George Benson The Other Side Of Abbey Road 50th Anniversary 180g LP

1969 was an incredible year for the music world. The Woodstock festival, underground radio was at full peak, and of course The Beatles delivered what many consider their greatest work, Abbey Road.

At the time, jazz and funk pioneer George Benson and his producer Creed Taylor immediately went into the recording studio, three weeks after The Beatles release, and recorded the amazing jazz/soul/funk classic The Other Side Of Abbey Road for A&M Records.

George Benson put together a team of players which today reads like a who's who of jazz royalty, including greats Herbie Hancock, Bob James, Idris Muhammad, Hubert Laws, Ron Carter, Don Sebesky, Sonny Fortune, Ray Barretto, etc., and delivered one of the all time greatest acid jazz/fusion albums of our time.

On The Other Side Of Abbey Road we get to hear George Benson in many modes, riffing out to a small combo sound, into a fully orchestrated setting, or solo with his incredible vocals styling on Beatles' classics "Golden Slumbers", "Oh! Darling" and his big hit interpretation of "Here Comes The Sun".

The funk continues as Benson throws down a stellar groove on "Come Together" and rocks the house with "I Want You".

The smash LP closes out things with "The End" which brings all the players upfront, as George Benson plays his lead guitar with clarity and tone, rounding the album out with a fascinating ending.

Friday Music is no stranger to the music and artistry of George Benson. They've continued to release his fine music here with the likes of Breezin' and In Flight and now are very pleased to announce the 180 Gram Audiophile Vinyl release of his 1970 classic The Other Side Of Abbey Road.

Mastered impeccably by Joe Reagoso at Friday Music Studios from the A&M Records tapes, this super limited edition album will also be featured in the classic gatefold cover from 5 decades ago.

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.