It's Not Sam . . . It's The Beatles! (Sort Of)

The Good: Some great covers of songs by the Beatles
The Bad: Nothing explosively brilliant in the reinterpretations
The Basics: In a remarkably average musical outing, decent artists are paired with a song by The Beatles that will not challenge them and they rise to the occasion.


I remember watching and enjoying I Am Sam (reviewed here!), but truth be told, I do not recall anything especially wonderful about the soundtrack while the movie was going on. I mean, Batman Returns, The Last of the Mohicans and The Empire Strike Back all had soundtracks that had (at least moments) tracks that were instantly recognizable or truly resonated with me. So, as I've been looking up more music on some of my favorite artists (Heather Nova, Sarah McLachlan, etc.) I kept seeing "Music From And Inspired By The Motion Picture I Am Sam" coming up in my searches and I was a little surprised. It became something I figured I might as well pick up and give a spin.

With seventeen tracks, clocking in at 55 minutes, this album is a celebration of the music of The Beatles. Seventeen different artists each covered a different Beatles song. Truth be told, none of the tracks sparked a single memory from the movie, which as I understand used the cover versions of the Beatles songs because Michael Jackson was charging $300,000 for use of each original track. So, this review will instead focus on I Am Sam (the soundtrack album) as an album independent endeavor.

It's dull. It's not entirely bad or anything, but it is dull. All seventeen tracks are simply the individual artists singing songs by The Beatles. This is a special disappointment for me as a fan of Heather Nova. Heather Nova does a cover of Bruce Springsteen's classic "I'm On Fire" on her live album Wonderlust (reviewed here!). What makes her cover different from an artist simply singing another artist's song is that Nova makes the song her own, changing the gender of the subject of the song, changing the pace and basically reinterpreting or recreating the song. Perhaps the best cover song I've ever heard was Sophie B. Hawkins's reimagining of Bob Dylan's "I Want You" from her debut album (reviewed here!). It was such a profoundly different song that when I first heard Dylan's hokey honky-tonk original I was baffled. I said, "I recognize the words, but this song is terrible! What is it?!" Hawkins completely reimagines the song and she owns it. So profound is her version, she owns it!

There is nothing remotely close to that on I Am Sam. This is not so much artists "covering" the Beatles as they are singing the songs of the group. They don't interpret, they don't add their own flavor, they don't have the zest of the artist performing the song. So, for example, Eddie Vedder sings "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away" and it doesn't push his range, it does not challenge him and he does not challenge it. He keeps it safe and Beatle-esque. Song after song, it's current artists singing Beatles songs. They aren't performing them, they're just singing them. Were I that Simon guy from "American Idol," I'd likely be more succinct and say "It's pure karaoke!"

And it is. All seventeen tracks are perfectly chosen to fit the artist who sings them. So, for example, "Blackbird" sounds perfectly natural coming from Sarah McLachlan and The Black Crowes singing "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" sounds like they've been singing it forever. Honestly, if Eddie Vedder was going to sing a song by The Beatles, "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away" would have been one of the three I'd figure he would do and do well. If, that is, I was trying to match artists to a song they already sound like.

Even Heather Nova doing "We Can Work It Out" has the feel of fitting her range and ability. So, in short, I Am Sam has the songs, but it's nothing terribly new. One spin for the novelty of hearing the songs by the Beatles performed by artists you care about will likely do it for you.

The only real exception is Nick Cave singing "Let It Be." Cave does not make significant changes to the song, but he sings the song with his distinct baritone and sense of rhythm (he puts some stops in throughout the song that seem very much him). As I understand it, the European version has three additional tracks, including Cave singing George Harrison's "Here Comes The Sun." I would have liked to hear that.

But, as I said, this is a very safe album. This is Nick Cave singing "Let It Be," not "Octopus's Garden." This has Sheryl Crow singing "Mother Nature's Son," not They Might Be Giants covering "Yellow Submarine." It's a collection of safe songs performed safely by safe artists (how about a NIN - or Marliyn Manson - cover of "Revolution" or "Help!") and in that way, it's a serious disappointment. I'm not much of a fan of either NIN or Manson, but it strikes me that if one wants to hear something really covered, truly reinterpreted, you can't go with safe artists that fit the exact mold of the song you want played. And I Am Sam is all very safe pairings.

I pretty much never do this, but here's what the album consists of:
Aimee Mann and Michael Penn - "Two of Us"
Sarah McLachlan - "Blackbird"
Rufus Wainright - "Across The Universe"
The Wallflowers - "I'm Looking Through You"
Eddie Vedder - "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away"
Ben Harper - "Strawberry Fields Forever"
Sheryl Crow - "Mother Nature's Son"
Ben Folds - "Golden Slumbers"
The Vines - "I'm Only Sleeping"
Stereophonics - "Don't Let Me Down"
The Black Crowes - "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds"
Chocolate Genius - "Julia"
Heather Nova - "We Can Work It Out"
Howie Day - "Help!"
Paul Westerberg - "Nowhere Man"
Grandaddy - "Revolution"
Nick Cave - "Let It Be"

If you are obsessed with any of those artists or any of those songs, that's who and what is on this album. The truth is, if you have a favorite artist on this list, odds are there is a way to legally download an individual track to get just the artist/song you want. It's probably a better investment than buying the album. That is, unless you like unremarkable karaoke of the Beatles.

Ironically, there's not a single Beatles cover by Oasis here (Oasis is always being compared in the media to the Beatles and has done several covers of Beatles songs), but then if there had been, I've a pretty good idea what track it would have been. The best song is "Let It Be" (sorry Heather!) and the low point is "Julia." I'm going to go cleanse my palate with Dar Williams's cover of Pink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb" (from My Better Self, reviewed here!) and try to remember what it's like when an artist takes a known work and does something surprising with it.

For other soundtrack reviews, please visit my takes on:
Watchmen 2-track single
Songs In The Key Of Springfield from The Simpsons
Dead Man Walking Soundtrack

5/10

For other music reviews, please visit my Music Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2013, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Be Lonely No Longer: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

The Good: Generally excellent vocals, much imagination, Creative instrumentations
The Bad: Quality of music is inconsistent, Somewhat dated
The Basics: An overall very good album with wonderful vocals and good thematic unification, Sgt, Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band still has some serious deficiencies in a few tracks that rob it of perfection.


Someone I respect greatly has been attempting to further open up my musical appreciation by sharing discs I haven't heard with me. She's a real sweetheart, too; she knows I'll review them and if I don't tell her all of my thoughts directly, all she has to do is read them here. She's perceptive like that.

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is a weird little album that does what no artist I regularly listen to save Sophie B. Hawkins does effectively and that is to mix a wide array of sounds into a single album. Every song on this Beatles album is so different from the one that precedes and follows it. And that's a fortunate thing; if you do not like the song that's on, odds are you liked the one that you heard before or will like the one that follows it. At least that was my experience.

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is a story of a night. It's a talent show, as I interpret it. So, it opens with introducing the show in a confused jumble of music (which shares its name with the album). The sound levels are drastically uneven on the first track, it starts quite quiet and then gets quite loud following the introduction. That doesn't work so much. Then the album is a collection of pop, ("With A Little Help From My Friends" and "When I'm Sixty-Four"), ballad (She's Leaving Home), Indian influence (Within You Without You) and - for lack of a better term - show tunes (Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite).

So, it's the story of a talent show, a night in the life of people. The overriding theme is the obvious loneliness suggested in the title, but even more an undercurrent of desperation. The lonely want to belong, usually to another, sometimes to an organization. Mr. Kite wants society's approval, the narrators in "She's Leaving Home" desperately want the nest not to be emptied.

Overall, it's a nice collection of thematically unified songs with very unique sounds. And most of them work. The opening (and its reprise) has a cluttered sound to it that is distracting and while I applaud most songs that go without a traditional rhyming scheme, that attempt fails with "Being For the Benefit Of Mr. Kite."

Out of the few Beatle's albums I've heard, I have to say, I enjoy the balance of this one most. The vocals are representative of the entire group, not just John and Paul. It's a very good album, but not a perfect one. It's certainly mostly easy to listen to and it's a nice change from the garbage that permeates the radio today. The instrumental talent on this album is worth the price alone.

The best tracks are the mournful "She's Leaving Home" and the fun and funny "When I'm Sixty-Four." The weak link is clearly the annoying sound and painfully grating lyrics of "Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite."

For other classic rock artists, check out my reviews of:
The Beatles Anthology, Volume 1 - The Beatles
Bookends - Simon & Garfunkel
Sticky Fingers - The Rolling Stones

7.5/10

For other music reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2003 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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For The Serious Beatlephile Only: The Beatles Anthology - Volume 1

The Good: Interesting study on the origins of rock and roll, Rare tracks, New song
The Bad: Unity of sound, Much unoriginal content, Sound quality, Some repetition
The Basics: An example of how the origins don't always indicate the quality direction that results from a movement, The Beatles Anthology Volume 1 is tun, but only for those who truly love the Beatles.


. . . And then there were the Beatles. And it was good.

But it wasn't great. At least, that's the body of evidence presented in The Beatles Anthology Volume 1. In fact, if this album is any indication, the Fab Four came out through a lot of luck. After a string of cover songs, the Beatles start producing their own songs. It's hard now to go back and rate them because so much of our music now is based in the experiments and innovations the Beatles made. The problem with such an encompassing album of the beginnings of the band is that it makes clear that there wasn't so much innovating going on.

The Beatles Anthology Volume 1 is a collection of early Beatles songs, rare demo versions of known Beatles originals, interview clips from various people (John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Brian Epstein, etc.) about the origins of the Beatles and their early time in the spotlight. The two c.d. discs are packed with music and dialog. The only truly new song is "Free As A Bird" an engineered song of John Lennon's that's been doped up in the 90's for release on this album using the surviving Beatles as back-up singers.

The thing is, most of the songs aren't terribly great. Not the actual music, but the tracks used. On disc one, many of the songs are in Mono, not stereo. This gives the authentic sound as it was recorded, but it's frustrating to listen to on your stereo. The other thing is the actual songs. Many of the demos are enjoyable to hear because they have a raw sound and that's cool. It's always fun to hear songs you like in their very original form. But on both c.d.s, they have demo versions that have "false starts." These are tracks where the singing stops and the Beatles complain, laugh or whathave you. Basically, they're bloopers.

Outside the new track "Free As A Bird," the songs range from "That'll Be the Day" (as one of the Beatles' earliest cover songs) through "Roll Over Beethoven" on disc one to "She Loves You" to "Kansas City / Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey!" on disc two. The flow of the album is broken up by the speech clips throughout the album. Some of them are distracting. Most of them don't hold up upon repeated listenings. I mean, there are only so many times we can hear that rum and coke was a Beatles drink from the very beginning.

As well, this anthology is harder to recommend because it has the Beatles failing to do what they will do later, which is innovate! The musical differences between their cover songs ("That'll Be The Day," "Ain't She Sweet," and "Twist And Shout") and their original works ("She Loves You," "One After 909," and "I Want To Hold Your Hand") are slight. It's clear that the original works are derivative of the experiments of others. This is not a review of the Beatles in their entirety; Volume 2 illustrates their ability to innovate and their actual talent. This is not a review of Volume 2, though. So, keeping with that . . .

The nice thing is a few of the tracks are actually listenable. Beyond the new track, the version of "I Saw Her Standing There" is good and "This Boy" is even better. The set works as a nice piece to get immersed in early rock and roll. This is, after all, the beginnings of one of the great rock groups in history. The rare, demo tracks will be a pleasure to those who love the Beatles, but not much beyond those people.

The only other catch is the sound quality on some of the tracks isn't terribly wonderful, considering the source material, this is understandable.

Overall, an interesting, if repetitive and uninspired album. Strongest tracks are "You Really Got A Hold On Me" (Disc One) and "I Want To Hold Your Hand" (Disc 2) and the weakest tracks are "Brian Epstein's story" (track 14, Disc 1) and the lyrically inane "Boys" (Disc 2).

For other contemporary artists producing around the same time as The Beatles, check out my reviews of:
Forty Licks - The Rolling Stones
It Ain't Easy: The Essential Recordings - Wilson Pickett
Break Every Rule - Tina Turner

5/10

For other music reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2002 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.



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