After being together for more than 15 years and playing over 2,000 shows, Umphrey’s McGee could easily choose to rest on their laurels. Instead, the progressive jam band looks for new challenges to expand beyond their relentless touring to a rabid fan base.
Last summer while making a rare appearance in the United Kingdom, the group seized the opportunity to spend a day recording at the famed Abbey Road Studios, home base of The Beatles and the recording site of countless other classic albums. The original plan was to cut only a few tracks, but the band chose to milk their time in the famed studio for all it was worth. After a marathon 15 hour session the result was The London Session, a compilation of alternate takes on recent studio tracks, unrecorded live staples, and even a Beatles cover.
“Cut the Cable” and “No Diablo” stood out as a couple selections that had been recently honed in the studio as part of 2014’s excellent Similar Skin. These London versions each came across decidedly different than their prior recordings though. “No Diablo” has a looser flow with more of a group effort on vocals. The take on “Cut the Cable” is an even more striking alternate, toning down the harder rock in favor of an intimate acoustic version that is more akin to its original live debut favored by some.
Many of the album’s brightest spots come from the fan favorites that had never been given the studio treatment. Once the band decided to fill as much time as possible, they began to dig deep with selections ranging from the relatively new “Bad Friday” serving as an upbeat album opener all the way to the introspective “Out of Order,” a song fueled by improv that dates back to the band’s early days. Regular encore selection “Glory” seems to be fitted for the live setting but Abbey Road turned out to be an ideal place to put it on record. It features an uplifting single section of intertwining piano and guitar lines augmented by the pristine audio equipment at hand. The rarely included lyrics for the guitar heavy “Eat” come across as one of the only moments that feel off.
For the album’s closer and highlight Umphrey’s took on the daunting task of covering The Beatles in the Fab Four’s hallowed halls. Covers are essential part of the band’s identity and Beatles songs have repeatedly appeared on setlists. They chose to lay down “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)”, a track that suits the band perfectly with its proto-metal dark sound. Frantic guitar licks, smooth bass fills, piano breakdowns, and belting vocals come together for a top notch homage. Equally impressive is the fact that it was recorded in one take.
Thanks to its song selection, The London Session serves as a quality and thorough overview of the evolution of Umphrey’s McGee. More importantly, the sound is impressively captured thanks to the equipment and setting given at Abbey Studios. The recordings have a pervading warmth of reverb that is hard to come by these days. Performance-wise it may be the best of both worlds with the band’s live precision being captured in studio like never before.