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Author Topic: The Art of McCartney  (Read 4567 times)

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The Art of McCartney
« on: November 16, 2014, 02:37:39 pm »

Ok...just noticed a new Various Artist compilation of McCartney tunes. Here's the playlist:

CD1
01. Billy Joel û Maybe IÆm Amazed [5:06]
02. Bob Dylan û Things We Said Today [3:02]
03. Heart û Band On The Run [5:15]
04. Steve Miller û JuniorÆs Farm [4:18]
05. Yusuf/Cat Stevens û The Long and Winding Road [3:31]
06. Harry Connick Jr. û My Love [4:06]
07. Brian Wilson û Wanderlust [4:17]
08. Corinne Bailey Rae û Bluebird [3:24]
09. Willie Nelson û Yesterday [3:02]
10. Jeff Lynne û Junk [2:13]
11. Barry Gibb û When IÆm 64 [2:41]
12. Jamie Cullum û Every Night [2:58]
13. Kiss û Venus and Mars/ Rock Show [6:40]
14. Paul Rodgers û Let Me Roll It [4:32]
15. Roger Daltrey û Helter Skelter [4:02]
16. Def Leppard û Helen Wheels [3:51]
17. The Cure (feat. James McCartney) û Hello Goodbye [4:02]

CD2
01. Billy Joel û Live And Let Die [3:09]
02. Chrissie Hynde û Let It Be [3:49]
03. Robin Zander & Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick û Jet [4:12]
04. Joe Elliott û Hi Hi Hi [3:11]
05. Heart û Letting Go [3:59]
06. Steve Miller û Hey Jude [5:14]
07. Owl City û Listen To What The Man Said [3:37]
08. Perry Farrell û Got To Get You Into My Life [2:42]
09. Dion û Drive My Car [2:52]
10. Allen Toussaint û Lady Madonna [2:15]
11. Dr. John û Let æEm In [5:13]
12. Smokey Robinson û So Bad [3:20]
13. The Airborne Toxic Event û No More Lonely Nights [3:36]
14. Alice Cooper û Eleanor Rigby [2:08]
15. Toots Hibbert with Sly & Robbie û Come And Get It [2:22]
16. B.B. King û On The Way [3:20]

Smokey doing So Bad is awesome...like it was made for  him or something. :)

BB doing On The Way is brilliant too.

Hearts Letting Go is wow...just wow. :)

Still listening to other stuff...will let you know. :)
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Re: The Art of McCartney
« Reply #1 on: November 16, 2014, 02:45:46 pm »

The 2 Rogers do a great job too. Kind of  cool to hear Daltrey singing Helter Skelter since...I mean...I think Paul wrote that trying to do a louder song than the WHo didn't he?
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Mervap

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Re: The Art of McCartney
« Reply #2 on: November 16, 2014, 03:32:07 pm »

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If love is blind, how will it ever find a way?

kylenz

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Re: The Art of McCartney
« Reply #3 on: November 17, 2014, 01:23:31 am »

Steaming here:

http://show.co/1BRuLgX

Listening so far, I think it's horrible! Billy Joel is completely butchering Maybe I'm Amazed. Hollering out of tune. Hope it gets better than this..
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Re: The Art of McCartney
« Reply #4 on: November 17, 2014, 08:16:26 am »

Kyle....that's the first song on a double cd. ;)

Merv pointed out to me last night that the backing bad is.....Paul's backing band. All we're missing is..Paul  ;D
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kylenz

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Re: The Art of McCartney
« Reply #5 on: November 18, 2014, 03:03:22 am »

Listening to it all now, I'm still cringing at how awful it is. The artists in general are vocally all past their prime and are nowhere near up to the mark when compared to Macca's original vocals. The backing tracks are also rather suspect in places, especially the drumming and lack of guitar parts. Take Steve Miller's 'Junior's Farm' for example, it's like all the great little guitar licks that made the original so great are completely absent.

Generally, in doing these cover versions, in order to 'make it their own', the vocalists will phrase the lyrics completely differently and it just sounds horrible compared to the original, and it's made worse by having the backing band sound like a pale karaoke version of the original track. In many cases, they've had to lower the key because the vocalists were unable to cut it. Barry Gibb doing 'When I'm 64' sounded ridiculous. Smokey Robinson in theory should've slayed 'So Bad', but it was a HORRIBLE vocal. Just makes you appreciate Macca even more for the vocals he has put on record. Heck, head-to-head, he can out-soulify Smokey with ease!

There were some that weren't so bad however. Jeff Lynne did a respectable (if note-for-note) rendering of 'Junk'. Brian Wilson didn't mess up 'Wanderlust' (I expected that to be horrible.. maybe they autotuned him like they did with that BBC tribute to 'God Only Knows'). 'Rock Show' was always a natural song for KISS to tackle - but it is surprisingly tame and lacks the teeth of an actual KISS song. Even the Wings version rocks way harder. Heart doing 'Letting Go' was really great. There was a genuine fire and energy going on. But still.. was it as good as the original? No.

The Cure doing 'Hello Goodbye' was quite cool, and it's great to have James McCartney there amongst it.

But overall, this fell way short of the mark for me. Established artists doing a stab at various songs and not even coming close to the originals. The production even sounded muddy (especially the drums) compared to the original recordings recorded some 30, 40 years before. These same artists would be better off trying to write their own hit material once again, but you know their time has probably long passed. It's a bit sad that instead of writing and singing new hits to conquer the charts, they're reduced to singing inferior cover versions of Macca/Beatle classics.

Listen to those horrible canned horns on Perry Farrell's 'Got to Get You Into My Life' - it's like it's been lifted from a 30-year-old Casiotone. I mean, c'mon, this is the lead singer of Jane's Addiction we are talkin' about here! Would Jane's Addiction ever resort to using a sound like that on their records? Hell no! They'd probably replace it with some fired-up searing guitars instead - or some REAL horns!! Why couldn't they use real horns, for Pete's sake? It really is a disservice to the original Revolver version to do that. An insult to the Beatles legacy actually.

For me, the best covers album of Macca songs is still 'Listen to What the Man Said' by miles. Sloan doing 'Waterfalls' - now THAT'S how a cover version should be done! Covering 'Maybe I'm Amazed'? The Virgos version showed 'em how it should be done - don't holler off-key and also in a lower key like Billy Joel had to do - get a true groovy hard rock singer oozing with freshness and class and get a band behind you with swag, that actually IMPROVES on the original. I feel that the Virgos version of 'Maybe I'm Amazed' is one of those few covers that really does send one of the greatest songs ever written, into a whole new ballpark- a whole new stratosphere.

Do any of these tried-and-true artists on 'The Art Of McCartney' have the same level of hunger? I reckon that's what's missing. Hunger. 
« Last Edit: November 18, 2014, 03:12:05 am by kylenz »
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Re: The Art of McCartney
« Reply #6 on: November 18, 2014, 08:20:31 am »

Quote
Just makes you appreciate Macca even more for the vocals he has put on record.

That's interesting...because I said the exact same thing to Lampie last night. I will cut these singers a lot of slack though, because we don't get to hear their version at THEIR vocal peaks. I quite liked hearing Smokey's version....I mean....he would have slayed if for sure if he was 24 instead of 74...same with all the rest. Even Paul Rogers(one of my favourite singers) had a squeak and a toot in his vocals. But that didn't bother too much.

Quote
made worse by having the backing band sound like a pale karaoke version of the original track.

Now. This being Pauls band on this record begs the question. Is Paul doing Paul Karaoke of his own songs? Would we all be happy if Paul pulled a Sting and changed the arrangements of his tunes? I would actually...I quite liked his unplugged stuff.  :)

You're right though...hearing this really makes you appreciate how amazing a vocalist Paul has been over his career.  8)
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kylenz

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Re: The Art of McCartney
« Reply #7 on: November 18, 2014, 11:42:56 pm »

It's an interesting point that.. and it comes down to context.

Having now seen Paul play live with his band, I think it definitely gels and works well in a live situation, it doesn't feel too karaoke. But hearing them work with other singers on a record, the dynamism just isn't there for some reason.

Take Heart's 'Band on the Run' for instance. They didn't do anything wrong. But Wix's keyboards stick out like a bad smell. The original 1973 recording has that genuine Mini Moog magic going on - the sound is iconic. But when it's reduced to a cheesy sound that could've come from a kid's toy organ, they really should listen and critically assess what they're doing. It might be passable on a one-off live performance, but committing it to record and you're competing with the sound of a 1973 Moog, then those cheesy keyboard presets just won't cut it!
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Re: The Art of McCartney
« Reply #8 on: November 19, 2014, 12:02:13 am »

I'm wondering if they did just lay down the backing tracks for the singers...at least for some of them. I agree with you actually...some of the songs were sort of...what was the point? I do find quite a lot to like about a lot of it. Not enough to actually buy it though. I mean...I'd never listen to it. But...it's fun the talk about don't you think? :)
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kylenz

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Re: The Art of McCartney
« Reply #9 on: November 19, 2014, 03:37:08 am »

Oh definitely! Nothing beats a discussion like this! It brings such a wide spread of opinions.

Paul Rodgers does a great job of 'Let Me Roll It' by the way. There's something not quite tight enough about the drumming though - Abe once again. I reckon Macca's drumming on the original STILL can't be beaten!
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Re: The Art of McCartney
« Reply #10 on: November 19, 2014, 01:44:40 pm »

This is cool....isolated vocal of Paul doing So Bad.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzkhjgPaVEk
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kylenz

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Re: The Art of McCartney
« Reply #11 on: November 20, 2014, 03:45:21 am »

This is cool....isolated vocal of Paul doing So Bad.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzkhjgPaVEk

Wow, that was a top vocal - and no autotune!

It was great to listen closer to the bassline too. One of my favourite songs on Pipes of Peace. Side 1 seemed to have all the great tracks (Keep Under Cover, So Bad, Say Say Say).

Now.. I wonder what Smokey's isolated vocal sounds like in comparison on 'The Art..'?  :-X
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Re: The Art of McCartney
« Reply #12 on: November 20, 2014, 07:46:13 am »

How about...I wonder how paul sings it now?  ;)

Here's smokey early 80's. Put that voice on So Bad and see what happens :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hIVee_-2u4
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kylenz

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Re: The Art of McCartney
« Reply #13 on: November 21, 2014, 10:51:30 pm »

How about...I wonder how paul sings it now?  ;)

Here's smokey early 80's. Put that voice on So Bad and see what happens :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hIVee_-2u4

Oh yeah, that era of Smokey was really cool, circa 1981! Those songs 'Being With You' and 'Cruisin' - right up there with his best I reckon.

You're right, how would Macca fare doing So Bad in 2014? Probably about on a par with Smokey 2014! Oh well..  :-X

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Re: The Art of McCartney
« Reply #14 on: November 21, 2014, 10:54:10 pm »

Actually, Paul's falsetto is pretty strong. I'm surprised he isn't doing it. :)
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