Take Five: Great Beatles Covers

The soundtrack to The Beatles’ first film, A Hard Day’s Night, was released 60 years ago in the United States. Because of a licensing arrangement, that record wasn’t released on Capitol, The Beatles’ customary U.S. label. Instead, the soundtrack was released on United Artists, a label associated with the film’s production company. (Capitol soon enough released Something New!, a compilation featuring some tracks from the movie).

The A Hard Day’s Night soundtrack would have been an unusual listening experience for Beatles fans, as it contained both Beatles tunes from the film as well as “easy listening” semi-orchestral covers of Beatles hits. While those tracks were arranged and conducted by Beatles producer George Martin, they didn’t represent especially memorable takes on the group’s catalog.

Happily, over the years, a number of artists have turned in credible – and occasionally even great – covers of Beatles classics. Here are five notable Beatles covers. (And no, nothing here from the ‘70s Sgt. Pepper movie. Blecch!)

801 – “Tomorrow Never Knows” from 801 Live (1976)
A supergroup made up of some of the most adventurous musicians of the era, 801 released only one studio LP and one live record (made by vastly different lineups). More of a project than a group, 801 combined world-class playing with original songs and radical reinventions of other artists’ works. The lineup of Brian Eno (ex-Roxy Music), Phil Manzanera (Roxy Music), Simon Phillips, Bill MacCormick, Lloyd Watson and Francis Monkman (Curved Air) created this hypnotic version of the groundbreaking Revolver classic. That’s Eno on vocals.

Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass – “All My Loving” from South of the Border (1964)
The co-founder (with Jerry Moss) of A&M Records, Herb Alpert ruled the charts with his peppy, uptempo and Latin-flavored instrumental pop. In the studio, the TJB was a polite fiction; that’s mostly Alpert and the “Wrecking Crew” you’ll hear on the Tijuana Brass records. But Alpert deserves credit for hipping the older set to the joys found in Beatles songs; he cut several – including a great take on a song the Beatles covered in their early days, “A Taste of Honey” – but this tune is among his earliest, recorded and released very soon after The Beatles hit America.

Jeff Beck – “She’s a Woman” from Blow by Blow (1975)
As a member of The Yardbirds, Jeff Beck had been part of the ‘60s British Invasion alongside The Beatles. After going solo and trafficking in a number of styles, by the mid 1970s he had plunged headlong into fusion. His funky reading of “She’s a Woman,” however, leans into the melody and makes effective use of guitar effects, most notably the “Golden Throat” talkbox, a device popularized by fellow guitar hero Peter Frampton.

Adrian Belew – “I’m Down” from Twang Bar King (1983)
After earning a reputation as a musician par excellence for his work with David Bowie and Frank Zappa, Adrian Belew came to wider fame as guitarist and lead singer in the 1980s lineup of progressive rock heroes King Crimson. But Belew has always been rooted in pop music. On his second solo album, he paid tribute to The Beatles with a reading of the then-comparatively-rare “Help!” b-side, taking it at an even more frenetic pace than the original. Belew also added a trademark string-bending solo.

The Residents – “Beyond the Valley of a Day in the Life” single (1977)
Okay, strictly speaking, this one’s not a cover. Instead it’s a sampling/mashup – years before those terms or concepts existed in the mainstream – by notorious Bay Area avant-garde musical conceptualists The Residents. The mysterious group compiled this cut-up work using snippets of Beatles songs, Christmas messages and outtakes, creating quite possibly the weirdest (and most inventive) reinvention of The Beatles’ work ever attempted. Years ahead of its time in 1977, it remains a bracing, confounding listen to this day.