The Beatles Abbey Road appeared to well-liked among jazz and soul types alike. Within a year after the release of The Beatles classic, George Benson released his take on Abbey Road, titled The Other Side of Abbey Road.
The Other Side of Abbey Road featured wonderful jazzy, soulful, and funky renditions of the Beatles songs with the likes of Herbie Hancock on organ and piano, Latin great Ray Barretto on percussion, Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, and Bob James on the keyboards, among many others. It also featured a few versions of Benson singing a few of the songs, word for word. Here is one of my favorite tracks off of Benson's The Other Side of Abbey Road, "I Want You", featuring Benson's vocals and Freddie Hubbard on the trumpet.
In 1970, Booker T was a huge fan of The Beatles Abbey Road album, so much so that we wanted to record a tribute to the album as well.
McLemore Avenue (the street in which Stax Records in Memphis is located) is a well-executed, soulful rendition of The Beatles classic. It's amazing to think when Booker T assembled The MGs to record this, most of the band players were not familiar with the album Abbey Road. Steve Cropper pulls off some wonderful guitar solos. It seems like he's fully aware of the structure of The Beatles songs, so it's just amazing to me that he was basically instructed by Booker T on what chords to play. I love their meditative version of "Because".
You may ask, why were a few of the soul and jazz greats so attracted to The Beatles Abbey Road? Surely, they could sense the musical brilliance of the fab four, as Booker T commented later on how attracted he was to the chords they used, and the melodies that came out of the chords. This is probably why an outstanding band like The MGs could turn a beautiful track like "Because" into a beautiful, soulful instrumental. Great bands and musicians respected The Beatles musical chops.
sweet version of Because. I believe Because is an inverted piece influenced by Classical music. Hey...you mentioned underground Disco. Check out Black Devil from the 70's.
Dude! Yeah, I've definitely noticed "Because" being classical-influenced. Hmmm, Disco. I should do a post on Disco sometime. Love that "Disco Demands" box set that I picked up awhile back. Good raw, underground disco from the 70's, which I love, but I also love the more polished stuff like the first three Chic albums, Donna Summer, and (gasp) the "Saturday Night Fever" Soundtrack.
sweet version of Because. I believe Because is an inverted piece influenced by Classical music. Hey...you mentioned underground Disco. Check out Black Devil from the 70's.
ReplyDeleteDude! Yeah, I've definitely noticed "Because" being classical-influenced. Hmmm, Disco. I should do a post on Disco sometime. Love that "Disco Demands" box set that I picked up awhile back. Good raw, underground disco from the 70's, which I love, but I also love the more polished stuff like the first three Chic albums, Donna Summer, and (gasp) the "Saturday Night Fever" Soundtrack.
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