Customer Reviews

This Bird Has Flown: A 40th Anniversary Tribute to the Beatles' Rubber Soul

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

 

 

The Beatles have and will always be my favourite band of all times but that's not to say that I have reservations about other people covering their songs. I like hearing the different versions and this album is suppose to be different...if you like the Fiery Furnaces (and I do) then you will enjoy their rendition of Norwegian Wood (like I do) and Sufjan Steven's version is also interesting as for all the other beautiful covers. This CD is not to be interpreted or to be classified under the same type (if there ever was one) as The Beatles' music. It's Indie..it's different...and it's beautiful all the same.

This Bird Has Flown is a great concept for a tribute album. Normally these collections are made up of various songs from an artist's catalog. But since each Beatles' album is a virtual masterpiece unto itself, this reworking of Rubber Soul is a great concept. Unfortunately not all the performances add up to great release. The problem when you have these tribute albums is that some artists are too reverential and play carbon copies of the songs they are covering and some go the opposite direction and totally revamp a song to make a point they are not doing the former. This isn't too say that when you cover a song to a tee that it isn't any good. The Donnas' "Drive My Car" is a faithful rendition, but their spunk and fire are fun. Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals turn "Michelle" into a reggae song with disastrous results. The Fiery Furnaces droning version of "Norwegian Wood" is ponderous and numbingly bad. The best tracks on the album are a lean and mean version of "Nowhere Man" by Low and The Cowboys Junkies' powerful take on "Run For Your Life".

I, too, like the below reviewer found the idea of covering an entire album to be an appealing concept. However, I look for different things in a cover and have several different thoughts on this compilation.

As it is to be expected, a project like this is going to have major ups and downs. Bringing together a group of artists as varried as this and covering a band as well known as The Beatles is bound to be a bit hit or miss.

For me, the worst cover on this album is the Yonder Mountain String Band's cover of "Think For Yourself." It is almost note-for-note with the original, even with is psuedo-bluegrass dressings. They obviously did NOT "think for themselves" while recording this cover.

I like covers that think for themselves. Take the bare essentials of the song and then make it your own. Which is why I love Sufjan Steven's cover of "What Goes On." He took what is one of the mediocre songs off of the Beatles' original Rubber Soul and made it into a masterpiece. His cover is so good that it would fit in nicely with his newest cd, "Illinois" without it being a drop in quality. (and "Illinois" is in contention for my album of the year). While his version is a big departure from the original, he gives it personality and it is vibrant with life.

Low strips down "Nowhere Man," choosing to be more subtle and atmospheric than the original with really good results. Nellie McKay offers a good redition of "If I Need Someone." The Fiery Furnaces turn out a cover that completely deconstructs the original, leaving a track completely unidentifiable. I like the track, but it's hard for me to see it as a cover instead of just an interesting song.

But there are some other truely horrid covers on here (hence my 3 star rating.) Ben Harper goes all reggae on "Michelle," only sans any sort of spark. Rhett Miller starts to turn out a nice rendition of "Girl," until he leaves out the most crucial aspect to the original.. the gasping suck of breath. The song without that is like a body without a heartbeat. "Drive My Car" by the Donnas is like the original only with distortion. It even clocks in within a few seconds of the original version. It's that identical.

The remainder tracks are decent. They stick fairly close to the original, but aren't ear-bleeds, either.

I received this cd as a Christmas gift and I love it!

Important note: I have also already been listening to many of the bands that perform the cover songs on this cd and have enjoyed their music for a long time.

Which brings up an important question. Why do people perform cover songs in the first place? It is to create an interpretation of a work in their *own original style*. Therefore, you should buy a tribute album because, first and foremost, you like the bands that perform on that album.

If you want to listen to songs written by the Beatles performed by a band that sounds like the Beatles, go buy a Beatles cd!

Got this one with A Tribute To Elliott Smith at the same time because Amazon recommended it. Good call on both - This Bird Has Flown isn't the greatest tribute ever and there really isn't a jaw dropping cover here - but it's still a fun and interesting album and sometimes can't that be enough? The Elliott Smith Tribute is great and entertaining as well, and for any Beatles & Smith fans both are highly enjoyable.

A great concept for a Beatles covers album, recorded by a selection of popular `indie/alternative' category artists. Albums like this are usually hit and miss and worth avoiding, but given the quality of musicians involved, I thought I'd give this one a go.

As expected, apart from a few exceptions, it's generally quite good. I particularly enjoyed the Ben Lee take on `In My Life' and the Donnas `Drive My Car'.

BUT, oh my god, how incredibly awful is that Fiery Furnaces song? I've never written an Amazon review before, but after hearing this I needed to get this off my chest! It kind of confirms all my previous thoughts on that band. I honestly cannot see any point to it or understand what it was trying to achieve other than just being 'quirky'. Don't get me wrong, I love complex music and also original takes on well known songs (eg the Granddaddy cover of Revolution on the I am Sam Soundtrack) but this one was just terrible, completely neglecting mood, melody, humour and most importantly (for this project) the sequencing in style of the original album. Phew, I'm glad I got that out!

As a huge fan of his Illinois record, the biggest disappointment of the album would have to be the Sufjan Stevens song. Admittedly, though he was probably given the weakest song from the original record. The song itself isn't terrible, but since, apart from lyrics, it has absolutely no resemblance to the original, it somehow feels like it doesn't fit with the sequencing of the other tracks.

Apart from those two disappointments, I can recommend this quite highly. Here's hoping that a Revolver album of this style is done soon...though PLEASE don't let the Fiery Furnaces anywhere near it.

One the great things about the post-modern lifestyle is that you can sit on your computer and put together playlists to your heart's content. I have a whole bunch of such lists for classic albums (e.g., Bob Dylan's "Blood on the Tracks") consisting of covers by a variety of other artists, and I have been developing playlists for all of the Beatles albums. So, of course, I had one for "Rubber Soul" that begins with Bobby McFerrin's "Drive My Car" and ends with Sean Connery reciting "My Life," with the likes of everybody from Anne Murray to the Velvet Underground in Between." However, I had not account for all 16 songs on the album until the release of "This Bird Has Flown: A 40th Anniversary Tribute to the Beatles' Rubber Soul." I think the cover album I put together is better, but I am always interested in hearing what other artists are doing with Beatles songs and improving my playlists.

As with any such album you are going to find hits and misses here, as well as tracks where you wonder why they bothered. The opening track, "Drive My Car" by the Donnas, gets you thinking that the idea here is to sound as much like the original with a minor change (play up the percussion), but then the next track, "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" by the Fiery Furnaces makes it clear that anything is possible bringing their own musical sensibilities to what is essentially the title track of the album. Then I remembered that when the original version came out four decades ago George Harrison's sitar playing on that particular song put it way out there musically, and you can certainly make the argument that the Fiery Furnaces are doing the same sort of thing.

Most of the songs fit in the first camp. Dar Williams simplifies "You Won't See Me" into a nice little musical plea, while Low emphasizes the sweet harmonies of "Nowhere Man." "Think For Yourself" by the String Mountain Band is similar to the opening track in being fairly straightforward, just played on country bluegrass instruments and Ben Kweller's "Wait" sounds like a garage band cover of the original, with Sam Champion doing a similar thing with "It's Only Love." Country siren Mindy Smith actually makes "The Word" a bit more of a rocker. Rhett Miller provides a slightly more subdued version of "Girl," while Ben Lee's in "My Life" takes a similar approach.

On the other side of the spectrum Ben Harper gives "Michelle" a reggae beat, which works well with those French lyrics (remember: "Sunday monkey won't play piano song?"). Sufjan Stevens keeps the lyrics from "What Goes On" but not the music while Ted Leo goes the ska route with "I'm Looking Through You" and emphasizes the beat over the lyrics. Nellie McKay goes the jazz approach with "If I Wanted Someone," which reminds me of Ann Dryer's "Revolver: A New Spin" album. The Cowboy Junkies perform "Run For Your Life" as a funky little walk on the dark side, but Slow Runner lives up to their name by doing "I've Just Seen a Face" as a dirge at an absolute crawl.

That last one is really the only track that I suffered through listening to on this album, since the Fiery Furnaces have been growing on me more each time through. If you want to listen to a Beatles tribute album that goes for radical interpretations of the musical texts, then "This Bird Has Flown" will be a disappointment on balance. Then again, if you find too many of these artists are following the originals too closely, that will make you think you would be better off just listening to the orignal. Ultimately, I find this to be a pleasant collection of covers, which ends up being just fine with me because I really was not expecting much more than that.

Most of these tribute albums are the same. It's a gimmick. Either bands do faithful renditions of the songs or they destroy them and create something new. And then you think why? If you can put together some quality acts, it becomes a curiosity. This album had a mission of collecting some new interesting acts. The Donnas recreate "Drive My Car" almost Xerox like. This is followed by the bizarre version of "Norwegian Wood" by The Fiery Furnaces. They are continuing to be the weirdest band on the planet. Some more down to earth moments are supplied by Dar Williams (You Won't See Me) and Low (Nowhere Man). Both these bands seem to add their special touch to the songs, and Low doing that song almost seems to perfect. This is followed by some more copyist moments. Ben Harper gives "Michelle" the reggae touch. Interesting! Sufjan Stevens messes up "What Goes On" so someone like Devendra Banhart doesn't have to. Rhett Miller does a good impersonation of John Lennon on "Girl." I prefer the version by Tiny Tim a decade ago. Ted Leo (I'm Looking Through You) is very funny. Ben Lee is daring in even attempting "In My Life." Isn't this the best song of all time? Nellie McKay makes "If I Needed Someone" sound like a lame Bebel Gilberto version. For some reason I believe this song's arrangement is based around a Nancy Sinatra version. I didn't realize that Cowboy Junkies were still around. Their version of "Run For Your Life" is nothing like their version of "Sweet Jane" by Lou Reed. This is a weird experience.

If you loved Rubber Soul you won't be disappointed by this album. I think the artist chosen for this tribute album have done a great job of honoring the spirit of the original work while providing an interesting and imaginative new twist on the work. There are a couple of duds in the mix. I've Just Seen a Face was one of my favorite songs on the original album, but Slow Runner provides a drippy whiny version that doesn't do the song justice. Ben Harper, on the other hand, does a Reggae Version of Michelle that's just awesome. The lyrics are all embedded somewhere there in your brain, and when you hear these unfamiliar versions of the songs it lends a refreshing and uplifting twist that leaves you feeling great.
It's easy to criticise tribute albums like this one. They had huge shoes to fill, but I feel that the artists did a great job!

... WHY these artists? WHY these particular arrangements?

It's an admirable thing to pay tribute to a band like The Beatles. But, it's also a very hazardous thing. I don't see the point in this "re-visitation" of the classic Beatles album. It adds nothing to The Beatles mystique, nor does it build upon the band's legendary status. It's a jumble of different musical styles that don't go well together.

There is one bright spot on this CD, and that is Dar Williams's version of "You Won't See Me". She carries the entire 2-star rating from me.

Call me a grouch if you will... but, if I want to hear "Rubber Soul", I'll listen to the actual Beatles album.... if I want to hear a different version of "I'm Looking Through You" - performed in a different style then the original version - I'll listen to disc 1 of "The Beatles Anthology 2".

Some might say that tributes like this one might get the Beatles new listeners. If this CD gets some younger music listeners to get into The Beatles, then that's fine. But, when I was a budding music lover in the late 70's-early 80's, I was listening to the real thing. So...

Beatles tributes are great, but you've got to make sure and get it right. This compilation does not get it right. If you want to hear some excellent recent Beatles covers - a more inspired collection of Bealtes covers? Then check out the soundtrack ("music inspired by the film") to "Sam I Am".

One final note: There is no such thing as a "better" version of "In My Life" than the original Beatles version.... and this can be said for all Beatles songs.