best beatles covers. ever.

Cilla Black - love of the loved
Lili Ivanova - kakto onzi den (the night before)

Always had a soft spot for this, the best Beatles cover that sounded like Husker Du:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxE_JtDGIOI

Funny how The Beatles' "What goes on" and the Velvets' are two different songs, but they share a couple of lines.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xE33l8JrFlQ

Nilsson's cover of "You Can't Do That" is awesome

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d195/richhunt35/exoticbeatles.jpg?t=1306330475

Also have to give it up for Desmond Dekker & Come Together. Get heavy!

Hi, I noticed no one mentioned "Eleanor Rigby" by the First Moog Quartet (led by Gershon Kingsley). Kind of a high-speed moog-rock cover with baroque elements.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2zDpPMi1ik

Really like George Harrison's '74 version of 'In My Life' from his US tour:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVrIbUsCZhA

this is awesome:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLo5nzK0ayU

There's an amazing David Axelrod-helmed cover of 'Good Day Sunshine' on this album but I can't find it streaming anywhere. I'll upload it when I get home. It's pretty trippy, and plenty rad.

Chilling with this today:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTLBeWa70ww

nice!

I’ve never liked obladi oblada so the only way I can actually stand it is repurposed as an instrumental mariachi song:

https://youtu.be/S_zDyhzo1yY

haha that's hilarious

it's not terribly surprising but ob-la-di ob-la-da sounds better when played by an actual reggae group

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdW7Enwdd_s

more surprising to me is that nobody knows ray charles' version of "the long and winding road", considering it's essentially a ray charles song

still haven't heard covers of "you won't see me", "what goes on", or "yellow submarine" i like.

Cecilia - Dear Prudence

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--pTc_yvWgg

Love Cecilia, never heard that one! Must be an album-only track. She died at 27, sadly.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dGVMuYfa0EA

wee willie walker - ticket to ride

Seconding Danielle Dax’s “Tomorrow Never Know” and Sparks’ “I Want to Hold Your Hand.” Going back a bit, some other favourites have been Bryan Ferry’s “You Won’t See Me,” Boxer’s “Hey Buldog,” Blue Ash’s “Anytime at All,” and The Residents’ “Hey Jude” which transforms into “Sympathy for the Devil.”

And serious consideration should be given to comedy records. There have been many noteworthy novelties such as the Peter Sellers one already mentioned, Paul Frees singing “Hey Jude” in a Peter Lorre voice, The Roadrunner’s “Long and Winding Road” with cartoon sound effects, the Bob Rivers’ parody “Free as a Turd,” and Mae West singing “Day Tripper,” which has been Golden Throats fodder but which is actually pretty funny and a creditable piece of 1966 garage band rock.

Can't stop wondering why Cecilia is singing it "Ha, Prudence"

Charlotte Dada's "Don't Let Me Down" is mentioned upthread, but it bears repeating because it's so sublime

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7-JrLuAaFY

Love Cecilia, never heard that one! Must be an album-only track. She died at 27, sadly.

― Josefa, Tuesday, February 11, 2020 10:39 PM (yesterday)

yeah, it's the closing track of her debut album. I love the uncharacteristic pop-psych production; the only other song I've heard of hers that sounds like it is Reuníos, a b-side from 1971 in which she urges the Beatles (unsuccessfully afaict) to reunite. sad that she died so young.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtpDmZpjsJE

Marcia Griffiths - Don't Let Me Down

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fesUgPrGGDk

Jessica Mitford - Maxwell's Silver Hammer

here's a bulgarian ye-ye cover of "the night before"

https://youtu.be/CNbgnq9VkNw

And Lowell Fulson does "Why Don't We Do It in the Road."

he sure does

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yP9RNPx2_oA

trying to make a mix w/ covers of tracks from "with the beatles"

mostly i've found versions i really enjoy. here are the tracks i'm having trouble with:

all i've got to do - the moon martin and louise goffin versions are okay, but i just think they're okay.

all my loving - kinda like prince buster and rita lee versions but again, i don't think they're fine but not great. surely there's some amazing soul cover of this song i've yet to hear ?

don't bother me - i've tracked down an apparently obscure 1967 australian single by somebody named diane horder, and it's actually pretty good. but this is an odd and largely overlooked tune so was wondering if anybody had versions they liked.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfJppiN0P_A

little child - i could live with this version by sandro y los de fuego, actually i think it's very good, but wonder if there isn't something more appealing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2vYCXUlKRA

well, my thoughts might not be trustworthy because i went with moon martin and prince buster

having said that i went with gregory phillips' joe meek-style cover of "don't bother me" and jackie lynton's take on "little child"

thanks Kate.

incidentally i've taken upon myself to join you in the search for a suitable "what goes on" cover, and if i ever find one i like (or think is interesting) i'll be sure to post it here.

oh, i found one, the charles river valley boys on their 1966 record "beatle country". nice bluegrass record. i'm basically done with the project to my satisfaction, although there certainly is room for improvement in some respects. the whole listing is up on my old blogspot blog.

oh that's right, i remember you mentioning it another thread. yikes between that and misspelling emitt rhodes on the emitt rhodes thread i think i need to take a nap or something

yeah i could use a nice long nap myself

budo-- Either/Orchestra does a pretty tasty version of "Don't Bother Me" on their album "Afro-Cubism."

i know it was mentioned upthread, but ramsey lewis' take on the white album deserves a mention. the album as a whole is kind of schmaltzy, but his 'cry baby cry' is definitely enshrined near the top of my mountain of smooth jazz greats. don't know if it was recorded while maurice white was still in the group, but it wouldn't surprise me if that's him on drums.

sorry but it's a masterpiece and there's no need for qualifiers / name-calling

xp thanks slim

budo-- Either/Orchestra does a pretty tasty version of "Don't Bother Me" on their album "Afro-Cubism."

― SlimAndSlam

those scamps! totally escaped my notice, even though i love them.

had to check to see that it wasn't me who mentioned the ramsey lewis record upthread - i know i have gone to bat for it in very strong terms before (something along the lines of "There's one great LP inside the White Album, and it turns out to be this one"). Brilliant arranging work by Charles Stepney. Pretty sure Phil Upchurch is involved on this one as well.

here's the "without the beatles" collection of beatles covers i've compiled.

https://weirdthingsonbetamax.blogspot.com/2020/04/without-beatles.html

this ray brown "good day sunshine" is ridiculously axelrodded-out. i love it, i can't believe i haven't heard it before. mind you i do also _really_ love roy redmond's take on it.

i also would like to point out that the folder i found it in also had an axelrod version of "for what it's worth" credit to lou reed. this is probably not the first time someone has confused lou reed with lou rawls but it's the first time i've seen it.

the one left that i have sort of cheated on is "good morning, good morning". haven't heard a version of that i dig.

i think the flaming lips etc. version is cool but i can see why people might not like it

re: ramsey lewis, you made those comments on the "soul funk covers of beatles tunes" thread or whatever it's called. been digging through all the beatles covers threads today, there's also this which you might find interesting:

CDR700GO!: Delete the Beatles

that person picked this version, which i'd never heard:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zQp2qKsPgI

yeah i used douglas as a source for my own explorations... i definitely know the "sgt. pepper knew my father" comp, there's two cuts from it in the project, which i'm not entirely happy with but there's no goddamn way i could say no either to sonic youth's magisterial "within you without you" or the fall's "a day in the life". in any case the triffids' version doesn't grab me, i just don't think the gated reverb works in its favor.

how do you feel about the flaming lips version ?

or this for that matter

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JOBsR65QOA

"I Don't Want To Spoil The Party" is the only Lennon/McCartney song to hit #1 on the country charts

didn't know this !

v interesting + informative blog post all around

haha did _not_ realize shabaka and the ancestors had essayed it since i started my project, well, that's a fucking shoo-in, easy enough!

right now i'm working my way through an axelrod-helmed record of '60s pop hits by the four king cousins that has another attempt at "good day sunshine" - the group vocals are often painfully stiff but then it goes into this bridge sort of inspired by the hocketed ending that's fairly psychedelic and mind-blowing. quality selection of material and fine production makes up for the basic lack of character in the vocals. the take on "god only knows" has elements that remind me a bit of the bioshock infinite arrangement...

stiff vocals redeemed by quality psychedelic production basically explains how i feel about his work on the electric prunes record

it's unfortunate because the prunes were a fucking great band before he came along... they killed it live

totally.

and self-correction: there are two axelrod / prunes records but i'm talking specifically about "mass in F minor" as i'm not as familiar with the other one.

some other covers that aren't in my blog post but which i think are pretty nice:

Wat? Sanitär! do a pretty good minimal synth take on "everybody's got something to hide except for me and my monkey"... the Feelies' version is of course redoubtable

i do genuinely like benny goodman's take on "octopus's garden", even if i am also very partial to mike westbrook's reading. goodman's is more traditionally jovial. it also makes me happy to think that goodman's career encompassed both the work of bela bartok and ringo starr.

i'm also fond of mccoy tyner's take on "she's leaving home" - yeah, there's nothing terribly _exceptional_ about it, compared to l'infonie's mind-bending brass adaptation of the song, but there's just so much _class_ to tyner that it's hard to resist, even though nothing else on the comp it was on particularly appealed to me.

i'm late but my thing went off because of the david axelrod mention. and yes: that ray brown cover is absolutely peak "big picture" axe. awesome awesome awesome.

also,

and self-correction: there are two axelrod / prunes records but i'm talking specifically about "mass in F minor" as i'm not as familiar with the other one.

― budo jeru, Monday, July 20, 2020 5:54 PM (three days ago)

man, you gotta check out release of an oath soon! it's pretty much just an axelrod album in all but name. amazing stuff.

sorry for derail revive. here's lou rawls doing a nice axelrod-produced jazzy pop soul rendition of 'yesterday'.

i did actually check it out right after i made that post and i feel it's about as good "mass" with more or less the same strengths and weaknesses. it's a fun listen for sure.

re: funky over-arranged studio productions of beatle-written tunes, here's johnny harris with "give peace a chance"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOIES0wkkLA

there's also good (almost) instrumental version of "something" on the same record that is so very, very axelrod-esque and very worth checking out.

that lou rawls tune is killer, Austin

sorry i mean the song is definitely good and it's mostly an instrumental

and one last bit of west coast studio excellence:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJBIzi4oPFc
don randi trio - tomorrow never knows