Beat and Torn

The Spongetones | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 25, 1994)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Valley Media, Inc
• ASIN: B000001LAT
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #261,086 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

No Description Available

Track: 10: You're The One,

Track: 11: Better Take It Easy,

Track: 12: Eloquent Spokesman,

Track: 13: Have You Ever Been Torn Apart?,

Track: 14: Lana-Nana,

Track: 15: (My Girl) Maryanne,

Track: 16: Shock Therapy,

Track: 17: Now You're Gone,

Track: 18: Annie Dear,

Track: 19: This Kiss Is Mine Tonight,

Track: 1: Here I Go Again,

Track: 2: Tell Me Too!,

Track: 3: Cool Hearted Girl,

Track: 4: Take My Love,

Track: 5: A Part Of Me Now,

Track: 6: She Goes Out With Everybody,

Track: 7: Every Night Is A Holiday,

Track: 8: Don't You Know?,

Track: 9: Where Were You Last Night?
Media Type: CD
Artist: SPONGETONES
Title: BEAT & TORN
Street Release Date: 07/04/2006
Domestic
Genre: ROCK/POP

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my top 20 all time CDs..., May 22, 2004

By 

Perry M. Koons "theeighthbeatle" (Crownsville, MD United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Beat and Torn (Audio CD)

Let's go ahead and get this out of the way now - The Spongetones sound remarkably like the Beatles. I've heard them described as "the Rutles played straight", and that just about does it, but I can't give this band high enough praise. Recreating the fabulous sounds of those Liverpool lads we all know and love, Spongetones are not ripoffs, just a band out of time and place. Shading all their songs with familar elements of Beatles songs, the tunes are not direct re-writes, but do invoke a lot of "Hey - this sounds REALLY familar!" The band did southern-style power pop a bit different than its peers - buddies Mitch Easter, Don Dixon, and REM contribute handclaps to the tune "Shock Therapy", but those works of those artists are quite removed from the Spongetones sound. The first album, Beat Music, and the subsequent EP Torn Apart were closer to pure pop than new wave or any other styles of power pop. Beat Music, from 1982, is an absolute charmer, with guitarists Jamie Hoover and Patrick Walters, as well as bassist Steve Stoeckel, all contributing gems. The styles run from beat ravers to bluesy slower numbers to acoustic-driven ballads to mild psychedelia, resulting in something of a "Beatles 101" that retains a smooth album feel instead of sounding like a disjointed singles collection. A masterpiece. Torn Apart is not quite up to the same standards, I find a few songs to drag a bit, but it's hard to argue with glorious explosions like "Have You Ever Been Torn Apart?" and "Now You're Gone". A catchy, previously rare single closes the album on a nice note - a fantastic album that all Beatles fans and pop fans owe it to themselvs to seek out.

Best Tracks:
"Here I Go Again" - Beatles '65 played with conviction and energy, a great opener with a perfect pop hook.
"Take My Love" - A nice soft ballad in the "And I Love Her" vein. How do these guys do such amazing harmony vocals?
"A Part Of Me Now" - Another gem, this takes the drums from "Ticket To Ride" and builds a great tune around them. Nice sounding guitar solo (Leslie amplifier?) and probably the best song bassist Stoeckel ever wrote.
"She Goes Out With Everyone" - A tale of a wild teen, this storyelling song is a nice change of pace. Different, almost jerky chorus rhythms keep this short tune exciting.
"Every Night Is A Holiday" - Absolutely gorgeous. Probably my favorite tune here, I can't listen to it enough. Sounds like a 12-string leading this song of sheer joy and happiness.
"Have You Ever Been Torn Apart?" - Has anyone done upbeat Beatlesque pop tunes like this since maybe Badfinger's "No Matter What" or the Raspberries' "Go All The Way"? Probably not, and certainly nobody has done it as well since. Sad lyrics of lost love, but totally upbeat music keep your head bobbing - you always want to add in your own "whoo-hoos" and "la-la-la's".
"Lana Nana" - Acoustic led, nice off-kilter drumming - great song with a Lennon-esque vocal.
"Now You're Gone" - Another happy melody/sad lyric from the pen of Patrick Walters, this is an amazing acoustic led rocker with a nice Latin-sounding guitar solo. The Beatles, Hollies, and Byrds would all be proud to include this on any one of their albums.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The best fake Beatles album ever!, September 4, 2001

By 

Alan Hutchins (Denver, CO United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beat and Torn (Audio CD)

Charlotte, North Carolina's own Spongetones came out of the chute near the turn of the 80's. To call this disc (which compiles their 1982 LP "Beat Music" and a 1984 six-song EP called" Torn Apart" plus one other later song) "Beatle-esque" is to understate the case greatly--it's like saying that Whitesnake might slightly resemble Led Zepplin, or that "Hello I Love You" (The Doors) vaguely reminds you of "All Day and All Night"(The Kinks).

If you didn't know better, you would swear that many songs here actually WERE Beatles out-takes circa 1964. These guys sound like they are trying very hard to BE the Beatles in some alternate-Merseybeat universe--and they succeed greatly in doing so. Various Spongetones sound uncannily like Messrs. Lennon and McCartney, and their choice of instruments (i.e. Rickenbacker guitars, Vox amps, Hofner bass-this gear was pictured in the vinyl LP/EP and got a 'this band uses...' credit) further underscores their ability to nearly exactly duplicate that early Beatles sound. The songwriting is clever and extremely evocative of the Lennon/McCartney songbook. Occasionally one can pin down the specific Beatles song being targeted for inspiration. Examples are "Better Take It Easy", which comes directly from the "Paperback Writer" school of songwriting, and "Where Were You Last Night?", which almost owes royalties to "I Call Your Name". "Take My Love" is cut from the same cloth as "And I Love Her", and "Eloquent Spokeman" is a hodge-podge of circa 1967 sounds and production techniques from songs like "Penny Lane" and "I Am The Walrus" with the abrupt ending of "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" thrown in. This is about the only song on the disc to draw from the Beatles post-1966 catalog for ideas.

This extremely creative 'tribute' to the Beatles does not come across as a parody (such as the Rutles) or a even mere aping of styles. It is indeed finely crafted performing and songwriting that stands on its own quality merits even as it simultaneously owes a great debt of inspiration to the Fab Four. It helps to have an appreciation of the Beatles to enjoy this, but it is not a pre-requisite. If the sounds eminating from England circa 1964-66 are not to your liking, though, you will not tolerate what the Spongetones are up to very well.

The six songs near the end of the disc that were originally from the "Torn Apart" EP show more of a branching out to other Merseyside and British Invasion acts as influences. The Searchers, Hollies and even later solo McCartney material variously get the 'influence' nod in songs like "Maryanne", "Torn Apart" and "Annie Dear". Fun Fact: a little group from Athens, Georgia known as REM contribute handclaps to the song "Shock Therapy". At the time, REM was way below the public radar screen and were working in relative obscurity on their second full length LP called "Reckoning" at the same time/same Reflection Sound Studios in Charlotte where the Spongetones were cutting these tracks.

This disc is highly recommended for anyone with an affinity for the British Invasion sounds of the pre-psychedelic 60's. You will be amazed at how well this group takes the '64-'66 recordings of the best band in the world as a benchmark and nearly succeeds in equaling their heros' output and quality. A few substandard songs from the "Torn Apart" EP are all that keeps this from being a five-star recommendation. Grab this one, put on your Beatle boots and find yourself exclaiming, "Fab!" and "Gear!" with each new piece of ear candy that blasts from your speakers.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ELOQUENT THERAPY, July 9, 2011

By 

OLD GUY. - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beat and Torn (Audio CD)

You thought you grew up and away from the Merseybeat sound, but you haven't and you have Beat and Torn to prove it. Beat Music 1982 and Torn Apart 1984 are here combined to make a proud statement of all that stuff we loved. The SpongeTones have produced a mighty amalgamation of hundreds of groups that lived in our radios and hearts. It sounds like albums that didn't exist by your favorite Invasion Bands all getting together and throwing in trademark bits--sounds like...? These are familiar sounds in familiar song-boxes done by a conglomeration of different people far away from where/when it all happened. Encapsulating a whole musical trend--harmonies and guitar styles perfectly matched and propelled forward. The musicianship is superb and updated into new decades. There. I managed to say the same thing several ways. Sort of like these songs. Eloquent Spokesman and Shock Therapy are my favorites. Have You Ever Been Torn Apart, Tell Me Too!, Don't You Know?, Now You're Gone--Annie Dear--on and on. Great rhythm guitars and field-appropriate leads. You'll be happy all over and smile again. The SpongeTones have intelligently revitalized and re-energized the sounds we loved and placed them in the times we now inhabit. Eloquently.