I stumbled across AC/DC jamming on the old George Benson song “On Broadway” (written by Cynthia Well and Jerry Leiber) a couple of weeks ago so I checked out Benson doing it. There was a live version recorded at the Roxy in Los Angeles in October 1977 that caught my imagination (it is on the live album “Weekend In LA” that I have since secured as part of the Original Album Series). What astounded me was that it sounded exactly as a late Deep Purple (Tommy Bolin era) jam. Purple could easily have slipped in this tune in one of their prolonged versions of any of their songs on stage. Benson even sings pretty much like Glenn Hughes. The groove suits Hughes and Ian Paice down to a tee. It really is quite remarkable. Having said that, I have to say that George Benson is a great performer. He must have been an inspiration for Hughes at some level.
(My shot of Deep Purple MK4 page from a Japanese publication with the Benson release)
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trinkelbonker 