Booker T & The MG'S: "McLemore Avenue" STAX LP gatefold (Abbey Road Tribute LP)

$

32

You are bidding on a Vinyl issue of Booker T. & The M.G.’s 1970 album, “McLemore Ave.” This classic album was released in 1970, and contains their soulful interpretation of the Beatles’ “Abbey Road” LP.  This album was released on the Stax label, comes with a “Gatefold Cover,” and the item for sale is in stereo. (As best we can tell), this item is the original issue. (Stax  STS 2027). We purchased this item in the 1970’s, played it (and enjoyed it!), and it has been sitting in our home (vertically) for the last few decades.   This LP is a masterful soul version of the Beatles’ Abbey Road (different track order) and it is truly the best of both worlds. The cover is amazing, with the MG’s recreating their stroll across McLemore Avenue, next to Stax studios, in tribute to the Beatles’ walk across Abbey Road.   The LP is in excellent condition;  it looks very clean. The LP cover is in VG+ condition but is showing minor signs of wear and aging. There is a small “Cutout” hole punched in the lower left corner of the front cover.  (See Photos)! Please remember that this album was well taken care of, but it was played as part of our record collection decades ago.  We have tried to show the good and the bad on the photos included with this listing. This item has been stored at room temperature, in a smoke free home.  Please see photos of actual item being sold. 
““McLemore Avenue”  is a 1970 album by Booker T. & the M.G.s, consisting entirely of mostly instrumental covers of songs from the Beatles' album Abbey Road (released only months earlier, in September 1969). The title and cover are an homage to the Beatles album, 926 East McLemore Avenue being the address of the Stax Studios in Memphis, as Abbey Road was for London’s EMI Studios, which were soon renamed Abbey Road Studios. As a nod to Abbey Road's medley, most of the M.G.s' selections are arranged into their own medleys (with the exception of "Something", which was released as a single and reached number 76 in the US).
Booker T. Jones said, "I was in California when I heard Abbey Road, and I thought it was incredibly courageous of The Beatles to drop their format and move out musically like they did. To push the limit like that and reinvent themselves when they had no need to do that. They were the top band in the world but they still reinvented themselves. The music was just incredible so I felt I needed to pay tribute to it.”
“The thing that surprises me the most is that abbey road hasn't even been out for a year and many bands have already started to cover and follow the revolutionary and impregnable style of the beatles. booker t is surpasses and makes an entire tribute album to abbey road: but beware, they are not covers, they are sophisticated rearrangements with modulations, jams, soul rhythms, dynamics and more, in short, an album one step away from a masterpiece. something is the most beautiful episode (it already starts from an original which is pure poetry), but surprising are the three long suites that link the other episodes of abbey road with expertly orchestrated medley; not in the same order, by the way, so as to give the listener a completely new experience. album to listen to and listen to again”.
“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”. Track Listing:  
Side one 1. Medley: "Golden Slumbers", "Carry That Weight", "The End" (with vocals), "Here Comes the Sun", "Come Together" (with incidental vocals)– 15:48 2. "Something" – 4:09 Side two 3. Medley: "Because", "You Never Give Me Your Money" – 7:26 4. Medley: "Sun King", "Mean Mr. Mustard", "Polythene Pam", "She Came In Through the Bathroom Window", "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" – 10:40 Personnel Booker T. & the M.G.s • Booker T. Jones - Hammond organ, piano • Steve Cropper - guitar, piano on "Groovin'", claves on "Booker's Notion" • Donald Dunn - bass guitar • Al Jackson Jr. - drums, percussion