Fab Forgeries, Pt. 6!! "Hard Day's Night"-athon; Big-band Beatles, The Kingsmen, Johnny Mathis, Lawrence Welk, Johnny Rivers, The Lettermen, more!

 

Some big-band Beatles in the mix, courtesy of Enoch Light, Lawrence Welk, Sammy Kaye, and Buddy Morrow, and no fewer than five covers of A Hard Day's Night, courtesy of Enoch, The Kingsmen, Johnny Rivers, Alshire's famous Frank "88" Malone (who?), and, in the best Peggy Lee manner, Chris Connors.  Then, Johnny Rivers again, with Can't Buy Me Love, the Buckinghams with a 1966 interpretation of I Call Your Name, an excellent Lettermen rendition of For No One, a Dixieland Sgt. Pepper's... by Andre Kostelanetz, a swinging Eleanor Rigby by Michael Dees, and the Supremes with You Can't Do That (but they do, and more than adequately).  Meanwhile, Homer and Jethro's 1964 take on I Want to Hold You Hand is typical of the opinion, on the part of many professional, established recording musicians of the day (and H&J were highly accomplished), of the Fab Four's music: Annoying, monotonous low-calorie noise for screaming teens and pre-teens--a pop-music aberration soon to fade from the scene (and we know how that worked out).  And maybe I'm reading too much into this version of She Loves You--after all, Homer and Jethro had for years been specializing in take-downs of current chart hits.  But this particular lampoon complies too closely for coincidence with the standard dismissals of Beatlemania when that craze first exploded; the most hilarious parody of this type being Allan Sherman's classic Pop Hates the Beatles (also 1964).

And Ray Conniff is back with an effective cover of the Starr-Harrison Photograph, a track I didn't think I had ripped (but which, obviously, I had).  As for the New Christy Minstrel's I Want to Hold Your Hand (speaking of), their take is certainly different.  Meanwhile, Ronnie Aldrich's two pianos, along with the London Festival Orch., perform a memorable Because--the type of Beatles number which calls for this type of concert-hall version.  As for the "live" Johnny Rivers Fab-Four renditions, my ears get the feeling that the audience chatter was added after the fact, though I'm not sure.  Meanwhile, Anne Murray's 1974 Day Tripper is very 1974, which I suppose is to be expected.  Not a bad cover at all.  Even better is Johnny Mathis' My Sweet Lord, which the singer handles superbly.  And, whoever he was, Frank "88" Malone performs a nice honky-tonk Hard Day's Night for Alshire Records around 1968 or 1969, looks like.  And the Kingsmen's Bill Black-esque take on the same tune is terrific, though as with Rivers, the live-ness of the performance is doubtful.

Of the big-band renditions, I'm inclined to go with Buddy Morrow.  Then again, Sammy Kaye's Eight Days a Week is terrific, and it's impossible to miss with Enoch Light.  In sum, I'd rather not have to pick.  And Percy Faith's My Sweet Lord has a fine rock feel, and it's impressively true to Harrison's original.  I was expecting something more traditionally FM-radio-EZ, but it really moves.

And Floyd Cramer does a fine job with a Beatles classic which deserved a greater number of covers: I'll Follow the Sun, from the first Beatles LP I ever owned (The Beatles '65).  At the time, and since my budget was typically limited to 45s, LPs seemed like a miraculous, almost impossible proposition--all of those tracks on a single platter!  Years later, I'd buy my first Beach Boys LP at a discounted price (Capitol was cutting the BBs from its catalog): 1964's All Summer Long, in trashy Duophonic "stereo," though at the time (and on our cheap portable phonograph) it sounded just fine.  Anyway, some real happening homages for this post...

DOWNLOAD: Fab Forgeries Pt. 6.zip

A Hard Day's Night--Enoch Light and His Orch. (1964)

My Sweet Lord--Johnny Mathis (1971)

Eight Days a Week--Sammy Kaye and His Orch. (1965)

A Hard Day's Night--The Kingsmen (1965)

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band--Andre Kostelanetz (1975)

Eight Days a Week--Enoch Light and the Light Brigade (1965)

Eleanor Rigby--Michael Dees (Arr. by Bob Bain, 1968)

I Want to Hold Your Hand/And I Love Her--Enoch Light and His Orch. (1964)

Photograph--Ray Conniff (1974)

Please Please Me--Buddy Morrow and His Orch. (1964)

Because--Ronnie Aldrich and His Two Pianos With the London Festival Orch. (1970)

A Hard Day's Night--Johnny Rivers (1965)

She Loves You--Homer and Jethro (1964)

I Want to Hold Your Hand--The New Christy Minstrels (1966)

A Hard Day's Night--Frank "88" Malone

I'll Follow the Sun--Floyd Cramer (1965)

You Can't Do That--The Supremes (1966)

Get Back--Paul Mauriat and His Orch. (1969)

Can't Buy Me Love--Johnny Rivers (1964)

I Call Your Name--The Buckinghams (1966)

Hey Jude--Lawrence Welk (1969)

My Sweet Lord--Percy Faith, His Orch, and Chorus (1971)

For No One--The Letterman (1967)

A Hard Day's Night--Chris Connor (1965)

Day Tripper--Anne Murray (1974)

Lee

Fab Forgeries, Part 5! Patti Page, Jerry Vale, Frankie Carle, The Moog Machine, Aretha Franklin, Kate Smith, Ray Conniff, more!

 

                                      

Frankie Carle, Bert Kaempfert, Ray Conniff, The Cowsills, Kate Smith, Jerry Vale, and the Lettermen are among our Beatles-cover artists today.  And a shout-out to the the earliest covers, starting with 1964: I Want to Hold Your Hand--Frankie Carle; and A Hard Day's Night--Marty Gold and His Orch.  On to 1965: And I Love Her--Ferrante and Teicher.  Hm.  And that's it for 1965.  But a nice batch for 1966: Yesterday--Boots Randolph; Michelle--The Fiesta Brass; Yesterday--Kate Smith; and Nowhere Man--Les and Larry Elgart.

And our fourth and fifth Somethings for this series to date, with more to come: Bert Kaempfert and Patti Page, both from 1970.  Plus, our fourth Long and Winding Road, by my favorite pop-instrumental maestro, Andre Kostelanetz (also from 1970).  From 1969, an unusually fine Paperback Writer by The Cowsills (!), Get Back by the Moog Machine (from their LP, Switched-On Rock), a great Eleanor Rigby by Aretha Franklin; a lovely Here, There and Everywhere by the Lettermen; and Dionne Warwick's take on We Can Work It Out (from her Soulful LP on Scepter).

Another Here, There, and Everywhere, this time by the always excellent Petula Clark, and our lone 1968 track--The Fool on the Hill, by the Billy Vaughn Singers.  The latter is a fine EZ Fab Four fake.  (Actually, a legit cover, but "Fab Four fake" sounds good...)

Two creative John Denver Fab Four covers, both from 1970: Golden Slumbers, and Eleanor Rigby.  And three more 1970 tracks: Jerry Vale crooning Let It Be, Tony Mottola with a near-hard-rock Come Together, and a highly enjoyable Living Strings rendition of Hey Jude.  And only we up-there-in-age folks remember when material like that last number was played on FM EZ radio.

Skipping ahead to 1973, a decent Ray Conniff presentation of the Paul and Linda McCarney Live and Let Die--one of those shouldn't-work-but-it-does tracks.  And from 1974, the Starkey-Harrison Photograph, ably rendered by one of the blog's favorite crooners, Engelbert Humperdinck.

A technical note: Though I've added art to every Fab Forgery project in Windows' Media Player app, not all of that art seems to be showing up, even after I've checked it within the app.  My apologies for any not-showing-up art.  There's no apparent reason for this.  (I know--get a Mac.)

DOWNLOAD: Fab Forgeries Pt. 5.zip

I Want to Hold Your Hand--Frankie Carle, 1964

A Hard Day's Night--Marty Gold and His Orch., 1964

Something--Bert Kaempfert and His Orch., 1970

Here, There and Everywhere--The Lettermen, 1969

Golden Slumbers--John Denver, 1970

Live and Let Die--Ray Conniff, 1973

Yesterday--Boots Randolph, 1966

My Love--Engelbert Humperdinck, 1974

Come Together--Tony Mottola, 1970

Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da--Floyd Cramer, 1969

Paperback Writer--The Cowsills, 1969

Let It Be--Jerry Vale, 1970

And I Love Her--Ferrante and Teicher, 1965

The Fool on the Hill--The Billy Vaughn Singers, 1968

Something--Patti Page, 1970

The Long and Winding Road--Andre Kostelanetz, 1970

Michelle--The Fiesta Brass, 1966

Get Back--The Moog Machine, 1969

Yesterday--Kate Smith, 1966

Eleanor Rigby--Aretha Franklin, 1969

Here, There and Everywhere--Petula Clark, 1967

Hey Jude--The Living Strings, 1970

We Can Work It Out--Dionne Warwick, 1969

Nowhere Man--Les and Larry Elgart, 1966

Eleanor Rigby--John Denver, 1970

Above: Nowhere Gig--by the Cake Toppers

Lee

Fab forgeries, Part 4! Peggy Lee, Ella Fitzgerald, The Lettermen, The Lennon Sisters, Petula Clark, Boots Randolph!

 

Can't beat the line-up for this post: The Lennon Sisters, Peggy Lee, The Lettermen, The Electric Scoundrals, The Harmonicats, Terry Baxter (the legendary), Boots Randolph, Ferrante and Teicher...  And the list goes on.  And I've got scores of tracks either ready to go for the next installments, or in preparation for same.  In addition to the ready-to-go tracks, I have about 25 in need of audio clean-up and labeling.

And... perhaps the worst Hey Jude ever concocted in a budget studio, or any other kind, as bellowed out by "The Electric Scoundrals," a pulled-out-of-who-knows-where alias for a fake best-of-the-1960s LP from Premier Albums, Inc.  Lord help me, I love this version.  It's so bad, it's... wonderful bad.

However, The Lennon Sisters and The Four King Cousins provide perfectly acceptable covers of, respectively, I Want to Hold Your Hand and Good Day Sunshine.  The former is from 1964, which makes the LS one of the first "pop" acts to tackle the Fab Four.  Ferrante and Teicher give us a catchy Yellow Submarine cover, and I realize that I accidentally chose two of the few acceptable covers from Terry Baxter's box set, Yesterday: The Wonderful Music of the Beatles: namely, Sgt. Pepper's... and The Fool on the Hill.  My bad.  The dreadful Paperback Writer will have to wait until next time.

Bud Shanks' jazz treatment of I Am the Walrus is a track I like more each time I play it, and we've got Ella Fitzgerald performing George Harrison's Savoy Truffle, and quite well.  I love the truly spacey ending.  Also, The Carpenters expertly adapting Help to their style, the Lettermen delivering a memorable World Without Love, and Tammy Wynette giving us a Countrypolitan Yesterday.  The Sandpipers, meanwhile, essentially mimic the Beatles on Things We Said Today, but quite well.

Boots Randolph's My Sweet Lord totally works for me, unlike Jackie Cain and Roy Kral's Fixin' a Hole, which I tried hard to like, but... And Petula Clark is back, with a Hey Jude which fares infinitely better than the hilarious Premier track, though just about anything would.  Enjoy!

DOWNLOAD: Fab Forgeries Pt. 4.zip

I Want to Hold Your Hand--The Lennon Sisters, 1964

Yellow Submarine--Ferrante and Teicher, 1969

Fixin' a Hole--Jackie Cain and Roy Kral, 1968

I Am the Walrus--Bud Shank, 1968

The Long and Winding Road--The Sandpipers, 1970

If I Fell--Perry Botkin, Jr. and His Orch., 1970

Good Day Sunshine--The Four King Cousins, 1968

Yesterday--Jerry Murad's Harmonicats, 1966

Michelle--Warren Covington Orch.

Norwegian Wood--Perry Botkin, Jr. and His Orch., 1970

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band--The Terry Baxter Orch. and Chorus, 1972

A Hard Day's Night--Charlie Barnet and His Orch., 1970

Help--The Carpenters, 1970

Savoy Truffle (Harrison)--Ella Fitzgerald, 1969

Hey Jude--Petula Clark, 1969

Yellow Submarine--The Richard Wolfe Children's Chorus, 1969

The Fool on the Hill--The Terry Baxter Orch. and Chorus, 1972

I Want You (She's So Heavy)--The Assembled Multitude, 1970

My Sweet Lord (Harrison)--Boots Randolph, 1971

World Without Love--The Lettermen, 1975

Yesterday--Tammy Wynette, 1968

Things We Said Today--The Sandpipers, 1966

Something (Harrison)--Peggy Lee, 1969

Photograph (Starkey-Harrison)--Engelbert Humperdinck (1974)

Hey Jude--The Electric Scoundrals

Lee

Fab Forgeries, Part 3! Wayne Newton, Liberace, Brenda Lee, Ray Stevens, Jim Nabors, more!

 

Well, Percy and Paul and Andre will show up in our next playlist, but for today, these other fun cover versions...

First off, Lee Castle's rockin', big-band-style Birthday--a priceless rendition from a no-year-known Pickwick LP.  Then, Ray Stevens' more than competent 1970 She Came in Through the Bathroom Window, followed by Jim Nabors' My Sweet Lord--not the laugh riot we might expect, but a nicely done cover.  And Wayne Newton's Long and Winding Road could have been a lot worse--I like it, I have to confess.  Liberace's take on the same number is here for name value only--It's a standard pop-piano-type rendition (of the Ferrante-and-Teicher, Peter-Duchin type), with some comments from L. himself at the end, as he congratulates the orchestra.  Brenda Lee's 1965 He Loves You puts her in the first-artists-to-cover-the-Beatles group, though the "he" is in the title only: Brenda sings the lyrics as written, and very nicely.  Nancy Sinatra's 1966 Run for Your Life is very well done, too, as is the Ventures' properly raucous 1964 I Feel Fine (another early cover).  As for the New Christy Minstrels' Atlantis/Hey, Jude mashup, maybe that otherwise excellent group was better off not trying to be hip/with it.  It's different, anyway, as is Morgana King's non-psychedelic rendering of Tomorrow Never Knows, which holds up quite well as a "regular" number.  The Burbank Philharmonic's (whoever they were) 1970 Hey Jude is fine Dixieland Fab Four, if you're in the mood for Dixieland Beatles, and the Longines Symphonette's Classical-style Eleanor Rigby/Yesterday medley is superbly done--a perfect example of a potentially hokey and pretentious effort beautifully hitting the mark, with the expert arranger mixing the two numbers with Beethoven and Tchaikovsky.  Just gorgeous.  

The Cyrkle do a ring-around-the-key-centers version of I'm Happy Just to Dance With You, the Lettermen (one of the finest Beatles-cover groups) provide an interesting I'm Only Sleeping, and the Haircuts (plus The Impossibles?) give us an uncannily close-to-the-original I Want to Hold Your Hand, from a 1966 Somerset LP (which I owned years ago).  Jose Feliciano was another savvy Fab Four cover artist, and here we hear (here we hear?) his excellent 1966 Help!  I remember Jose from back in the day, but I somehow didn't appreciate his outstanding musicianship then.  I do now.  And... the Four Freshmen with a meh Ob-La-Di..., and a very nice Something by Engelbert Humperdinck (still with us at 89), one of my favorite singers--sort of Tom Jones without the soul.  Nothing wrong with that, of course--this gave Engelbert the edge on ballads, and in particular his fabulous Burt Bacharach renderings: I'm a Better Man, Love Was Here Before the Stars, et al.  And it's fitting to mention Burt, who was--along with the Beatles, Brian Wilson, and Carole King--at the top of their form in the 1960s and early 1970s. (I prefer Brill-Building Carole to her solo period, but that's just me.)  

Oh, and a gorgeous live 1970 rendition by Israeli singer Esther Ofarim of the Paul McCartney masterpiece, She's Leaving Home.  An absolute gem.

Enjoy! 

DOWNLOAD: Fab Forgeries Pt. 3.zip

Birthday--Lee Castle and the Jimmy Dorsey Orch.

Yesterday/Hey Jude--Tom Jones, 1970.

She Came in Through the Bathroom Window--Ray Stevens, 1970

Jim Nabors--My Sweet Lord (Harrison), 1974

Tomorrow Never Knows--Morgana King, 1968

He Loves You--Brenda Lee, 1965

The Long and Winding Road--Wayne Newton, 1970

She's Leaving Home--Esther Ofarim, 1970

Can't Buy Me Love--Brenda Lee, 1965

Run for Your Life--Nancy Sinatra, 1966

Hey, Jude/Atlantis--The New Christy Minstrels, 1969

I Feel Fine--The Ventures, 1964

Something (Harrison)--Engelbert Humperdinck, 1970

Got to Get You Into My Life--Morgana King, 1968

Ob-La-Di-Ob-La-Da--The Four Freshmen, 1969

Help!--Jose Feliciano, 1966

I'm Happy Just to Dance With You--The Cyrkle, 1967

Medley: Eleanor Rigby; Yesterday--The Longines Symphonette, 1968

Hey Jude--Burbank Philharmonic, 1970

The Long and Winding Road--Liberace, 1971

I'm Only Sleeping--The Lettermen 1972

I Want to Hold Your Hand--The Haircuts, 1966

Lee

Fab forgeries! Forty Beatles tunes not by the Beatles: Peter Knight, David Rose, Petula Clark, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Mortier Dance Hall Organ, more!

 

Forty (!) Beatles covers: Some good, some okay, some "Ouch!"  Or just plain strange, like The Johnny Mann Singes' She Loves You (which sounds like a multi-tracked Lurch), Tennessee Ernie Ford's Yesterday, and The Mortier Dance Hall Organ medley excerpt.  The Mann side is interesting as one of the earliest Beatles covers, a category which includes The Ray Charles Singers' 1964 Do You Want to Know a Secret, Jimmy Griffin's All My Loving (same year), and 1965's Can't Buy Me Love by Henry Mancini, I Feel Fine by Enoch Light, plus And I Love Her by David Rose. These are adult-pop efforts which hew to the mood and tempi of the originals, whereas George Chakiris' 1965 She's a Woman takes off into territory best described as, um... better left unvisited?  His take not only speeds things up, it perhaps gives us an idea of 1965 Broadway's concept of 1965 teen pop.

Also painfully inappropriate: Steve and Eydie's A Little Help From My Friends, which is arranged to accommodate their usual style.  Nothing against their usual style, except that it doesn't fit the material.

But some excellent pop-orchestral interpretations: The always-reliable Andre Kostelanetz and Paul Mauriat, assorted Readers Digest box set conductors like Norman Percival and Ken Thorne, and the superb Peter Knight, maybe best known for orchestrating Days of Future Passed.  On the fine-but-amusing side: Ken Thorne's jaunty A Day in the Life (at least Peter Knight's cover gives it some gravitas).

I haven't decided whether or not I like Petula Clark's Rain and We Can Work It Out, though they're certainly interesting.  Nancy Sinatra and the Buckinghams provide adequate covers, Johnny Mathis delivers a fine Eleanor Rigby (as we'd expect), and Tom Jones... Well, I forgot to include Tom.  Maybe next time.  

John Davidson is barely so-so, while Lena Horne gives Rocky Raccoon a lot of highly dated soul.  The big surprise is Noel Harrison, whose contributions should be the epitome of camp but which are downright good.  Penny DeHaven's Countrypolitan I Feel Fine (1970) is a lot of fun, and I guess I have to rate Frank Chacksfield's as the best of the Discotheque versions, as much as I love Enoch Light.

As for Phyllis Newman's When I'm 64, the track's professionalism can't be faulted, but the original was a send-up to begin with, and so it's sort of a send-up of a send-up.  Or... maybe the problem is that it takes the faux-1920s sound of the Beatles track too literally.  I don't know...

The one "fake hit" in our list is the excellent Hit Records knockoff of Nowhere Man, from 1966.  The good ol' Jalopy Five.

Some of the tracks I spared you: Let It Be (Ray Conniff Singers), My Sweet Lord (Jim Nabors), The Long and Winding Road (Wayne Newton), and Your Mother Should Know (George Burns).

DOWNLOAD: Fab Fogeries Pt. 1.zip  Fab Forgeries Pt. 2.zip

She Loves You--The Johnny Mann Singers, 1964

The Fool on the Hill--Andre Kostelaentz and His Orch., 1969

Do You Want to Know a Secret--The Ray Charles Singers, 1964

Yesterday--Mantovani, 1966

With a Little Help From My Friends--Steve and Eydie, 1969

Rocky Raccoon--Lena Horne and Gabor Szabo, 1969

Lady Madonna--Paul Mauriat and His Orch., 1969

All My Loving--Jimmy Griffin, 1964

Can't Buy Me Love--Henry Mancini Orch. and Chorus, 1965

A Day in the Life--Peter Knight and His Orch., 1967

Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds--Noel Harrison, 1967

She Loves You--Mortier Dance Hall Organ, 1965

Something--John Davidson, 1970

Strawberry Fields Forever--Noel Harrison, 1967

I Feel Fine--Penny DeHaven, 1970

Day Tripper--Nancy Sinatra, 1966

Penny Lane--Paul Mauriat and His Orch., 1967

Help!--Andre Kostelanetz and His Orch., 1966

Come Together--Charlie Barnet and His Orch., 1970

Lovely Rita--Peter Knight and His Orch., 1967

Rain--Petula Clark, 1966

Yesterday--Tennessee Ernie Ford, 1968

And I Love Her--David Rose and His Orch., 1965

We Can Work It Out--Petula Clark, 1966

When I'm 64--Phyllis Newman, 1968

I Feel Fine--Enoch Light and the Light Brigade, 1965

All You Need Is Love--Norman Percival and His Orch., 1970

Hey Jude--Paul Mauriat and His Orch., 1969

Eleanor Rigby--Johnny Mathis, 1967

I'll Be Back--The Buckinghams, 1967

A Day in the Life--Ken Thorne and His Orch., 1970

Get Back--Frank Chacksfield and His Orch., 1970

Penny Lane--Paul Mauriat and His Orch., 1967

Hello, Goodbye--The Longines Symphonette, 1968

Getting Better--Peter Knight and His Orch., 1967

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band--Peter Knight and His Orch., 1967

Yellow Submarine--The Hank Levine Singers and Orch., 1968

Got to Get You Into My Life--Frank Chacksfield and His Orch., 1970

Nowhere Man--The Jalopy Five, 1966

She's a Woman--George Chakiris, 1965

Lee