Customer Reviews

Golden Throats 4: Celebrities Butcher the Beatles

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Let's be very clear: this CD will probably have a short half-life in your CD player. A lot of it is genuinely annoying, but like a pipewrench: when you need really annoying Beatles' covers -- and you know you will -- nothing else will do.

The title of my review refers to the included Joe Pesci version of "Got to Get You Into My Life". This little postcard from an early moment of exploration and experimentation in Joe's life, sounds like a bland lounge singer through the verses, but when the chorus kicks in, Pesci's voice hits you like a bullet. If for no other reason, this is a keeper.

I received this CD several days ago, and I am still laughing. This CD is every bit as fun as it sounds! Tennessee Ernie Ford, Shatner, Joe Pesci, and the rest will entertain you with their versions of songs. "Golden Throats" gives hope for ALL people who are even slightly interested in singing. If these celebraties sell their versions of Beatle songs, why can't you? For Name That Tune experts, they will be stumped even AFTER listening to these songs. Your friends will wax nostalgic after hearing these songs---nostalgic for the Beatles, that is! Fun for all generations of people, I really enjoyed the campy feeling of these songs! What fun!

What can I say?!? This collection of Beatles songs -- performed by some of the most "unlikely singers" -- is brilliantly terrible. A dose of William Shatner doing his "unique" rendition of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" is enough to clear any room in a matter of seconds.

This is a classic "spoof" and "hoax" CD -- not necessarily purchased for its musical value, but rather for the laughs it generates. And, beleive me, this CD does create laughter.

This CD is a Scream! (Or, you'll scream after you hear it!)

For years now I've been collecting covers of Beatles tunes. Sometimes I'm pleasantly surprised (e.g. Mel torme' doing 'She's Leaving Home'). Sometimes I feel like someone is sticking a dentist drill in my ear (e.g. The Springville, Utah 7th Grade Choir singing 'Help'). Most of the songs on this album fit into the later catagory. May West said; "when I'm good, I'm good- when I'm bad, I'm better". Well, when she sings the beatles...she's worse!

This CD is campy, ecclectic and perfect for running people you don't like out of your parties!

All the songs on this cd stink.

They really do.

But, I'm not going to tell you how much they stink.

oh, no.

You're going to have to BUY THIS CD and find out for yourself.

Who knows? You may think I am wrong.

If you do, then write and say so. Exercise your right to free speech.

And, in the meantime, know right now that, without this cd, you'll be unable to hear the likes of Bing Crosby sing Hey Jude, or Little Joe Pesci sing Got To Get..., or best yet Telly Savalas--TELLY SAVALAS--sing Something. And, and, that's not to mention the horror that is Mission Impossible...

everytime i play this cd, i bet Yoko gives a slight shudder.

and, i laugh and laugh and laugh. it's fabulous. it's better than pot.

This was the last Golden Throats CD that Rhino Records released. This time around, they made the decision to exclusively include Beatles songs. This turned out to be a wise decision. The CD is a lot of fun. Most of the performances are very funny, although I'm sure the recording artists didn't intend them to be. Some of the highlights include George Burns, William Shatner, Mae West, Bing Crosby and Joe Pesci. But probably the weirdest track here is the lyrics to "Norwegian Wood" sung to the theme from "Mission: Impossible". If you liked the other Golden Throats CDs, you will like this one, especially if you are a Beatles fan. But it's a shame that Leonard Nimoy never recorded a Beatles song, so his streak of being on every Golden Throats CD got broken.

All Beatles fans will double over in hysteric fits at this disc, but even non-Beatle lovers should find some redeeming merit to it. Though not as good as "Golden Throats 1" (the apex of this series), the hideously bad recordings here are worth their weight in gold.

My nomination for the worst rendition on this disc is Noel Harrison's pathetically inane version of "She's a Woman." Not only is his vocal wickedly out of tune, the accompanying instrumentals will have you rolling on the floor. Where is McCartney's base line? Instead it's replaced with some ersatz-elevator music played by a fourth grade school band. Another clunker is the embarrassingly bad "Let it Be" by Ernie Ford. Eee-gads, this one stinks up the joint.

The funniest song is undoubtedly Shatner's by-now legendary wretched version of Lennon's "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds." Talk about taking yourself too seriously... play this one at your next party and anyone over 40 quite possibly might need medical assistance as they all rupture their spleens laughing so hysterically. Ah, all of this hideous cacophony sprang from the lips of Captain Kirk.

Curiously, there are some versions here which actually don't sound half bad. Among these are Bing Crosby's "Hey Jude." If you omit the "Pom, pom, pom" ending, it's not campy in the least. The same can be said for Mae West's version of "Day Tripper." Mae could belt out a tune with the best of them and at least, unlike Shatner, she knew she was out of her league. Some other songs are simply boring: George Burns' "With a Little Help From My Friends" isn't campy or funny, it's merely a droning yawn.

To sum up: a viciously funny record, but not nearly as hilarious as Golden Throats I.

The "Mission Impossible/Norwegian Wood" arrangement is truly a work of mad genuis, and William Shatner's recitation of his [?] poem "Spleen" is hilarious and inspired. On the other hand, on "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and "Michelle", William Shatner and Xavier Hollender (repectively) sound like obnoxious persons trying very hard to be funny and failing. George Burns's rendition of "With a Little Help From My Friends" is amiable and mildly amusing, and its introduction, "In the Beginning", is an apt send-up of Paul McCartney's recent "classical" work.

The liner notes are dead wrong about Noel Harrison. He actually had (at least) two hit songs. One was a version of Leonard Cohen's "Suzanne", which went a long way toward establishing Mr. Cohen's career (as a long-standing Leonard Cohen fan, I'm grateful). The other was a Donovan tune -- "Sunshine Superman", I think it was. Besides appearing on the short-lived "The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.", Mr. Harrison did a guest spot on "My Three Sons" in which he impressed the three sons with his singing and guitar playing. I can't remember how he sounded on these other tunes, but on the tune included here, "She's a Woman" he is hapless; he seems to have great difficulty sustaining a pitch; and to the extent he can sustain a pitch, he is significantly flat. Otherwise he sounds rather like David Bowie on the old "Images" album (re-released as "Deram").

"Golden Throats Volume Four"'s liner notes are not merely inaccurate, by the way, they also tend to be very annoying. Next time hold the wisecracks; give us just the facts and let the performances speak for themselves -- and get the facts RIGHT!

These are the worst versons of classic Beatles songs I have ever heard. Shatner's "Lucy in the sky with diamonds" is incredably bad. He sounds a lot more like he's on drugs than the Fab Four ever did. However, I give it a four because is soooo funny!

You haven't lived until you've heard the version of Norwegian Wook cross-polinated with the theme from Mission: Impossible. You can hear it here.