Rubber Soulive

by Hal Horowitz Recording predominantly instrumental soul-jazz Beatles' covers isn't a unique concept; both George Benson and Booker T. & the M.G.'s attempted a similar concept to varying degrees of success in the early 70s. But Soulive strips the sound down to a three piece organ combo and swings its way through eleven Beatles tunes, including rockers such as "Help" and "Day Tripper," jazzing them up without losing the hummable melodies that makes this timeless music still resonate. Despite the album's title that wittily takes the Soulive moniker and combines it with the Beatles iconic recording, there are only two tunes from Rubber Soul. Regardless, this is a frisky reimagining of Fab Four gems that stays true to its source yet adapts the music to Soulive's distinctive soul-jazz groove. At first glance, the set list seems somewhat unlikely for interpretations in this style. Surely "Revolution" and "(I Want You) She's So Heavy" don't look like obvious candidates for a Memphis styled R&B makeover. But Soulive uses its basic organ-guitar-drum setup with few overdubs, to effortlessly soar through these tunes without a hint of pretention. Guitarist Eric Krasno handles most of the "vocal" parts, walking a fine line between rock and jazz, especially on the riff heavy "Day Tripper," without slipping into either. Organist Neal Evans provides muscular yet nimble support, often taking the place of what were the background vocals of the originals. The solos are generally kept short, sharp and tight, unlike other jazz covers that use a song's melody as a jumping off place for lengthy improvisation that often strays too far from the tunefulness of the source material. Rather, the trio keeps the Beatles' songwriting abilities foremost in the presentation, although when they do wander off the page on short jams as in "Taxman," it's never for long. Like the Liverpool lads who intuitively meshed together, Soulive's members interlock to yield results greater than the sum of its parts on this successful tribute that combines the Beatles sense of excitement, imagination and musical exploration with a funky, down home, R&B/jazz groove.