Customer Reviews

Come Together: Guitar Tribute to The Beatles, Vol. 1

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

 

 

Thoughtful, sometimes moody, occasionally eerie collection of Beatles tunes released for the 30th anniversary of the Beatles hitting the pop music scene. Includes some terrific guitarists (many who don't get all the airtime they deserve) playing their favorite cuts. These are all very interesting arrangements with a few inspired riffs and others so lovingly executed that they have obviously been considered over a number of years. Great driving music for a rainy night. Not a single slouch track on the disk. A sleeper.

Paying "tribute" to music as well known as the Beatles' is a difficult prospect. You obviously can't expect to improve on the originals. Your two choices are to either reinterpret and expand the original ideas into new directions or to represent them more literally. In this case both concepts are applied with mixed results. I mainly bought the cd to hear Allan Holdsworth's contribution "Michelle". As usual, he's way out in left field. The intro is slow and spacey, then the tune is transformed from a ballad into an uptempo jazz feel bordering on bebop. Allan's amazing solo is typically fast and fluid. It's definitely one of the better tracks. In the liner notes Allan admits that he originally didn't particularly LIKE the Beatles (!) but later came to appreciate their wonderful songs. You can also check out Allan's version of "Norwegian Wood" on his "None Too Soon" cd. As for the rest of this one, Adrian Belew's "Blackbird" and Jon Abercrombie's "And I Love Her" aren't bad, but too literal to be of much interest. Mark Whitfield's "Come Together" has a nice groove, but without John Lennon's voice and strange lyrics the melody is revealed to be fairly simplistic, basically just one note per chord change. "Within You, Without You" and "Norwegian Wood" were both ruined for me by Nana Vasconcelos' pointless and distracting vocalizing. "Here, There and Everywhere" and "Something" are presented as solo acoustic guitar numbers, a questionable decison considering the sonic lushness that the originals were both famous for. I also have the sequel to this cd and find it to be more varied and interesting. Jeff Beck's gorgeous rendition of "A Day in the Life" from George Martin's "In My Life" cd is also not to be missed.

Each interpretation adds abundantly to the original's charm, crafting it into a new entity altogether. Sometimes, you almost forget what you're really listening to...which after some 30 years, isn't so bad. The guitar work is excellent throughout. Although you can play this for almost any audience, I wouldn't recommend it for your teenagers. They just wouldn't understand.

The Allan Holdsworth track alone is worth the price of admission. When you add in the Toot Theilmans et. al. it really is a great disc.