Snow Pink... that's really bad! There really isn't a whole lot out there for this song, for sure. It was a true piece of filler for Lennon & McCartney...so much so that it was written with Ringo in mind. He got a different song to sing for this album, so John & Paul did it. Pure rock and roll...sounds like it took about 2 minutes to write. Not their best work, by a long shot.
So, have to go with the first repeat band here. The Smithereens did a bang up job in covering The Beatles, and they did a respectable version on one of their two tribute albums, Meet The Smithereens from 2007. (The other option was Wreckless Eric...almost as bad as Snow Pink)
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Album: With The Beatles
Track 6: Till There Was You
Just maybe the most not rock song The Beatles ever recorded. This was written by Meredith Wilson in 1957 for the musical The Music Man, although earlier versions called "Till I Met You" date back to 1950. This was recorded many times, including versions by Anita Bryant and future Partridge Family matriarch Shirley Jones. But after The Beatles version in 1963, it has been recorded very sparingly.
This was a Paul vocal, and it suits his voice very well. And he does a nice job on it. Somehow, the band pulls it off. One of their better cover songs, actually. So where do we go with this? Listmeister pretty much got it right by selecting Marvin Gaye & Kim Weston. See below!
Listmeister wrote:
'Til There Was You' is a tough one. It's a standard from a musical, so a lot of people have covered it, but, apparently, none of my favorite voices.
Album: With The Beatles
Track 7: Please Mr. Postman
Continuing with the Beatles love for early Motown girl groups..."Please Mr. Postman" was the first Motown number one hit on the pop charts, and the version by The Marvelettes is, by far, the best one. Alas, it was released in 1961, well before The Beatles did theirs with John on lead vocal. The Marvelettes version was HOW awesome? The drummer is Marvin Gaye, that's how awesome it was.
Unfortunately, since The Beatles' version, there have been no truly great versions of this song...at least nothing of the quality of what The Marvelettes did. Which leaves us with this poppy, and pretty much uninspired version by The Carpenters from 1975. You can find it here:
I love this idea. So interesting. I think it's awesome. Your choices are pretty excellent. Especially appreciate your choices of Herb Alpert and Blondie and Smith. The only ones I would change are.
I Saw Her Standing There...Maggie Bell (1975) ( But DEFINITELY NOT Tiffany. Lol.)
Twist and Shout.... Isley Brothers
There's also this Supremes version of I saw her standing there, which is most interesting for the fact that Florence Ballard sings lead instead of Diana Ross.
Album: With The Beatles
Track 8: Roll Over Beethoven
The Beatles covered Chuck Berry's classic for a very simple reason: they loved rock and roll, and nothing said rock and roll quite like Roll Over Beethoven. It's rock, and it's classic. This was the early George Harrison feature, and it made sense that they covered the song. It also made sense that everyone else in the world covered it, because it is the epitome of what early rock and roll was all about.
But nobody covered this song with as much reverence, gusto, and dedication as Electric Light Orchestra did in 1973. Some people point to the later works of this band and call it their greatest period. No. ELO was at their best when they were actually striving to combine rock and roll with classical instrumentation. The late period, synthesizer driven and, frankly, lazy period of ELO is inferior. The early days of ELO were the best. And, although it's not their most pop or accessible album, ELO II is home to songs that really show what Jeff Lynne was trying to accomplish with the band the most. Songs like "Mama" and "Kuiama" are masterful. But it's this song..."Roll Over Beethoven"... (the ONLY song the band ever recorded for a studio album that was not written by Lynne or Roy Wood)...that gives us the TRUE picture of what Electric Light Orchestra was REALLY supposed to be about. The Beatles added 25 seconds to Berry's time. ELO added almost six minutes. And this may be, for the sake of understanding what ELO was meant to be, their greatest track, and the one that was central to their entire career.
And so...I give you the greatest FM radio dinosaur of them all. "Roll Over Beethoven" by Electric Light Orchestra. You can find it here:
Note: The early compilation, OLE ELO, was excellent...until they released a later version with this song cut down to an AM radio friendly single...a horrible hatchet job.
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'Fore the devil knows we're dead...
The Beach Boys did a pretty good version of Roll Over Beethoven (1976), worth checking out, but, yeah, the Electric Light Orchestra blew them away with this version. ELO's version is my favorite, it goes without saying.
This is going to get a lot more fun, once we get past the Beatles doing the covering. Meanwhile, enjoy this one:
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