George Benson - The Other Side of Abbey Road (1969) {A&M 8283930282}

George Benson - The Other Side of Abbey Road (1969) {A&M 8283930282}

Just three weeks after the U.S. release of the Beatles' swan song, Abbey Road, Creed Taylor ushered George Benson into the studio to begin a remarkably successful pop-jazz translation of the record (complete with a parody of the famous cover, showing Benson with guitar crossing an Eastern urban street). It is a lyrical album, with a hint of the mystery and a lot of the cohesive concept of the Beatles' original despite the scrambled order of the tunes.

Benson is given some room to stretch out on guitar, sometimes in a bluesy groove, and there are more samples of his honeyed vocals than ever before (oddly, his voice would not be heard again by record-buyers until he signed with Warner Bros.). Don Sebesky's arrangements roam freely from baroque strings to a full-throated big band, and Freddie Hubbard, Sonny Fortune, and Hubert Laws get some worthy solo space. Yet for all its diversity, the record fits together as a whole more tightly than any other George Benson project, thanks to his versatile talents and the miraculous overarching unity of the Beatles' songs. One wonders if the Fab Four liked it, too.



Personnel
George Benson – guitar, vocals
Freddie Hubbard – trumpet
Mel Davis, Bernie Glow, Marvin Stamm – trumpet, flugelhorn
Wayne Andre – trombone, euphonium
Don Ashworth – baritone saxophone
Sonny Fortune – alto saxophone
Jerome Richardson – tenor saxophone, clarinet, flute
Phil Bodner – flute, oboe
Hubert Laws – flute
Herbie Hancock, Ernie Hayes, Bob James – piano, organ, harpsichord
Ron Carter, Jerry Jemmott – Bass guitar
Ed Shaughnessy, Idris Muhammad – drums
Ray Barretto, Andy Gonzalez – percussion
Don Sebesky - arrangements

Strings
Raoul Poliakin, Max Pollikoff – violin
George Ricci – cello
Emanuel Vardi – viola

Digitally mastered at Van Gelder Recording Studio, November 1988

Track Listing
01 - Golden Slumbers, You Never Give Me Your Money
02 - Because, Come Together
03 - Oh! Darling
04 - Here Comes The Sun, I Want You (She's So Heavy)
05 - Something, Octopus's Garden, The End