Happy Anniversary: George Benson, 20/20

31 years ago today, George Benson hit record store shelves with his sixth studio album for Warner Brothers, an effort which took him into the top 20 of Billboard’s R&B Albums chart and into the top 5 of the magazine’s Jazz Albums chart.

Released in 1985, 20/20 is – like so many albums of its era – easily identifiable by its instrumentation as being straight outta the ‘80s, but with producer Russ Titelman at the helm for the majority of its tracks, it caught the ears of enough radio listeners to quickly provide Benson with another gold record for his ever-growing collection. On the single front, both “I Just Wanna Hang Around You” and the album’s title track were top-40 R&B singles, but only “20/20” crossed over the Hot 100, where it ultimately stalled at #48.

The album may sound a bit dated nowadays, but it still features some fine tunes, including a duet with Roberta Flack (“You Are the Love of My Life”) and a smooth cover of “Beyond the Sea.” Ironically, the composition on the album that went on to have the greatest chart success – albeit by someone other than Benson – was one that didn’t even earn release as a single in America: “Nothing’s Gonna Change My Love For You,” the Michael Masser / Gerry Goffin song that Glenn Medeiros took into the top 20 in 1987. In retrospect, we’d guess that Benson probably wished that Warner Brothers had seen the commercial potential in the song, but…well, you know what they say about hindsight.

(See what we did there?)