Customer Reviews

Christmas With the Fab Four: Ultimate Tribute

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

The Fab Four are the best tribute band of the Beatles, period. And this is a work of genius. Every guitar lick and every nuance of the Beatles albums are perfectly reproduced here, and they are perfectly suited to the Christmas tunes.

Not only are all these carols played in the style of the Beatles, but each one is inspired by a specific Beatles song. So, for instance, "Rudolph" is played in the style of "I Saw Her Standing There".

Here is a list of the Christmas songs on the album, as well as the original Beatles songs that they're patterned after:

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer--I Saw Her Standing There
Joy To the World--Please Please Me
Feliz Navidad--And I Love Her
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing--Help!
Away In A Manger--You've Got to Hide Your Love Away
Good King Wenceslas--Tell Me What You See
It Came Upon A Midnight Clear--Baby's In Black
Winter Wonderland--Honey Don't
Frosty The Snowman--Mr. Moonlight
Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!--Eight Days a Week
Santa Claus Is Coming To Town--When I'm Sixty-Four
Silent Night--Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
The Christmas Song (Chestnuts)--Here, There and Everywhere
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen--Within You Without You
The Little Drummer Boy--Sun King
Dear Santa--Oh! Darling
What Child Is This?--While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Blue Christmas--Revolution 1
Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree--Got To Get You Into My Life
Jingle Bells--Tomorrow Never Knows

CHRISTMAS WITH THE FAB FOUR is what a dedicated tribute band is all about. The Beatles themselves could not have fused these standard Christmas songs with their own classic tunes. However, it is as if the Beatles just put out a new album. Right off the bat we have the "One,Two,Three, Four!" count-in, thinking that we are going to hear "I Saw Her Standing There" and it turns into "Rudolph...", "HELP!" becomes "HARK, THE HERALD.." etc. There is a lot of thought, care, and love crafted into each song and some of the arrangements are ingenious. For instance, the Christmas carol standard "Away in a Manger" is fused with "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away". The gimmick is that both titles have the word "away" in it. Also, the song "Tomorrow Never Knows" has a line that is repeated "...It is Knowing...It is Knowing." The song is fused with "Jingle Bells" and the band repeats the line "..it is Snowing...it is Snowing". This is just all just pure love with an encyclopedic knowledge and study of Beatlemusic. The whole album is magic and it is fun to pick out the original Beatle song intended in the fusion process. The FAB FOUR should be commended on a job well done. It has to be one of the most original Christmas albums in recent years and one hopes they try to do another.

Here we have an interesting pair of CDs, marrying Christmas carols and hymns with classic Beatles songs. With a few exceptions, the songs you get here are done very well. From what I had read before I got the CDs, I expected the Christmas songs to be sung to Beatles melodies. For the most part, though, it's only the musical arrangement that is taken from the Beatles, while the vocal melodies remain fairly true to the Christmas tunes.

For those of us who are fans of both the Beatles and Christmas music, this is a very interesting project. Unless, of course, you're a purist who feels that the Beatles' classics should not be tampered with; if that's the case, then you will want to pass on this product. For the rest of us, here's a run-down of what to expect from the CDs.

First CD: "A Fab Four Christmas"

1. "Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer" -- Arranged like "I Saw Her Standing There," the first thing said is, "This is take 17," after which you hear, "One, two, three, FOUR," just like the lead-in to the Beatles' classic. You hear what sounds almost exactly like the original Beatles recording, but then you're surprised when the vocal kicks into a Christmas carol. The intro is catchy, but once the song starts it actually turns out to be one of the weakest tracks on the CD. I typically skip to the next.

2. "Joy to the World" -- Arranged like "Please Please Me," but the harmonica is immediately playing the Christmas tune. During the song, the arrangement gets shuffled around a bit. After the line, "And heaven and nature sing," you hear the "Come on" shout-back part of the Beatles' song, making an interesting blend.

3. "Feliz Navidad" -- Arranged like "And I Love Her," the classic Christmas rocker is toned down to a nice ballad.

4. "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" -- Arranged like "Help," this is one of the few songs on these CDs that retains part of the Beatles' vocal melodies. The song starts immediately with the classic "Help!" chorus, but the lyrics are: "Hark! The angels sing / Hark! The newborn King / Hark! You know the angels sing / Hark!" After that, they delve into a very upbeat version of the Christmas carol.

5. "Away in a Manger" -- Arranged like "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away," an interesting part of this one is the line, "The little Lord Jesus asleep on the HAY!" They shout, "HAY," just like the Beatles shouted, "HEY," in their classic. You immediately expect to hear them sing, "You've got to hide...," but they don't. Another interesting twist to this track is that they also go into "We Wish You A Merry Christmas," and add in English accented chatter, sounding much like the Beatles themselves.

6. "Good King Wenceslas" -- Arranged like "Tell Me What You See." This Christmas song is one that I'm less familiar with, but it blends well with the Beatles' music.

7. "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear" -- Arranged like "Baby's in Black."

8. "Winter Wonderland" -- Arranged like "Honey Don't," this is a "Ringo" contribution. Honestly, I never cared for most of Ringo's country-influenced songs, so my opinion of this one is somewhat biased. I could do without it, but Ringo fans will probably like it. The biggest highlight of the track for me is the last few seconds, where the tag ending from "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby" is thrown on.

9. "Frosty the Snowman" -- Arranged like "Mr. Moonlight."

10. "Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!" -- Arranged like "Eight Days a Week," this is a fun rocker. Possibly my favorite song on this disc. Well done.

Second CD: "Have Yourself A FAB-ulous Little Christmas"

1. "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" -- Arranged like "When I'm 64," the music track stays remarkably close to the Beatles' classic, and the vocal sounds somewhat similar to Paul McCartney. Well done.

2. "Silent Night" -- Arranged like "Norwegian Wood," this one sounds great. One of my favorite renditions of this song.

3. "The Christmas Song" -- Arranged like "Here, There and Everywhere."

4. "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" -- Arranged like "Within You Without You," it's not exactly what one would expect for a Christmas hymn. Surprisingly, though, it works.

5. "The Little Drummer Boy" -- Arranged like "Sun King," this one is interesting. The second line of the carol was changed to, "A new Son King to see," obviously alluding to the Beatles' song title. The tune later turns into "Jingle Bells" for the fade ending. Well done.

6. "Dear Santa" -- Arranged like "Oh Darlin," these songs blend together well.

7. "What Child Is This?" -- Arranged like "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," this is one of my favorites. The music track stays remarkably close to the Beatles' classic, but surprisingly accompanies the Christmas hymn very well. Well done.

8. "Blue Christmas" -- Arranged like "Revolution 1," this one's a great slow-rocker.

9. "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree" -- Arranged like "Got To Get You Into My Life," this one starts out with a horn section playing "Oh Christmas Tree." This is quite possibly the most interesting musical arrangement I've heard for this Christmas song.

10. "Jingle Bells" -- Arranged like "Tomorrow Never Knows," we have here another arrangement that one wouldn't expect for a Christmas carol. Again, though, it surprisingly works, and is one of my favorites. The sound effects used throughout the track make it sound a lot like the Beatles' song. In addition, at the end of the song we hear, "It is snowing," sung the same way that the Beatles sang, "It is knowing."

One thing that is somewhat surprising is that the Fab Four didn't mix John & Yoko's "Happy Christmas" or Paul McCartney's "Wonderful Christmastime" with Beatles songs for this collection. That would have been interesting to hear. Maybe they attempted to do something with them but couldn't find a good fit, but one can only speculate.

I only have one real complaint with these CDs. Both of these discs were apparently issued at the same time (both dated 2002). Together you get a total playing time of about one hour, which is less than what can fit on one disc. I would have preferred that everything had been on one CD, thus not being so wasteful of our natural resources, as well as not taking up as much space in the consumer's CD collection. But, that's a fairly minor complaint, and the price makes it well worth the purchase.

When my daughter, who is a big Beatles fan, played me these two Christmas CDs, I was amazed. Normally when I think of a "tribute band," I think of some very amateur group that sound like people doing Beatles songs at a karaoke bar. But this group is incredible. When I heard the first song, Rudolph, I asked my daughter if this was some newly released Beatles Christmas album, because I'd never heard it before and I honestly thought I was hearing the Beatles. She just grinned at me and told me that no, it was The Fab Four.

All I can say is Wow! This group is incredible and these CDs are absolutely delightful. If I hadn't been told who it was I would've thought it was the Beatles I was hearing. Very cleverly done and enjoyable CDs, I know we'll be listening to them through the holidays for years to come. Thanks!

These two CDs are so much fun you'll want to play them over and over. If you are a Beatles fan, you'll sit there saying, "Oh I recognize that song" while listening to the song intros, and then you'll feel the surprise I did as the songs segue into familiar Christmas songs. The Fab Four is the closest you can get to the actual Beatles-- and seeing them in person is a REAL treat if you live in Southern California. Until then, enjoy their Christmas CDs!

These guys have come up with a pretty clever idea and they have the Beatles harmonies and authentic instrument & studio sound down pat, eerily so. As I listened to these tracks for the first time, they actually made me laugh by how they incorporated Christmas standards into the framework of Beatle classics, very similar to what the Ventures did with their Christmas album from eons ago. So this collection is quite entertaining and should be pulled out at the holidays to throw in the mix, especially if you have friends over: "Wow, I never heard the Beatles do that before!" After hearing these recordings, it makes the Beatle fan wonder what these Fabs could come up with if they produced some original songs that sound like the true Fabs.

I saw the Fab Four perform in the summer and I was just blown away by their ability to perfectly recreate the Beatles, down to the very last detail. These Christmas CD's show that brilliance, I am listening to it right now and it's definitely my favorite Christmas CD ever! It's amazing how the Fab Four combined some of my fave Beatles songs with holiday classics so beautifully! "Rudolph" is a great opener, it really gets you energized. "Joy to the World" as "Please Please Me" is fantastic also, as is "Feliz Navidad" as "And I Love Her". One of the standouts of these 20 songs is "Hark!" done to the tune of "Help!", it is the most rocking version I've ever heard of such a religious song! "Winter Wonderland" in the style of "Honey Don't" is also worth a listen, as is "let it snow!" in the style of "8 Days a Week" Two songs sounded EXACTLY as if Paul McCartney himself were singing them: "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" (When I'm 64), and "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" (Got to Get You into My Life). George's voice is perfectly imitated in "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" (Within You Without You). For another knockout dead ringer, listen to "Away in a Manger" which sounds just like John- and in the middle of the song, listen for the Fab Four to send Christmas wishes in exact imitation of the Beatles' voices. Breathtaking!

All the songs are wonderful, I wish I could gush about every single one, but I'd rather you just go out and buy this CD. If you like Christmas and if you like the Beatles, buy this CD. You'll love it. Heck, if you're JEWISH and you like the Beatles, buy this CD. You'll love it. My dad, a bar mitzvah-ed man, can attest to that!

You don't have to be a lover of tribute bands to enjoy this offering of Christmas carol favorites from The Fab Four! They take the old standards and give them a new spin Beatles style. "Mr. Moonlight" becomes "Frosty the Snowman", "Help!" becomes "Hark the Herald Angels Sing", and "Eight Days a Week" becomes "Let It Snow." This CD is extremely fun and entertaining, and is sure to help put you in the Holiday Spirit! All You Need Is (Holiday) Love!!

CHRISTMAS WITH THE FAB FOUR:ULTIMATE TRIBUTE has got to be one of the most original Christmas CD's in recent years. It is not only a celebration of Christmas, the CD is also a celebration of The Beatles and their music. The Fab Four's fusion of Christmas standards and classic Beatlemusic displays the timelessness of the two genres and made what appears to be old like new again. The album is fresh and so good-spirited with a lot of thought and tender loving care in each of the song fusions. It's really fun to pick out the original Beatle song thats amalgamated into the Christmas standard. As with the Beatles themselves, the Fab Four don't overplay, keep it simple, and show a lot of enthusiasm for the material. Great, fun, and original!

I know there are many tribute bands, I do it myself, But this is a very fun and exhilarating album.
A most impressive and loving project. Christmas Time is here again.
Give it a spin, Its Getting Better All the time.