VA - A Glass Onion, The Beatles Psychedelic Songbook 1966-72 [2020]

 

BEATLES COVERED

VA - A Glass Onion, The Beatles Psychedelic Songbook 1966-72 [2020]

Looking Through A Glass Onion assembles these disparate strands into one cohesive package, with the studio day trippers, the cultural pranksters, the genre-benders, the folk club stalwarts and the hair-down-to-his-knees prog-rock brigade all grooving up slowly to the starting line. Though largely forgotten now, Liverpool quartet The Beatles were the toppermost of the poppermost in the Sixties, responsible for some of the biggest-selling singles of all time and a series of ground-breaking albums that dictated musical trends until their next LP emerged. With those albums containing numerous potential hit singles, it was inevitable that producers and groups would wait impatiently for the latest Beatles LP to land in order to rush into the studio and clone a track with the aim of scoring a cheap hit single. That process continued unabated for the rest of the band's career, but the results became more interesting with the arrival of the psychedelic and progressive era, when rock started to take itself more seriously and a more self-respecting, artistic approach was called for. Suddenly the cheap imitations were joined by more adventurous interpretations of Beatles material, including some startling re-imaginings of songs that dated back to the salad days of the Lennon/McCartney writing partnership. The result is the proverbial Magical Mystery Tour, a Fab Four parallel universe, a Looking-Glass world in which 'Strawberry Fields Forever' can be an Elizabethan garden party madrigal or a churning slice of Fudged-up sludge, where a spaced-out Duffy Power takes the lyrics of 'Fixing A Hole' perhaps a little too literally, 'Penny Lane' becomes avant-garde easy listening, the likes of Nick Lowe, Alex Harvey and Ritchie Blackmore try out early identities, and the Walrus was Lol. Containing nearly four hours of music and a 40-page booklet, Looking Through A Glass Onion features 68 tracks from various UK acts, with tons of memorabilia and rare photos as well as the usual verbose smartarse annotation shamelessly passed off as informed musical commentary. A splendid time is guaranteed for all. Well, almost all.

I used to be really snooty about Beatles cover versions when I was first getting into them but now I embrace them, and this is an excellent compilation. There are some fantastic interpretations of the Beatles psychedelic stuff. Some really good prog rock/hard rock covers, curiosities, light hearted stuff and everything in between. Including the amazing version of “in my life” by the wonderful Kippington Lodge. (Amazon)

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Track lists

CD1

01 Camel Mystery Tour 5:26

02 Deep Purple Help 6:00

03 Yes Every Little Thing 5:44

04 Affinity I Am The Walrus 4:04

05 Rainbow Ffolly Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds 3:10

06 Hollies If I Needed Someone 2:20

07 Mirage Tomorrow Never Knows 2:36

08 Kippington Lodge In My Life 3:21

09 Eyes Of Blue Yesterday 4:27

10 Sounds Nice Flying 3:55

11 Design Strawberry Fields Forever 2:28

12 Episode Six Here There And Everywhere 2:11

13 Cliff Bennett And The Rebel Rousers Got To Get You Into My Life 2:32

14 Hair Rave-Up Birthday 2:31

15 Blonde On Blonde Eleanor Rigby 3:16

16 Atlantic Bridge Dear Prudence 7:56

17 Jawbone Across The Universe 3:48

18 Duffy Power Fixing A Hole 2:31

19 Trucial States Oh Darling 3:42

20 Tremeloes Good Day Sunshine 1:58

21 Infinity Taxman 3:00

22 Orange Bicycle You Never Give Me Your Money - Carry That Weight 2:36

CD2

01 Spooky Tooth I Am The Walrus 6:26

02 Plastic Penny Strawberry Fields Forever 4:23

03 Rainbow Ffolly The Continuing Story Of Bungalow 3:26

04 Big Jim Sullivan Within You Without You 3:12

05 Gods Hey Bulldog 3:16

06 Freedom Cry Baby Cry 3:43

07 Don Fardon Day Tripper 2:54

08 Frugal Sound Norwegian Wood 1:57

09 Penny Arcade The Two Of Us 3:10

10 Andy Ellison You Cant Do That 2:48

11 Grand Union She Said She Said 3:05

12 Davey Graham And Holly Mother Natures Son 1:57

13 Cliff Bennett And His Band Back In The USSR 2:40

14 Young Idea With A Little Help From My Friends 2:33

15 Shadows Paperback Writer 3:07

16 Phillip Goodhand One And One Is Two 2:06

17 Majority A Hard Days Night 3:34

18 Trucial States Birthday 2:13

19 Linda Peters Get Back 2:03

20 Bo Street Runners Drive My Car 2:28

21 Good Ship Lollipop Maxwells Silver Hammer 3:20

22 Stone The Crows The Fool On The Hill 4:05

23 Young Blood I Will 1:52

24 Hi-Fi s Yellow Submarine 2:30

25 Tomcats Yesterday 2:06

26 Lol Coxhill I Am The Walrus 3:53

CD3

01 Jason Crest Come Together 3:04

02 Tomorrow Strawberry Fields Forever 3:59

03 Circus Norwegian Wood 7:18

04 Big Jim Sullivan Shes Leaving Home 2:37

05 Deep Purple Exposition-We Can Work It Out 7:07

06 Affinity A Day In The Life 6:05

07 Andy Ellison Help 2:29

08 Score Please Please Me 2:43

09 Loose Ends Taxman 2:29

10 Eyes Good Day Sunshine 2:03

11 Wilson Malone Voiceband Penny Lane 2:26

12 Young Blood The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill 3:33

13 Real McCoy I Will 1:39

14 Spectrum Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da 3:06

15 Brian Bennett Rocky Raccoon 2:45

16 Ice Day Tripper 2:05

17 Sorrows We Can Work It Out 4:20

18 Octopus I Am The Walrus 5:03

19 Hardin And York Northern Medley 10:15

20 Vera Lynn Good Night 3:19

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