Track Listing

1. Shadow Dancers - Benson, George & 'Brother' Jack McDuff Quartet
2. Ain't That Peculiar - Benson, George Quartet
3. Foggy Day - Benson, George Quartet
4. Ready And Able - Benson, George & Lonnie Smith
5. What's New
6. Chattanooga Choo Choo
7. White Rabbit
8. Summertime - Benson, George & Hubert Laws
9. Breezin'
10. This Masquerade
11. Shark Bite
12. Nature Boy
13. Greatest Love Of All
14. On Broadway
15. We All Remember Wes
16. Love Ballad
17. Off Broadway
18. Moody's Mood
19. Give Me The Night
20. Turn Your Love Around
21. Love All The Hurt Away - Benson, George & Aretha Franklin
22. Mimosa - Benson, George & Jimmy Smith
23. Being With You
24. 20/20
25. New Day
26. Kisses In The Moonlight
27. Mt Airy Road - Benson, George & Earl Klugh
28. Let's Do It Again
29. Tenderly
30. Ready Now That You Are - Benson, George & Count Basie Orchestra
31. Long And Winding Road
32. C Smooth

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #74625 in Music
• Released on: 2001-03-26
• Number of discs: 2
• Format: Double CD

Amazon.co.uk Review
"I loved pretty", says George Benson in a quote included on this attractively packaged anthology's comprehensive liner notes. And really, the great guitarist-singer's penchant for prettiness is the thread that runs through all of his music--from his early cool-bop jazz charts (nicely represented on 1964's "Shadow Dancer" and 1967's vibrant "Ready and Able") to the 1970s chart-toppers ("This Masquerade", "On Broadway", "Turn Your Love Around") and through the Quiet Storm musings of the last two decades. As a guitarist, Benson's ability to arc and shape a melodic phrase has constantly thrilled, especially when these lines are accompanied by his trademark vocal scats. The producers wisely omit some of Benson's later (and schlockier) easy-listening works, and provide us with endearing cuts like a 1968 collaboration with Herbie Hancock on "Chattanooga Choo Choo" (delivered with a down-home, decidedly blues-inflected wail) and inspired works with musical heavies such as rhythm guitarist supreme Phil Upchurch, bassist Ron Carter, organists Jimmy Smith, Lonnie Smith and Aretha Franklin. But the anthology's most delightful inclusion is "Shark Bite", a white-hot acid jazz number that reminds us that Benson could indeed be the grooviest guitarist since the legendary Wes Montgomery. --Sylvia W. Chan

CD Description
When it comes to surprising mid-career reinventions, few can top George Benson. Who knew that the jazz guitarist everyone had picked to become the late Wes Montgomery's heir to the throne in the 1960s would end the following decade as a pop star specialising in disco-tinged smooth-R&B tunes? Rhino's two-disc THE GEORGE BENSON ANTHOLOGY is the definitive overview of this surprising transformation, the only multi-discset that covers the entirety of Benson's career, from his post-bop early days as the new hotshot guitarist to his more experimental and wide-ranging work in the late '60s and early '70s. The set also continues into his chart successes and his later standing as one of the elder giants of his style. The biggest surprise of the set is how little musical difference there really is between early gems like a gently swinging version of the quirky standard "Nature Boy" to hits like "Give Me the Night" and "Turn Your Love Around", adult-contemporary pop that has held up considerably better than one might expect. For curious listeners, this is the best possiblestarting point.

Customer Reviews

A must have for all Benson fans old and new
Even if you have some of the tracks listed, this double CD is a fantastic collection spanning 27 years of music by George Benson. The anthology covers Benson's guitar mastery (Breezin, Off Broadway etc..), his unique vocal talent (This Masquerade, New Day etc..) and the great collabrations he has had with some of music's legends (Summertime, Love All The Hurt Way etc..), being a legend in his own right of course.

Included is a colourful and detailed 50 page booklet that covers Benson's life and musical highlights.

Again a must have.

From Jazz Heaven to Smooth Jazz Hell
The first CD of this compilation is fantastic- great guitar playing, great production, great feeling. 'White Rabbit' is the highlight, with a fantastic spanish guitar/jazz fusion/ funk reinvention of the Jefferson Airplane classic- not as memorable as the blistering version by The Damned, but still a damn good listen. Also great are 'Shadow Dancers', 'Breezin' and 'We All Remember Wes (live)' which showcase the man's talent to the utmost. George Benson can really, really play.

The second CD on the other hand...

Well, it starts well enough, with 'Love Ballad', which remains a fantastic song despite the efforts of the producer to screw it up. And then it all goes wrong. The remainder of the songs are either a) mawkish, sentimental rubbish or b) smooth jazz. Smooth jazz, for those who don't know, is just like real jazz but with the feeling removed and replaced by an obsession with perfection and smooth, slick, and utterly intolerable production. Think Kenny G. Think pain. These are songs with names such as 'Mt. Airy Road' and 'Love All The Hurt Away'. If you are looking for a soundtrack to seduce mid-thirties divorcees with over a £7 bottle of wine from the local Tescos, this is perfect. The real low point of this disk, however, is the astonishingly dreadful version of the Beatle's soulful classic 'The Long And Winding Road'. If you have the occasion, listen to them both one after the other. This is surely a crime against art.

Also worth mentioning is the obligatory brown-nosing biography that accompanies every compilation that is released these days. It has some nice pictures, and adds nicely to the weight of the CD case. Just don't bother reading it.

So, a word of advice- by all means, buy this compilation for the quality of the first CD, and then dispose of the second CD. After doing so, attempt to get hold of one of the James Taylor Quartet compilations that has a far superior version of 'Love Ballad' on, and 'The Blue Album' by the Beatles, which is a good compilation album with a good version of 'Long and Winding Road'.

*sigh*

Variety
George Benson has played a wide variety of music, so an anthology should contain a wide range of tracks ... this anthology does, so, no complaints there.