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Track Listings
| 1. Across the Universe |
| 2. Revolution |
| 3. Nowhere Man |
| 4. Imagine |
| 5. Please Please Me |
| 6. You've Got Hide Your Love Away |
| 7. Hold On |
| 8. In My Life |
| 9. Come Together |
| 10. Julia |
| 11. Woman |
| 12. #9 Dream |
| 13. Love |
| 14. Beautiful Boy |
| 15. Mother |
| 16. Give Peace a Chance |
Editorial Reviews
Consummate guitarist, composer and musical interpreter Bill Frisell has assembled a trusted ensemble consisting of Jenny Scheinman (violin), Tony Scherr (bass), Greg Leisz (guitars) and Kenny Wollesen (drums) to record his definitive take on the classic songs of John Lennon. The project has long been in the works--one could go as far back as the first time he heard the Beatles at the age of 13. Fast forward a few decades and Frisell is asked to put together an impromptu set in honor of John Lennon as part of a special event in Paris. The preparation, performances and reception to these compositions was an inspiration nurtured to fruition with this project. Recorded at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley and produced by Lee Townsend.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
37 of 41 people found the following review helpful
By Tom Schmidt
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
I'm a huge fan of Frisell, have seen him live numerous times as leader and sideman, and have probably twenty of his recordings. This is not one of his better outings.
I gave this one a chance before writing this review, but in the end what we have is faithful readings of Lennon and not much more. Now, Frisell did say that was his intent, to not change anything up and make the tunes unrecognizable or overtly jazzy. To that end Frisell is to be commended. There's not much worse than hearing a bunch of jazz reharmonizations of Beatles tunes. The problem then is, what do you do? In Frisell's case, the idea is that hearing these tunes come through the unmistakeable sound and approach of Bill Frisell (and this band) is enough. Unfortunately, it's not. The problem is not the band, since these guys have been playing together a long time and sound great as a unit. The problem is two-fold: (1) Hearing the melody of a tune stated over and over without any actual singing doesn't merit repeated listening. Actually, there's a name for music like that: Muzak, or Elevator Music if you prefer. Say what you will, but the very first tune here (Across the Universe) sets the tone, and by the third reading of the verse/chorus I was bored. You either do something, or you sing the tune, or you have Muzak. (2) Some of the selected tunes don't work. One of the obvious ones is "Mother". This is such a powerful Lennon performance that a trio reading of it is doomed from the start. There is nothing that can match Lennon's painful wailing at the end of Mother, and Frisell's take (unfortunately) trivializes it with the standard build, build, get louder, more fills - approach. This is one example, there's others.
There are some nice renditions here, with "Please, Please Me" and "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" being my personal favorites. It's too little though to make this a must-have Frisell recording.
As a side note, it would be nice to hear Frisell retire this band. Of all of Bill Frisell's bands this one is the most like a rock jam band. The improvisations are not particularly exciting, and I never expect the unexpected. There's a live recording of Frisell with Brian Blade and Sam Yahel that showed great potential for a new project, yet nothing official has been done. Too bad. Hearing a musician of Blade's caliber pushing Frisell would be a welcome change of course.
I gave this one a chance before writing this review, but in the end what we have is faithful readings of Lennon and not much more. Now, Frisell did say that was his intent, to not change anything up and make the tunes unrecognizable or overtly jazzy. To that end Frisell is to be commended. There's not much worse than hearing a bunch of jazz reharmonizations of Beatles tunes. The problem then is, what do you do? In Frisell's case, the idea is that hearing these tunes come through the unmistakeable sound and approach of Bill Frisell (and this band) is enough. Unfortunately, it's not. The problem is not the band, since these guys have been playing together a long time and sound great as a unit. The problem is two-fold: (1) Hearing the melody of a tune stated over and over without any actual singing doesn't merit repeated listening. Actually, there's a name for music like that: Muzak, or Elevator Music if you prefer. Say what you will, but the very first tune here (Across the Universe) sets the tone, and by the third reading of the verse/chorus I was bored. You either do something, or you sing the tune, or you have Muzak. (2) Some of the selected tunes don't work. One of the obvious ones is "Mother". This is such a powerful Lennon performance that a trio reading of it is doomed from the start. There is nothing that can match Lennon's painful wailing at the end of Mother, and Frisell's take (unfortunately) trivializes it with the standard build, build, get louder, more fills - approach. This is one example, there's others.
There are some nice renditions here, with "Please, Please Me" and "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" being my personal favorites. It's too little though to make this a must-have Frisell recording.
As a side note, it would be nice to hear Frisell retire this band. Of all of Bill Frisell's bands this one is the most like a rock jam band. The improvisations are not particularly exciting, and I never expect the unexpected. There's a live recording of Frisell with Brian Blade and Sam Yahel that showed great potential for a new project, yet nothing official has been done. Too bad. Hearing a musician of Blade's caliber pushing Frisell would be a welcome change of course.
39 of 47 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I'd like to set the stage a bit...I "knew of" this album because I'd seen ads announcing its arrival. I heard it by accident. I was in a local bookstore and heard a sort of Windham Hill-ish version of "Across The Universe" being played over the sound system, but it had more teeth than the usual new age fare...some nice pedal steel (REALLY nice), a very dynamic (but not overpowering) presence to the drums (Ringo played a MUCH bigger part in that band than most people realize).
That was followed by a loose, amiable version of "Revolution"...made me think of the Grateful Dead's inclusion of the song in some of their later-period concerts. At this point I'm thinking "OK, it's some kind of Beatles tribute CD." As the song progresses, it ventures off into an almost jazzy western swing kind of vibe. Now I'm thinking "Who IS this?"
As a Beatles purist, in the overwhelming majority of instances, I feel that Beatles music is best left to The Beatles. There have been some admirable spins on the legacy here and there, but more often than not, a cover version of a Beatles song makes me want to pull out the original and have a listen.
You're then almost a minute and a half into the next track before the melody line of "Nowhere Man" reveals itself...the setup is somewhat like "Tomorrow Never Knows" from "Revolver" mixed with more of the pedal steel and a sort of cosmic cowpoke New Riders of the Purple Stage sort of rave-up. Once it kicks into the melody line, it remains a mix of genres, and around the three and a half minute mark, the musicians veer from the strict melody again into a nice improv. Now I'm really paying attention.
"Imagine" is up next, and that's a tough song to cover, especially in light of the many versions (including a nice one by the late, legendary Chet Atkins). It's a little bit slow for my tastes...I'd like to have seen the tempo picked up just a bit.
"Please Please Me" is next...a jump back to the Fab Four days. The version's a bit like tough elevator music...much louder than anything you're ever going to hear between floors, but more of a goof than the previous tracks.
"You've Got To Hide Your Love Away" is up next, and like "Nowhere Man," the song represents a sharp turn in Lennon's songwriting. From the beginning, when he wailed magnificently on cover songs like Arthur Alexander's "Anna" and his own "This Boy," the ache of love ran through many of his best performances. But the Help / Rubber Soul / Revolver era added a bit more alienation, a bit more detachment, a bit more disillusionment. It's a key Lennon track and its inclusion reinforces the taste and judgment that went into the track selection.
"Hold On" is next, one of the many crown jewels of the "Plastic Ono Band" album, and a reminder that Lennon never lost the sweet part of the bittersweet side to his music. The chorus makes you miss the vocals, I think...playing the melody line without them comes off a bit forced, but when the song melts into improv, it's more natural.
What can you say about the next track, "In My Life?" In a career filled with "signature songs," it's almost foolish to call any of them "signature songs." But it's safe to say that if you asked a random sampling of people "What are the ten greatest songs written by John Lennon," this one is going to be on a lot of those lists. The pedal steel is really used to full advantage here, a sweet and mournful cry behind the melody line that just keeps reminding you of what a classic piece of songwriting this was.
"Come Together," like the earlier "Please Please Me," somewhat clears the palate after a course of the moodier, melancholy tracks. This one never really caught fire for me...I felt it dragged a bit and was somewhat forced, like the cover of "Imagine." The musical skills displayed here are impeccable...but at the midpoint, when Frisell does a Larry Carlton take and gets snaky and seductive, it made me think of Larry, but it also made me think that Larry would have handled it with a little more fire.
"Julia" is just as sweet as it should be, Lennon's love song to his mother, just a very relaxed, lighter-than-air track (without being lightweight).
"Woman" has always been the track that hurt the most after John's passing...a majestic, simple, honest yet enigmatic ("Women are the other half of the sky") love song to Yoko, but more importantly, after five years as a self-described "house husband," he proved that he could still write songs with the same power and beauty as his early Beatles hits. Just as the Beatles leaned heavily on "girl group harmonies" in their early songs, the "I loooooove you, yeah yeah...now and forever" refrain was a gut-wrenching throwback to Beatle John...a guy we thought we'd never see again...and as soon as we saw him, he was taken away from us forever. The band does exactly what they should with this track, as they did with "Julia"...they ride the melody and capture the ebb and flow of the original without unnecessary embellishments and especially without "dumbing it down." It's easily one of the strongest tracks on the album.
"Number 9 Dream" is somewhat like "Imagine" and "Come Together"...you can feel the band heading uphill and you want them to shift into second gear but they take the whole ride in first. It's not that it's a bad performance...it's just that when you hear what they did with some of the other tracks, you wish a little of that magic could have spilled over to this track.
"Love" played pretty much the same role as "Hold On" on the Plastic Ono Band album...a light moment between the primal screams and finger-pointing. I'm not convinced that its inclusion here was necessary.
"Beautiful Boy" has long been a critics' favorite from the Double Fantasy album, and obviously a track that meant the most on a personal level to Lennon himself. This one stays close to the melody line but also gets a little claustrophobic and busy in spots. But like I said in the title of my review...the creative forces behind this album were rolling the dice and taking risks, and I'm not going to slam them for that.
"Mother" is the real jaw-dropper of this set, the one that makes you see Frisell as "brave" for even attempting it. There's an effort to mirror Ringo's stark, minimalist drums from the original (pause, WHOMP, pause, WHOMP, etc etc etc). As the song opens, it's much like any other song on the album, following the melody line. But as it opens up, something's gotta replace those primal screams from the original. What we end up with is a sort of Stevie Ray Vaughan rave-up, the Hendrix side of Stevie, letting the rhythm section drive the song, occasionally matching their punches and occasionally kicking back (think "Life Without You" from his Soul To Soul album). THIS was the track that made me finally walk up to the counter and ask "WHO IS THIS," and when I saw that it was Frisell, I smiled and thought "THIS took GUTS."
"Mother" melts into a feedback-laden, sustained version of "Give Peace A Chance," taken at a dirge-like tempo. It works...it's not plodding like the other tracks I described as "too slow." This feels like something Neil Young would whip out at the end of a particularly fierce Crazy Horse set. Tasty indeed.
The album ends with an acoustic and understated "Strawberry Fields Forever"...THIS one would have been right at home on any of the classic, early-period Windham Hill albums, before "new age" became a way to diss music as lightweight and lifeless rather than extol its virtues. At just under three minutes, the song doesn't even come close to wearing out its welcome. It does what it needs to do and it's gone. Think of it as "Her Majesty" at the end of Abbey Road, a sweet little after-dinner mint to send you home happy and filled after a full-course meal.
As I said, I'm a Beatles purist. I had serious doubts about this one. And I've done my best to write an honest, track by track review. My final thought is that it's worth the 71 minutes of your time and the 13 dollars of your money to hear a skilled group of musicians, led by a gifted guitarist, as they settle into the grooves of a flawless, legendary songwriting catalog.
Four rock-solid stars for the reasons mentioned above.
That was followed by a loose, amiable version of "Revolution"...made me think of the Grateful Dead's inclusion of the song in some of their later-period concerts. At this point I'm thinking "OK, it's some kind of Beatles tribute CD." As the song progresses, it ventures off into an almost jazzy western swing kind of vibe. Now I'm thinking "Who IS this?"
As a Beatles purist, in the overwhelming majority of instances, I feel that Beatles music is best left to The Beatles. There have been some admirable spins on the legacy here and there, but more often than not, a cover version of a Beatles song makes me want to pull out the original and have a listen.
You're then almost a minute and a half into the next track before the melody line of "Nowhere Man" reveals itself...the setup is somewhat like "Tomorrow Never Knows" from "Revolver" mixed with more of the pedal steel and a sort of cosmic cowpoke New Riders of the Purple Stage sort of rave-up. Once it kicks into the melody line, it remains a mix of genres, and around the three and a half minute mark, the musicians veer from the strict melody again into a nice improv. Now I'm really paying attention.
"Imagine" is up next, and that's a tough song to cover, especially in light of the many versions (including a nice one by the late, legendary Chet Atkins). It's a little bit slow for my tastes...I'd like to have seen the tempo picked up just a bit.
"Please Please Me" is next...a jump back to the Fab Four days. The version's a bit like tough elevator music...much louder than anything you're ever going to hear between floors, but more of a goof than the previous tracks.
"You've Got To Hide Your Love Away" is up next, and like "Nowhere Man," the song represents a sharp turn in Lennon's songwriting. From the beginning, when he wailed magnificently on cover songs like Arthur Alexander's "Anna" and his own "This Boy," the ache of love ran through many of his best performances. But the Help / Rubber Soul / Revolver era added a bit more alienation, a bit more detachment, a bit more disillusionment. It's a key Lennon track and its inclusion reinforces the taste and judgment that went into the track selection.
"Hold On" is next, one of the many crown jewels of the "Plastic Ono Band" album, and a reminder that Lennon never lost the sweet part of the bittersweet side to his music. The chorus makes you miss the vocals, I think...playing the melody line without them comes off a bit forced, but when the song melts into improv, it's more natural.
What can you say about the next track, "In My Life?" In a career filled with "signature songs," it's almost foolish to call any of them "signature songs." But it's safe to say that if you asked a random sampling of people "What are the ten greatest songs written by John Lennon," this one is going to be on a lot of those lists. The pedal steel is really used to full advantage here, a sweet and mournful cry behind the melody line that just keeps reminding you of what a classic piece of songwriting this was.
"Come Together," like the earlier "Please Please Me," somewhat clears the palate after a course of the moodier, melancholy tracks. This one never really caught fire for me...I felt it dragged a bit and was somewhat forced, like the cover of "Imagine." The musical skills displayed here are impeccable...but at the midpoint, when Frisell does a Larry Carlton take and gets snaky and seductive, it made me think of Larry, but it also made me think that Larry would have handled it with a little more fire.
"Julia" is just as sweet as it should be, Lennon's love song to his mother, just a very relaxed, lighter-than-air track (without being lightweight).
"Woman" has always been the track that hurt the most after John's passing...a majestic, simple, honest yet enigmatic ("Women are the other half of the sky") love song to Yoko, but more importantly, after five years as a self-described "house husband," he proved that he could still write songs with the same power and beauty as his early Beatles hits. Just as the Beatles leaned heavily on "girl group harmonies" in their early songs, the "I loooooove you, yeah yeah...now and forever" refrain was a gut-wrenching throwback to Beatle John...a guy we thought we'd never see again...and as soon as we saw him, he was taken away from us forever. The band does exactly what they should with this track, as they did with "Julia"...they ride the melody and capture the ebb and flow of the original without unnecessary embellishments and especially without "dumbing it down." It's easily one of the strongest tracks on the album.
"Number 9 Dream" is somewhat like "Imagine" and "Come Together"...you can feel the band heading uphill and you want them to shift into second gear but they take the whole ride in first. It's not that it's a bad performance...it's just that when you hear what they did with some of the other tracks, you wish a little of that magic could have spilled over to this track.
"Love" played pretty much the same role as "Hold On" on the Plastic Ono Band album...a light moment between the primal screams and finger-pointing. I'm not convinced that its inclusion here was necessary.
"Beautiful Boy" has long been a critics' favorite from the Double Fantasy album, and obviously a track that meant the most on a personal level to Lennon himself. This one stays close to the melody line but also gets a little claustrophobic and busy in spots. But like I said in the title of my review...the creative forces behind this album were rolling the dice and taking risks, and I'm not going to slam them for that.
"Mother" is the real jaw-dropper of this set, the one that makes you see Frisell as "brave" for even attempting it. There's an effort to mirror Ringo's stark, minimalist drums from the original (pause, WHOMP, pause, WHOMP, etc etc etc). As the song opens, it's much like any other song on the album, following the melody line. But as it opens up, something's gotta replace those primal screams from the original. What we end up with is a sort of Stevie Ray Vaughan rave-up, the Hendrix side of Stevie, letting the rhythm section drive the song, occasionally matching their punches and occasionally kicking back (think "Life Without You" from his Soul To Soul album). THIS was the track that made me finally walk up to the counter and ask "WHO IS THIS," and when I saw that it was Frisell, I smiled and thought "THIS took GUTS."
"Mother" melts into a feedback-laden, sustained version of "Give Peace A Chance," taken at a dirge-like tempo. It works...it's not plodding like the other tracks I described as "too slow." This feels like something Neil Young would whip out at the end of a particularly fierce Crazy Horse set. Tasty indeed.
The album ends with an acoustic and understated "Strawberry Fields Forever"...THIS one would have been right at home on any of the classic, early-period Windham Hill albums, before "new age" became a way to diss music as lightweight and lifeless rather than extol its virtues. At just under three minutes, the song doesn't even come close to wearing out its welcome. It does what it needs to do and it's gone. Think of it as "Her Majesty" at the end of Abbey Road, a sweet little after-dinner mint to send you home happy and filled after a full-course meal.
As I said, I'm a Beatles purist. I had serious doubts about this one. And I've done my best to write an honest, track by track review. My final thought is that it's worth the 71 minutes of your time and the 13 dollars of your money to hear a skilled group of musicians, led by a gifted guitarist, as they settle into the grooves of a flawless, legendary songwriting catalog.
Four rock-solid stars for the reasons mentioned above.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
By Dimsylsodium
Format:Audio CD
The first half of Novemeber 2011 was a particularly reflective period for me. A long-time colleague was killed in a car accident, and on 11th November I went to Ypres to commemorate Armistice on what was the 11th year of the new Millennium.
On the drive home from Ypres, I listened to this CD for the first time. It was wonderful. I should explain that I come to this conclusion (and to the CD for that matter)out of a love of Beatles music and do not have a knowledge of the work of Bill Frisell.
The opening track was "Across The Universe". But as I was driving at the time, I could not read the album information. And so I immediately found myself playing an entertaining game of that "Name That Tune". I was trying to guess which song Bill was playing from the opening bars before the main melody started (sometimes this proved trickier than you might imagine).
The magic of "Across the Universe" came to life in an instant because in addition to the beautiful arrangement and performances, it perfectly captured my mood at that moment. It was understated but hugely enjoyable and brought back memories of the time when I first heard the "Let It Be" album. No need for words as they came flooding back into my mind at once.
And so the album progresses. There are uplifting numbers ("Revolution", "Please Please Me", "Number 9 Dream"). There are reflective numbers ("In My Life", "Hold On", "Beautiful Boy"). And there is pure Lennon ("Mother", "Imagine", "Woman"). All are wonderfully recorded. And for me, at least, they brought back many thoughts and memories/emotions that I would have considered to have been lost had I not listened to this CD.
Perhaps that's where the magic of this recording lies. It's an excellent selection of John Lennon's work. But at one level it makes you listen to the songs again for the first time, triggering the memories of when you first heard John singing the words which are absent from these versions.
If my experience is anything to go by, I would seriously consider giving this CD to someone close to you who has enjoyed the work of John Lennon over the years. I don't think that the recipient of such a gift will be disappointed.
On the drive home from Ypres, I listened to this CD for the first time. It was wonderful. I should explain that I come to this conclusion (and to the CD for that matter)out of a love of Beatles music and do not have a knowledge of the work of Bill Frisell.
The opening track was "Across The Universe". But as I was driving at the time, I could not read the album information. And so I immediately found myself playing an entertaining game of that "Name That Tune". I was trying to guess which song Bill was playing from the opening bars before the main melody started (sometimes this proved trickier than you might imagine).
The magic of "Across the Universe" came to life in an instant because in addition to the beautiful arrangement and performances, it perfectly captured my mood at that moment. It was understated but hugely enjoyable and brought back memories of the time when I first heard the "Let It Be" album. No need for words as they came flooding back into my mind at once.
And so the album progresses. There are uplifting numbers ("Revolution", "Please Please Me", "Number 9 Dream"). There are reflective numbers ("In My Life", "Hold On", "Beautiful Boy"). And there is pure Lennon ("Mother", "Imagine", "Woman"). All are wonderfully recorded. And for me, at least, they brought back many thoughts and memories/emotions that I would have considered to have been lost had I not listened to this CD.
Perhaps that's where the magic of this recording lies. It's an excellent selection of John Lennon's work. But at one level it makes you listen to the songs again for the first time, triggering the memories of when you first heard John singing the words which are absent from these versions.
If my experience is anything to go by, I would seriously consider giving this CD to someone close to you who has enjoyed the work of John Lennon over the years. I don't think that the recipient of such a gift will be disappointed.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
1.0 out of 5 stars
UNIMAGINATIVE LICKS, BORING TONE, and NO TEXTURE
After listenting to this I ask, "What was the purpose of recording this album?" Just look at the icy, cheap stick figure album cover artwork, and that is what the album contains,... Read more
Published 14 days ago by HOLIDAY
5.0 out of 5 stars
Perfect Frisell
Beatle songs have been covered a lot but Bill Frisell brings something new to the Lennon songs he plays in his deconstructed style here. Great back up band as well. Enjoyable.
Published 1 month ago by Sueshi
5.0 out of 5 stars
Bill Frisell rocks the Beatles
I heard this group live at the 10th Annual Panama Jazz Festival and was blown away. I HAD to get the music for my iPod!
Published 3 months ago by Bobette Jones
4.0 out of 5 stars
very chill
I enjoyed this album, a few songs really stick out to me "In My Life" probably my favorite. Some people who didn't know who or what I was listening to compared it to... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Guy
5.0 out of 5 stars
Give Bill a Chance!
If you aren't already a Bill Frissell fan, then this cd might just do the trick for you.
Lovely interpretations of Beatles music.
Lovely interpretations of Beatles music.
Published 5 months ago by kathjohn
5.0 out of 5 stars
All We are Saying
Mr. Frisell has interpreted classic tunes for those of us "of a certain age", and made the interpretations stand on their own. Read more
Published 5 months ago by J. Lineberger
5.0 out of 5 stars
All We Are Hearing
all we are hearing is one the greatest guitarist's on the planet interpreting Lennon's best songs. he puts a new spin on timeless classics. I love this.
Published 5 months ago by gonzodogg
4.0 out of 5 stars
great instrumentals of classic Lennon tunes
A lot of mixed reviews here.
I suspect the bad ones are due to this being an album by a "jazz" guitarist. Read more
I suspect the bad ones are due to this being an album by a "jazz" guitarist. Read more
Published 6 months ago by timazon
5.0 out of 5 stars
Absolutely Brilliant
I enjoy this album more every time I listen to it. At first blush, yes, these covers come off as straightforward, faithful instrumental versions of Lennon's songs, to such a level... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Matthew D. Chidley
2.0 out of 5 stars
You gotta sift thru the reviews!
I had read a couple of reviews on this remake of Beatles music and was really hoping to have a good gift for my husband's birthday. It's very disappointing. Read more
Published 11 months ago by C. Simpson
