We Can Work It Out: Covers Of The Beatles 1962-1966

ビートルズが様々な国の様々なジャンルのアーティストに与えた多大な影響に焦点を当てた3枚組コンピ！メアリー・ウェルズ、カウント・ベイシー、シラ・ブラック、ジョー・コッカー、PJ・プロビー、メイ・ウェスト、ホセ・フェリシアーノ、ジミー・ジェームス、ライザ・ミネリなどの多彩なカヴァーを収録。本作には、フランス、オランダ、アメリカ、イタリア、ニュージーランド、ハンガリー、プエルトリコのアーティストが参加しており、ビートルズの曲が素晴らしく、どの言語で歌われているかは問題ではないことを証明しています。ビートルズのファンだけでなく、ポピュラー音楽全般が好きな人にもアピールする、魅力的で折衷的なリスニング体験を提供します。

Since they burst onto the scene in the early 60s, its hard to think of any other artist whose music has been covered as much as the Beatles. Bands and singers have done straight covers, melded their songs with other genres, turned their melodies upside down in search of some new meaning, and tried to capture some of the magic that the group so easily tapped into. Strawberrys 2023 collection We Can Work It Out: Covers of the Beatles 1962-1966 is a fascinating look at the earliest instances of Beatles covers done by a wide range of artists and in a wide range of styles. It was obvious that other beat groups were going to steal from the best, and many of their efforts are featured here. None of them have quite the same spark, but thats to be expected. Still, its fun to listen to the Merseymens "Ill Get You" or Me & Thems "Tell Me Why" just to hear what the competition was up to. More interesting is hearing what the singers of the day did with the Beatles songs. Many of them took some interesting liberties with the material -- either gussying it up with a big sound like Noel Harrison does on "Shes a Woman" or heading for middle-of-the-road territory where the gloopy strings and lugubrious tempos cant wreck the genius of the craft. Not only did the bands U.K. contemporaries look to them for material, many from other genres had a look in as well. There are entries spanning big band jazz (Count Basies "Hold Me Tight"), bluegrass (Charles River Valley Boys "Ive Just Seen a Face"), Motown (the Supremes "You Cant Do That"), sunshine pop (the Free Designs "Michelle"), and blues (Junior Parkers "Taxman"). Add in novelties like Mae Wests garage rock take on "Day Tripper" and Paraffin Jack Flash Ltds easy listening version of "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)," songs from musicians from all over the world, and appearances by artists as different as Liza Minnelli and Davy Graham, and one gets a clear sense of just how quickly the Beatles music became ingrained in the music world as a whole. All this variety doesnt make for a 100 percent enjoyable listening experience since so many of the tracks are inferior to the originals and dont do anything particularly interesting either. Some judicious cherry-picking would result in a single disc of great versions though. Highlights would be Petula Clarks strutting "Rain," Gary McFarland and Gabor Szabos groovy lounge take on "The Word," Kenny Lynchs dramatic reading of "Misery," the Ventures surfboard-bustin "I Feel Fine," and Jimmy James deep soul takedown of "Good Day Sunshine." These are all fine examples of how an artist with some vision can bend the source material to their will and make something new out of something familiar, even when that material comes from the best band to ever pick up instruments. ~ Tim Sendra