Since they burst onto the scene in the early '60s, it's 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.
Strawberry's 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 that's to be expected. Still, it's fun to listen to
the Merseymen's "I'll Get You" or
Me & Them's "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 "She's a Woman" or heading for middle-of-the-road territory where the gloopy strings and lugubrious tempos can't wreck the genius of the craft. Not only did the band's 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 Basie's "Hold Me Tight"), bluegrass (
Charles River Valley Boys' "I've Just Seen a Face"), Motown (
the Supremes' "You Can't Do That"), sunshine pop (
the Free Design's "Michelle"), and blues (
Junior Parker's "Taxman"). Add in novelties like
Mae West's garage rock take on "Day Tripper" and
Paraffin Jack Flash Ltd's 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 doesn't make for a 100 percent enjoyable listening experience since so many of the tracks are inferior to the originals and don't do anything particularly interesting either. Some judicious cherry-picking would result in a single disc of great versions though. Highlights would be
Petula Clark's strutting "Rain,"
Gary McFarland and
Gabor Szabo's groovy lounge take on "The Word,"
Kenny Lynch's 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
