Though the Beatles legally split up in 1974, their music (obviously) refuses to go away. Hardly a month goes by without something Beatle connected coming out – be it a book, a magazine, a podcast, all sorts of merchandise and of course the music – music new, music old, recycled, remixed, reinterpreted, revitalized, anthologized… all in homage to the very best back catalogue of popular music – ever!
Over the years UK archive label, Ace Records has issued some of the best and some of the most intriguing Beatle related albums – most notably various artist sets that offered soul and jazz artists’ renditions of Fab 4 material – logical, if you think about it. You’ll know that when the Beatles began, their repertoire (live and on record) was stuffed with covers of (then) obscure American hits – many of them soul items. Their first two LPs had no less than eleven covers, and – just as importantly – the band were always quick to sing the virtues of the US stars who were part of their inspiration. Then as their fame spread across the Atlantic ocean. It was inevitable that their music would start to impact on the musical worlds of soul and jazz in the shape of multiple covers of their hit singles and album tracks.
It was back in 2011 that Ace released their first volume of ‘Black America Sings The Beatles’. It was rightly acclaimed and commercially successful; thus Ace followed through in 2016 with a second volume. Now, just in time for the Christmas present season, the label is issuing this third volume, named for the gorgeous Beatle ballad ‘Here, There And Everywhere’ (which first appeared on their ‘Revolver’ LP). Here the song is delivered tenderly by Carmen McCrae – one of many Beatle songs she recorded in Miami with the Dixie Flyers in 1970.
Amongst the other Beatle covers on offer are ‘Michelle’ from the Four Tops, ‘She’s Leaving Home’ by Syreeta, ‘We Can Work It Out’ from Stevie Wonder and ‘Taxman’ from blues man Junior Parker. Marvin Gaye’s beautiful version of ‘Yesterday’ is in the set list too and you can also enjoy a quirky re-write of ‘She Loves You’ as ‘He Loves You’ by Mary Wells.
What makes this collection different to the two earlier volumes is that the compilers have included songs from the individual Beatles post-group careers. So here, there’s things like Donny Hathaway’s ‘Jealous Guy’, Keb Mo’s ‘Imagine’, Carleen Anderson’s ‘Maybe I’m Amazed’ and Billy Paul’s version of ‘Let ‘Em In’ (now used in a lottery TV ad). There’s a nice touch of irony with the inclusion of the Chiffons’ version of George Harrison’s ‘My Sweet Lord’ … who gets the royalties on this one?
As with all Ace product, the sleeve notes tell you all you need to know about the provenance of the music while the cover (above) is a wonderful homage to ‘Hard Days Night’ LP. A recommended collection – this would be a great stocking filler for any Beatle and/or soul and jazz fan or both. And if you like this new-fangled stuff it comes as a double vinyl LP too!
(BB) 4/5
