Mark and Des have been writing for a living their whole careers.
The Without the Beatles Blog is where you can - for a time -
read all their whispered words of wisdom for free.
And don’t forget to comment if you think they’re just fools on the hill.
And if you want to read non-Beatles
reviews and thoughts:
Top 10 Beatles covers. Controversial.
By Mark Hooper
The Beatles are the most covered act in history – but who did it best?
Before we get down to angering the purists, we need to set a few ground rules. It’s no good just faithfully reproducing a Beatles tune as close as you can to the recorded version – to get into our entirely subjective, not at all definitive Top Ten, chief among our criteria is that you need to make the song your own.
That rules out a few great versions – Paul Weller’s Sexy Sadie from the mid 90s or The Cure’s Hello, Goodbye (complete with James McCartney on backing vocals) for a start, not to mention countless performances of Come Together. Amazingly, Frank Zappa similarly dropped the ball by delivering a note-perfect rendition of I Am the Walrus when everyone expected him to take it into hyperspace. Also – if we’re allowing solo material – it also disqualifies The Faces’ brilliant, turned-up-to-11 version of Maybe I’m Amazed.
Here, then, are 10 versions that add something new to the mix…
But, before that – a quick disclaimer. By all rights, Joe Cocker’s With A Little Help From My Friends should tick all the boxes and cruise into number one spot, but it’s become so ubiquitous, it’s immediately disqualified. My blog, my rules.
1. Dear Prudence – Siouxsie & The Banshees
https://youtu.be/M6rrTROoZIw?si=Y6O4DZ7I3ayT2VRD
Like The Cure, Siouxsie always had great basslines, so it makes sense to give their take of one of the best basslines ever written. But they run with it, with Siouxsie Sioux’s ethereal, multi-tracked vocals and a swirling, flange-heavy production, complete with jangly guitar, plucked synth strings and a subtle harpsicord line. You can almost smell the patchouli.
I started a BS Beatles’ rumour
By Des Burkinshaw
Thirty years ago, in November 1994, I was at an interesting point in my career as a journalist.
My day job was on the Hackney Gazette, covering news and all things local. But I had been doing shifts at the Daily Mirror for over a year, ever since one of my stories went national. I had one of the first Back to Basics scandals that rocked John Major’s government, so I had been headhunted.
I’d always intended to be a political journalist, but landed at the Mirror on the pop page, working for the wonderful eccentric Rick Sky. I was immediately seduced by the showbiz stuff. I’m a musician myself, and suddenly, having access to as many free tickets/CDs/parties as I could handle (a lot), I went to the dark side. I still had 3 years on the newsdesk at The Times lying in wait, my last print attempt to be serious before defecting to TV, but for now, I found myself in the epicentre of the media just as Britpop kicked off. Oasis’ record label, Creation, was in Hackney. I had a front-row seat for all that.
