Customer Reviews

Beatles

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Beatles weren't entirely resistant to Latin rhythms - the popular ballad "And I Love Her" and a cover of the show tune "Till There Was You" were semi-sambas, and the gawdawful arrangement of the R&B plea "Mister Moonlight" was cha-cha by way of Chuck Berry. But while Beatles songs has been jazzed up, countrified, even classically modified, Brazil and Beyond is one of the only groups to have adapted some of the world's best-known songs to Tropicala.

Led by bassist Rich K, B&B, which include guitarist Frank Marinello, drummer Rob Emanuel and percussionist Dennis Sheridan, has been mixing Beatles (and Miles Davis and Wayne Shorter) tunes into it's sets of Brazilian standards during Friday and Saturday gigs at Dearborn's Big Fish. This album shows how cleverly they have been adapted and also proves the band's mastery of Brazilian styles.

"Eleanor Rigby" actually sounds fresh in its samba arrangement, while Rich K uses a Brazilian cavaquinho to plant the beat to opener "Day Tripper" and the ballad "This Boy," performed as a choro. The disc's most enduring treat may be an afoxe approach to "Come Together" in which Sheridan addresses the melody on the berimbau, a tonal percussion instrument normally used to add exotic flavor. The overall flavor here is as lush as a rain forest.

I found this music to be interesting and upbeat. I've always liked the Beatles music. This is not especially stunning or brilliant but it is nice to listen to when I'm doing other things. I have some cordless headphones and I really like this CD while I'm out working in the yard. I see it is priced at almost 25 dollars. I don't think it's worth that. I didn't pay that much for my copy a few years ago. I wouldn't pay that much for it. It's good but not that good.

I've got to disagree with the 5-star review of this album. Yes, the Beatles' music can be played in just about any style - classical, country, folk, Hindu, symphonic. But just because you CAN play Beatles songs with a Brazilian beat doesn't mean that you SHOULD. I, for one, would have picked different songs to perform in this style.

When you do an instrumental version of "Come Together", what's the point? The song is all about the complicated lyrics, and when you take them away, what are you left with? Just the melody of the song, plus they've added extra "Brazilian" drums. Big deal. Another strange choice for an instrumental is "I Want You (She's So Heavy)".

Furthermore the song "This Boy" is played in an uptempo tropical style - it's supposed to be a sad song! "This Boy wants you back again" - he doesn't seem so broken up about it in this version... "Eleanor Rigby" probably shouldn't be played up-tempo either...

There's nothing remotely Brazilian about the versions of "Blackbird", "In My Life", "And I Love Her" and "Dear Prudence" here - they sound just like all the other jazz-guitar instrumental versions in my collection. Apparently the Brazilian drums were a rental, and had to go back to the music store somewhere after Track 4...

I recommend the recent CD re-issue of "RMM Tropical Tribute to the Beatles" instead...

EDIT: I noticed in the liner notes that the songs are supposedly performed in different "styles" - such as Choro, Bossa Nova, Samba, Marcho Rancho, Afro-Brazilian, etc. But as I stated, most of them just end up sounding like basic instrumental jazz to me.