Any Major Dude With Half A Heart

October 11 marks the 50^th anniversary of The Beatles’ first single, Love Me Do, entering the UK charts. Just seven years later, the group would, for all intents and purposes, be finished. In real money, imagine Love Me Do came out in October 2005; next April Paul will announce the break-up of the band. In that time, the group re-invented itself several times and changed pop music. After 12 years, Coldplay still sound the bloody same.

The first of the two Beatles editions of the Covered With Soul series was very well received. Here then is the second mix. Daringly, I kick it off with what I think is the weakest of the 23 tracks; it is also one of the most interesting simply because You Can’t Do That doesn’t get covered much.

Also quite fascinating is the notion of Little Richard covering I Saw Her Standing There, a song he obviously helped inspire. His recording from 1970 turns the rock & roll stomper into a Southern Soul number.

Naturally there are several covers here that give the original songs a thorough working over. Bobby Taylor gives Eleanor Rigby the sort of treatment Isaac Hayes would give Bacharach/David songs (or, indeed, Harrison’s Something, which here is brilliantly reworked by Martha Reeves and the Vandellas). Roy Redmond gives Good Day Sunshine a Southern Soul twist, while Chris Clark turns Got To Get You Into My Life — Paul’s first attempt at writing a soul song — into a Motown song.

Billy Preston was the only non-Beatle to be credited on a Beatles record (Get Back). His version of Blackbird is a highlight on this mix.

As always, the mix is timed to fit on a standard CD-R, and includes a homebrewed cover. Password (now necessary, I’m afraid) is in the comments section.

1. Diana Ross & The Supremes – You Can’t Do That (1964)
2. Al Green – I Want To Hold Your Hand (1969)
3. Little Richard – I Saw Her Standing There (1970)
4. Stevie Wonder – We Can Work It Out (1970)
5. Bobby Taylor – Eleanor Rigby (1969)
6. Junior Parker – Taxman (1971)
7. Roy Redmond – Good Day Sunshine (1967)
8. Chris Clark – Got To Get You Into My Life (1967)
9. Four Tops – The Fool On The Hill (1969)
10. Martha Reeves & The Vandellas – Something (1970)
11. Cissy Houston – The Long And Winding Road (1970)
12. The Five Stairsteps – Dear Prudence (1970)
13. The Meters – Come Together (mid-’70s)
14. The Undisputed Truth – With A Little Help From My Friends (1973)
15. Herbie Mann & Tamiko Jones – Day Tripper (1967)
16. Billy Preston – Blackbird (1972)
17. Shirley Scott & The Soul Saxes – Get Back (1969)
18. The Temptations – Hey Jude (1969)
19. Randy Crawford – Don’t Let Me Down (1976)
20. Esther Phillips – And I Love Him (1965)
21. Una Valli – Yesterday (1968)
22. Aretha Franklin – Let It Be (1970)
23. Booker T. & The MG’s – Lady Madonna (1969)

GET IT

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