been the earliest they could’ve been exposed to that amazing collection of tunes. They began recording this tribute just three weeks later, finished it up in 4 days of sessions and had it sitting in the bins by Christmas. That’s some fast dancin’ by anyone’s standards and when you hear how well George and his cohorts translated those brand new songs into the jazz idiom you have to doff your sombrero and curtsy out of respect even if you don’t particularly care for what they did to them.

Benson’s interpretation of “Golden Slumbers” is flat out gorgeous. Instead of immediately jazzin’ it up he opts to employ a string quartet to back his smooth voice and the result is two and a half minutes of unexpected grace. The approach he goes with on “You Never Give Me Your Money” is more in the vein of a traditional contemporary jazz style although the horns and strings are strategically placed most tactfully. George then glides over his fretboard with confidence for a spell before he reprises “Golden Slumbers” and ends it the way it began. Horns, woodwinds and cello introduce the familiar melody of “Because” prior to the track slipping into a jazzier feel for “Come Together.” It’s another slick vehicle for an extended Benson solo but just when it starts to get old the crisp horn section creeps in and Sonny Fortune steps forward to deliver a gentle ride on his alto sax. Following that it turns a bit predictable yet once again the string quartet comes back to add a touch of class to the ending. He finishes side one with a bluesy, lounge-act cover of “Oh! Darling.” While his silky Vegas vocal doesn’t do it justice and his guitar lead is only so-so, the clever horn section arrangement saves it from ridicule.

He rebounds from that minor miscalculation with a fine version of “Here Comes the Sun.” Unadorned piano and vocal start it off, then the string quartet enters for the 2nd verse and continues to the finish. It’s beautifully done. “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” is next and they first establish a sultry mood with the song’s familiar riff before they slip into a jazzy groove for the verse. The horns are sharp and dynamic as George’s guitar flies swiftly and cleanly through the jam segment. Trumpeter Freddie Hubbard builds up his fluid ride expertly and the big band finale is exciting. “Something” features a return of the string quartet to the project, this time enlarged by Hubert Laws’ flute, while Benson plays Harrison’s timeless melody over them. They don’t linger in that spot for long, though, and soon they put a modern jazz slant into the chords. The combination of instrumentation is excellent. An upright bass walks you into “Octopus’s Garden” and it turns out to be most like a big band treatment than anything else on the album (I’m not complaining). A speedy run from the congas sets a feverish pace for “The End.” George blazes temporarily on his fat axe but suddenly the whole thing fades out just as they’re starting to sizzle. Perhaps they ran out of time. Weird.

I have to mention the arresting cover photo taken by Eric Meola (you have to open up the whole wrap-around picture to get the full effect). It’s a classic. Amid the hustle and bustle of a drab urban landscape the one bright glimpse of joy in these people’s lives is represented by the colorful sunburst finish on Benson’s guitar. I like that imagery. By imitating the famous crosswalk picture but reframing it on a gritty, busy New York boulevard album designer Sam Antupit presented a stark contrast to the open London street the Beatles crossed so casually. As for the music inside, you’d rightly expect the jazz angle to be prominent but the inclusion of a splendidly arranged string quartet so often along the way truly distinguishes this collection of covers as an admirable experiment that worked. I’m not sure they could’ve improved on it even if they’d spent another six months putting it together. It’s a breezy treat.