McLemore Avenue

Record Collector - 4 stars out of 5 -- "MCLEMORE AVENUE pays tribute to The Beatles...with the MGs covering ABBEY ROAD with instrumental aplomb."

Let it never be said that Booker T. and the MG's were conceptually timid. McLEMORE AVENUE, released in 1970, is a tribute to/cover of the Beatles' ABBEY ROAD, right down to the cover art featuring the MG's crossing McLemore Ave. (the location of Stax Studios) in the fashion of John, Paul, George and Ringo. The MG's recording takes tracks from the Beatles original (only "Maxwell's Silver Hammer", "Oh Darling!" and "Octopus's Garden" are absent), rearranges and threads them together in three distinct medleys.
The treatments are generally faithful to the originals, though the occasional stylistic deviation, such as the lounge boogie of "Here Comes the Sun", keeps things interesting. The band fares best on the funkier numbers such as "I Want You" and "Come Together", while Booker T.'s keyboards nicely round out the "orchestral" feel of songs such as "Sun King". Thirty years of Beatles covers in elevators and department stores the world over may have made it difficult to listen to instrumental versions of "Something" without cringing, but the playing here is outstanding as always, and the disc/concept remains of interest to Beatles collectors and serious MG's fans alike.|

Booker T. Jones was so taken with the Beatles' Abbey Road, he claims he had to respond, just to say "thanks." He convened the MG's -- drummer Al Jackson Jr., bassist Donald "Duck" Dunn, and guitarist Steve Cropper, and recorded McLemore Avenue, a cover version of the entire Abbey Road album in three long medleys (that approximated the structure of the Beatles' album -- particularly its second side) with a cover of George Harrison's "Something" set aside as a single. The MG's even aped the Beatles' cover photo, with one of them strolling down McLemore Avenue, the home of Stax Records. Booker T. & the MG's turned an already hip record into one that was funky as hell, and one that kept listeners guessing by rearranging the order of the tunes to suit the MG's as a band. The set begins with a medley of "Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End/Here Comes the Sun/Come Together." The juxtaposition of the first two cuts is jarring but seamless. The quartet nails "The End," with fine soloing from Cropper and heated work from Jones on organ and electric piano, before a crescendo and a Moog intros "Here Comes the Sun," done as a summery Jimmy Smith-styled jazz number before turning all sinister on "Come Together." "Something" may have seemed a curious choice for a single, but with Cropper's greasy, bluesy guitar break and Jones playing his organ rhythmically more than melodically, it works beautifully. "Because," wedded to "You Never Give Me Your Money," is a spacious blend of melody and psychedelic groove, setting up the final medley. It is the set's tour de force, commencing with a shimmering "Sun King," before Jackson's drums announce a sprightly, funky "Mean Mr. Mustard" that careens into the guitar overdrive of "Polythene Pam" and the breezy "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window," which morphs into a dramatic, blues-drenched, "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" to close it out. Not only is McLemore Avenue a stellar interpretation of Abbey Road, it's one of the finest Booker T. & the MG's albums to boot. ~ Thom Jurek