INSTRUMENTAL BEATLES

As a rule, I don't really appreciate instrumental versions of an already established hit song. An original instrumental like those from The Shadows or The Ventures or the occasional instrumental groups are fine btu not cover versions. I bought those various Beatles instrumental Cd more as a novelty piece to showcase on my shelf rather than listening to them. Usually I bought them at discount price. Most of them works as elevator music which is a shame considering the earth shattering affects it caused when these songs were first released.

GREATEST HITS GO CLASSIC : PERFORMED BY CLASSIC DREAM ORCHESTRA : This Cd started off fine with a fine version of 'Something'. It remained the best track here. The following track 'And I Love Her' Elanor Rigby' and even the great 'Let It Be' sounds rather ordinary and uninspired played by this orchestra as was 'Girl', 'Yesterday', 'Nowhere Man' and 'Norwegian Wood [ This Bird Has Flown ]. Incredible as these are great songs. The band picked up somewhat on 'Strawberry Fields Forever', 'Michelle', 'Hey Jude' and the final track 'The Long And Winding Road.' Apprently somebody goofed on 'Norwegian Wood', listing the composer as just McCartney when in actuality it was a John Lennon song. DOP : 10th August 2003.

THE SOHO STRINGS PLAY...IN THE SENTIMENTAL BEATLES MOOD :  It's truly incredible and maddening at how the music of my beloved Beatles can be rendered so mediocre and uninspiring at the hand of The Soho Strings. It's even less interesting than the album produced by The Classic Dream Orchestra which is already not a interesting album as it is. Matter of fact, I was listening to this while I was driving and I was fighting myself from falling asleep. 20 timeless classics as it said on its sub title but it sure doesn't sound that way at all. Apart from four songs the rest of the sixteen songs are the same as on the said album. That is no one track here that raised the bar even slightly for me to press the repeat button. I wouldn't want to torture anyone with this album unless you have problems sleeping at night. A word of warning, don't play this while driving. You may just fall asleep on the wheel that that would be fatal. Why was I not surprised at all that I can't find a single trace of the album on the internet. I bought this Cd at a super low price which should explain the super low quality of it Really The Beatles should sue. DOP : Unknown.

CARTOONS PLAYING BEATLES

Cartoons characters singing songs of the favourite artists of the day are normal staples of the music world and The Beatles have their share of that. Some works while some doesn't. Songs like this are much rather like the cartoon characters that sang them. A song or two or an episodes of two can be very enjoyable but an hour of more of them can be quite taxing. Here are a few examples that I have.


BUGS & FRIENDS SING THE BEATLES : THE FURRY FOUR SING THEIR FAB FOUR FAVOURITES! A PARODY : I first got a sample of this Cd from the song 'Hello, Goodbye' sung by Bugs & Daffy. It was so daft and so different from the countless Beatles versions that I have heard. That lead me looking for this Cd and when I found it, I grabbed it immediately. To get your little ones to be interested in The Beatles, I can think of no better way. But while it may work for the little ones, for an adults going a whole album of cartoonish of Beatles tunes may be a tab too much to take. Some of it may work and actually tickle your funny bones while hearing them for the first time but repeated listening is akin to watching the same cartoons again and again.The fun meter is lowered. Overall most of the songs are okay if taken at small dose and the ones that I highly recommended are 'She Loves You', The Fool On The Hill', Birthday' and 'Hello, Goodbye' of course. There is just too much drama in 'Yesterday' in which Daffy Duck was distracted again and again during recording. 'The Long And Winding' is rather an instrumental more than a vocal songs with the Road Runner character beeping his way through the appropriate part. Ultimately one for the kids and the kid in us The Cd sleeve is something else too. It have a daft story about The Furry Four along the line of The Beatles with various pictures of The Furry Four in famous poses of The Beatles.By the way, this album does not come cheap. DOP : 27th April 1997.

SNOOPY'S BEATLES :  Surprise, surprise, I actually adore this Cd of Beatles music, children style. The first track 'Do You Want To Know A Secret' started off with an argument between two character and then started with what must be the sweetest tune of the Cd. The toy instrumentals are really so fresh and cute. The other songs with vocals are ' She Loves You', 'Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds' and 'Yellow Submarine.'  The children's voices are so well suited to the songs that you'll be forgiven if you thought they were actually sung by angels. The 'Yellow Submarine' version here just could be the one to beat the Ringo's version. The rests are instrumentals as could be played by children, but don't you believe it. These instrumentals, thought childish are profound professionals who played so beautifully. Honestly, 'Yesterday', 'Blackbird', 'When I'm Sixty Four,' not to mentioned 'Here Comes The Sun', 'Help!' and 'A Hard Day's Night' never sounded so fresh and appealing. Special mention must be given to 'When I'm Sixty Four,' and 'Here Comes The Sun.'I never thought that songs already sweet can be made so much sweeter. The only complain about this Cd is that it is way too short with only a miserable ten songs.  DOP : 19th January 2003..




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THE YELLOW ALBUM : THE SIMPSONS

THE YELLOW ALBUM : THE SIMPSON'S : This album is rather hard to classify. Musically. there is nothing to relate to The Beatles at all. The only relation to The  Beatles was the "Sgt' Pepper's Lonely Heart Club Band' cover, the title which was clearly a parody of 'The White Album" and the photographs of The Simpsons in Sgt. Pepper's costumes. Music wise, there was nothing to tie it to The Beatles at all. The Simpsons was a widely successful TV cartoon show that have all The Beatles except for John Lennon guested on its show Session musicians playing unknown on albums have been done before. The Archies, The Partridge Family, The Monkees, etc. I've liked them all but The Simpsons came just a bit too late for my taste. Musically, there was nothing real interesting here except for one outstanding track which teamed Linda Ronstadt singing a duet with Homer Simpson on the old Willie Nelson standard 'Funny How Times Slips Away.' It was this song that stayed in my mind long after I've returned this Cd to the shelf.. The second song that I like is The Eurythmics old hit 'Sisters Are Doing It By Themselves' done by sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson with Lisa Simpson. Probably it was the participation of the professional singers that lifted the songs a notch higher. The rest of the songs, 'Love ?', 'Twenty Four Hours A Day' and 'The Ten Commandments Of Bart' are quite enjoyable without being memorable. There's even some fun rap numbers notably "Anyone Else' and 'She's Coming Out Swingin' and 'Every Summer With You.' I got this Cd at a discount. No way I'm gonna buy this at the normal price. DOP : 2nd July 2011.

GREAT ARTISTS COVERING THE BEATLES

The Beatles were paid tributes times and times by some of the biggest stars in the world. As a group and as individual artists. Of these, John Lennon have the bulk of the tributes but ironically Paul McCartney was always overlooked and till today except for a locally produced tribute album, I have yet to see a bona file tribute album for the criminally long overdue great Paul McCartney. Even George Harrison have one tribute album and a whole concert to his name. Still, here are my humble collection of these tribute albums.

MOTOWN MEETS THE BEATLES : I got this at a discount from Singapore and boy, was it a bargain. I don't really enjoy Beatles tribute albums. It usually served as a novelty and displace for my showcase but I did enjoyed this. The Supreme started off splendidly with 'A Hard Day's Night' followed by 'Come Together', which I'm sad to say is rather lame. 'You Can't Do That' did much better. Diana Ross as a solo artists covered 'The Long And Winding Road', which she did so beautifully and 'Imagine.' "Imagine' was in my opinion John Lennon's most powerful song and nobody could ever made a decent cover out of it, though many tried and failed miserably. Diana Ross gave it just the right touch to make it one of the better interpretation. Don't really like The Four Tops' version of' 'Eleanor Rigby' and 'The Fool On The Hill but their 'Michelle' is much better. Steve Wonder's version of 'We Can Work It Out' was already a hit and deservedly so. The Temptations gave an interesting version of 'Hey Jude' with treble and bass vocals in all. Still couldn't beat the original though. Who could...? Marvin Gaye gave a slow jazzy almost unrecognisable reading of 'Yesterday'. Didn't work for me. Boring. 'She's Leaving Home' flared slightly better under the soulful vocal of Syreeta, one time wife of Stevie Wonder.  Smokey Robinson & The Miracles gave a highly falsetto vocal on the much loved "And I Love Her.'  'Something' by Martha Reeves & The Vandellas stayed rather close to the original. I am rather biased when it comes to 'Let It Be' but Gladys Knight & The Pips did a commendable job with it. Jr. Walker did a jazzy instrumental of 'My Love' one of my favourite Paul McCartney's songs. Edwin Starr did a rather nice but not great cover of George Harrison's 'My Sweet Lord' without the trademark backing. DOP : 15th March 2008.

WORKING CLASS HERO : A TRIBUTE TO JOHN LENNON :  I got this again at the discount bin. Matter of fact I will buy any Beatles or Beatles related products from the bargain bin. Red Hot Chili Peppers's version of 'I Found Out' is a great improvement on the original which was recorded with minimal musicians and which was not really a favourite of mine but this one I like. 'I Don't Wanna Be A Soldier' was one of my least liked Lennon's composition but I can sit this one out by Mad Season. It shorter length helped of course. Yet another not so favourite track done much better by Candlebox's version of 'Steel And Glass.' which is fairly interesting. From the song 'Imagine' onward I know that this artists are really doing this for the love of John Lennon. As mentioned before, 'Imagine' is one song you don't touch but surprisingly Blues Traveler did quite a good version of it. Another good cover of "Working Class Hero' by Screaming Trees. A powerhouse performance of 'Power To The People' by The Minus 5.  Sung with malice and sneer, The Magnificent Bastards would do John Lennon proud with his venom filled 'How Do You Sleep' but I much prefer the original on this. Where John's version of 'Nobody Told Me' was fun filled, this version by Flaming Lips lacked that so it's the original for me. Done almost the same as the original except for the harder guitar sound, this version of 'Well, Well, Well'  by Super 8. I don't play this Cd that often but this version of 'Cold Turkey' by Cheap Trick was one the song I profoundly remembered and enjoyed. Started quietly acoustically., it got heavier on the chorus and kick ass too. One of John's most heartbreaking ballad was given a heartfelt reading by Collective Soul, trading the original's piano for an acoustic backing. I like this. Sponge's 'Isolation' is the first track that I really don't like here. John's being murdered again here. 'Instant Karma' by Toad The Wet Sprocket seems rather tame as compared to the original,. Mary Chaplin Carpenter's version of 'Grow Old Along With Me' was the second songs that I remembered from here. An utterly beautiful version of this beautiful song that had John being given more time would certainly rendered it to classic status. Mary Chaplin Carpenter 's outstanding vocal just about did that. Had this version been available during my wedding, I will certainly want it played. George Clinton's version of 'Mind Games' is relative softer than the original but paled in comparison toJohn Lennon's original which was also one of his great piece..  DOP : 29th April 2003


 

MOJO PRESENTS HARRISON COVERED : This is not a commercially released Cd. It was given free with the Mojo music magazine. I didn't buy the magazine 'cos I don't want to be saddle with a magazine that I don't really like I managed to find this Cd at a fleas market for a miserable $5.00. Truth be told,  I have not heard of most of the artists here prior to my purchasing this Cd, except for Graham Nash who was more a guest star and Joe Brown whom I first encountered on Concert For George singing the song that he sang on that concert. Show Of Hands sure isn't a good choice to start off the album with a inferior remake of 'If I Needed Someone.'  The Webb Sisters did better with 'I Need You.' which they sang so convincingly. George second No.1, 'Give Me Love' was given a gentle acoustic take by Ron Sexsmith which is not too bad. 'Here Comes The Sun' somehow doesn't sound right without the great acoustic intro. Richie Havens should change his profession for murdering this most beautiful of George Harrison's song. The title of George Harrison's career defining greatest Cd, 'The Ballad Of Sir Frankie Crisp [ Let It Roll ] was given a nice interpretation by Alessi's Ark. I've always loved this track 'Long, Long, Long' from the White Album but it was recorded way to soft. Lanterns On The Lake didn't quite turn up the volume but they didn't do too badly either. Jonathan Wilson featuring Graham Nash choose just the right song to cover. 'Isn't It A Pity' wasn't really one of my favorite song but here it fitted them to a T. Probably the first cover of this John Lennon's tribute by Emmy The Great. Note by note the same as the original. A slow down version of this classic by Hurray For The Riff Raff does not really do 'My Sweet Lord' justice at all and mingling The Cliffords's 'He's So Fine' as part of the background is not funny either knowing the history. Finally, a song that I can relate to. Peter Bruntnell's 'Think For Yourself' is faithful to the original but I still like this version better. Another faithful remake of 'So Sad' by Iain Matthews that I actually enjoyed. Joe Brown's version of this great song 'That's The Way It Goes' on the Concert For George was what got me to rediscovered this gem in my collection. Trevor Moss & Hannah Loo did a good acoustic cover of 'Your Love Is Forever', a song that I wasn't too aware of. ' Behind That Locked Door' is a song that just can't go wrong and thankful The Felice Brothers' version though not really great, didn't quite kill it. Yim Yames's 'Love You To' is painfully slow and equally painful to the ear. DOP : 13th January 2013.


DENNY LAINE SINGS WINGS & MOODY BLUES :  Denny Laine is of course the side man of Paul McCartney who after Paul & Linda McCartney, was with Wings from the beginning right through the demise of the group. Group members come and go but Denny Laine was there all the while. During his tenure as a member of Wings, he was given a chance to sing on some of their various albums and some of them were quite good. As a lead player, he somehow lack the charisma and vocal chop of Paul McCartney as this collection will clearly show. I figured Denny made three major mistakes here. Firstly he shouldn't have covered Paul McCartney's big massive hits that were so associated with him that you just can't out McCartney the man himself. As such, 'Mull Of Kintyre', ' Silly Love Songs', 'Listen To What The Man Said' and 'Band On The Run' should never have been attempted. As it is, these sounds almost like an embarrassment. He should have tried those lesser known album tracks which are as good if not better than some of his singles. He flared better on his own numbers that he first performed as Wings. Songs like 'Time To Hide', 'Children, Children', and 'Deliver Your Children.'  There were three Moody Blues' songs here. Of which one was 'Go Now' which was given the big musical treatment and the only track that sounded complete. As this song was performed on the "Wings Over America" Cd, it have been rendered a Wings' song nevertheless. The other two, 'Can't Nobody Loves You' and 'Say You Don't Mind', though pleasant enough should not have been included here, hence making this a straight Paul McCartney tribute album instead of a novelty album only for the curious. Denny didn't do too badly on 'Picasso's Last Words' and the sole Beatles' song here 'Blackbird' but he totally butchered his own song with' Again And Again And Again' which was one of my favourite tracks on the "Back To The Egg" album. Denny should have included the actual recording of these songs and not rerecorded them acoustically. A album to listen to only once every few years.  Nevertheless, I would not part with this Cd. DOP : 11th January 2004.

BEATLES SOUND ALIKE

THE BEATLES : I couldn't wait to get my hand on this when I came upon this while browsing in the Cd shop. The four guys on the cover with 19 songs that they have given away and at a killer price. Of all the Beatles imitators this was closest to the original. Casual fans could be fooled into believing it's the real deal. I imagined this Cd was produced in China 'cos there was no record whatsoever on it on the Internet. The packaging was good with lyrics and Chinese translation as well. Some of these songs can be found on the anthology albums so it was not so rare now. Other than this, the usual culprits are 'I'm In Love,' ' It's For You,'' Step Inside Love, and 'Love Of The Loved' ( Cilla Black ), 'Nobody I Know, 'Woman, ( not the John Lennon's song )'  and 'World Without Love' ( Peter & Gordon ). I could have sworn 'If You've Got Troubles' which was in the Anthology series was sung by Ringo Starr himself. 'Hello, Little Girl,' 'That Means A Lot', 'I Don't Want To See You Again' and 'Tip Of My Tongue' are as close as early Beatles as you 'Like Dreamers Do' was slower than the version found on the Anthology. 'One And One Is Two' is a mindless but fun 60's type rock 'n' roll but it sounds much better here  than on the various bootleg recording that I've come across. 'Bad To Me' was one of my favourite track that The Beatles never recorded officially. I have the bootleg recording of it but this version is not bad at all. 'I'll Be On My Way' could have been the version lifted right out of "The Beatles Live At The BBC ." 'From A Window' and 'I'll Keep You Satisfied' are two of my favourite songs that The Beatles throw away and thankfully they didn't butchered them here. I have these two songs from an earlier record which was my preferred version but it was not available on Cd, so this will have to do. 'Goodbye,' the song written by Paul McCartney for Mary Hopkin sounds just like the version I have on the bootleg Cd. A rather low key album but nevertheless quite enjoyable for the consistency in quality and sound wise.can get. DOP : 3rd July 2004.

THE VERY BEST OF STARS ON 45 : The firs time I heard this, I was so excited and beside myself. It was actually a novelty record that works and it got a whole lot of artists jumping onto the wagon producing their own version of medley of hits. The vocal was so like The Beatles and the one who say John Lennon's part was spot on. The success of this even got the producers of The Beatles to produced a medley of real Beatles songs into a movie medley. The single was was kept to a more radio friendly length while the album version which have 30 Beatles all woven together with a magical thread. The only non Beatles song was the intro of George Harrison's 'My Sweet Lord' and the Stars On 45 Them that kept the thread together but who's complaining. Together with The Beatles medley, there are medleys of other artists as well but this was all about The Beatles so I will not go into that. DOP : Unknown.

HITS ON 45 : DISCOBEATLES : PERFORMED BY F4 :  With '45' prominently displayed in the background, I, like most I supposed was fooled into thinking that this was another record by the famed and enjoyable Stars On 45 but this was not so but some poor imitators trying to fool us into believing it was. Actually it was Hits On 45. and not Stars On 45 if you've read the fine print. The small print was done so as to deliberately misled us which it managed to. The real culprit of this mess was printed in so tiny at the bottom that it was not noticable at all. The end result was that this sounds like the same songs over and over again with different lyrics. I got this at a discount and believe me even at a discount, this is totally a waste of time and money. The cover is the best thing that is about this Cd. A shame really 'cos the vocalist wasn't bad, only the arrangement of the songs are atrocious and beyond bad. Good thing John Lennon was cremated or this will surely make him roll in his grave. DOP : 13th May 2003.

A REGGAE TRIBUTE TO THE BEATLES

A REGGAE TRIBUTE TO THE BEATLES : This is actually the first Beatles tribute Cds that I've ever bought. I got it from a friend who was in the music business selling off market products. It was probably the Cd cover that attracted me 'cos usually I don't buy any Cds before I have listened to it except in for The Beatles and their solo stuffs of course. I haven't heard of any of the artists here at all. The interpretation are not much different except for the reggae musical backing. Ironically there are two versions of the same songs by different artists as if The Beatles doesn't have enough good songs. 'Hey Jude' was done by both John Holt and Joe's All Stars which was an instrumental version. The same with 'World Without Love' which was done by Del Davis and Johnny Arthey Orchestra respectively. John Holt's version of 'Hey Jude' ended just as the famous 'Da da da da' came on which was really the backbone of the song. while David Livingstone's 'Yesterday' is laudable, The Israelites did a real good job of butchering one of my favourite Beatles' songs, 'Come Together.' I would have fallen asleep if I didn't have to write this. 'Get Back' by Anonymously Yours at least have an infectious beat that kept the song interesting. Phyllis Dillon's 'Something' does reminds me of Shirley Bassey.  'Give Peace A Chance' by The Maytals didn't even contain a proper verse, just the chorus of the ironic title keeps repeating and repeating. 'Lady Madonna' was an instrumental by The Crystalites.  Strangely I prefer 'Isn't It A Pity' by Nicky Thomas ( did a rather  an incredibly mediocre version of 'Let It Be' earlier ) to the George Harrison's original.  Harry J. All Starrs' 'Don't Let Me Down' starts off interestingly with an intro of 'Give Peace A Change' that was somehow mingled into this instrumental. 'Blackbird Singing' ( actually just 'Blackbird' ) by Roslyn Sweet & The Paragons, 'Eleanor Rigby' by B.B Seaton and the final version of 'World Without Love' by Johnny Arthey Orchestra which is almost rendered unrecognisable, made up the rest which are rather mediocre stuffs that's quite incredible considering we are talking about Beatles songs here. Suffice to say, it'll be a while before this disc get to rest on my player.

DOP : 7th January 1999.

BEATLES TRIBUTES AND OTHER RELATED STUFFS

To say I am a Beatles nut must be the understatement of the year, or any years. I have loved The Beatles ever since I heard their songs from albums brought or borrowed by my brothers who loves them as much. He outgrew them in latter years but my obsession with them never left me. Since then, I have accumulated a considerable numbers of their albums, as a groups and as solo artists. Well, after The Beatles and after their solo outputs where do I go from here. I've come to collect some of those Beatles tributes albums / Cds as well. While most of them are below average, and I don't really listen to them, some of them were quite good too. Unfortunaly, the bad far out numbered the good. The Beatles were perfectionists and their songs were already good and definitive so to better the original is really a near impossible task although there are a few exceptions now and then and far in between. Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66's 'The Fool On The Hill' and Earth, Wind & Fire's 'Got To Get You Into My Life' comes to mind. There are a few tribute albums that I have on records but I can't find on Cd Admittedly I bought most of them on discount. I wouldn't really want to spend real money on imitation no matter how good they are.