There comes a time in your fandom for certain bands where the real thing isn't always enough. In my case, as much as I love the Beatles, I nearly equally love tracking down all of the loads of bands that ripped them off and/or took guidance from the fellas themselves (Badfinger, Mary Hopkin, Jackie Lomax). I thought I'd make a mix of some of the best of these for a friend of mine and here's the track listing. This also makes me think that a Wannabeachboys (Cryan Shames, Tony Rivers, Mark Eric) or Wannabyrds (The Choir, R.E.M., New Colony Six) mix could be in the works, too. I also realize that there are a ton of exemptions on this mix. No Rutles? "Cheese and Onions" is a great tune for sure. The Fourmost? Dave Clark Five? The Idle Race/ELO? Let me know who else you'd think belongs. For now ... meet the Wannabeatles Pt. 1 (I'll post Pt. 2 ASAP).
"Here I Go Again" - The Spongetones (from "Beat Music", 1982)
This North Carolina band sounds so much like the early Beatles that I wish THEY could have been commissioned to handle the music on that "Backbeat" movie from the early '90s. Woof, that was brutal. Dulli as Lennon? PIRNER as Macca? Absurd. Anyway, although it might've behooved the Spongetones to take some sartorial cues from the Fabs as well (as great as the Spongetones are, they sort of look like hockey players from the early 80s on their album covers -- see Maruk, Dennis/Gartner, Mike), the music here cannot be denied. No bones are to be made that "A Hard Day's Night" and "Meet The Beatles" are the template here, but the songwriting on "Beat Music" is great and keeps the band from drifting into tribute turf. The band's records are a bit scarce, but there's a compilation CD called Beat & Torn that has all you need if you can track it down.
Everything's Alright - The Aerovons (from "Resurrection", 1969/2003)
A completely overlooked back from the late 60s, The Aerovons were a group of kids from St. Louis that took the Beatles fixation that thousands of other bands their age shared and took it much, much further. On the strength of a demo tape, EMI signed the band and brought them over to Abbey Road to record, where they met George. "Everything's Alright" is a peppy number in the vein of a "Getting Better" or "Penny Lane," and is one of the many excellent songs on the "Resurrection" CD that RPM released in 2003. Despite the band's deal with EMI, nothing was released aside from a pair of singles that both stiffed, so it was years before anyone really had a chance to listen to how great some of this band's output really was.
I Just Want to Touch You - Utopia (from "Deface The Music", 1980)
As much as I love Todd Rundgren, I had never really dipped into the Utopia catalog, the band he put together around '73/'74 following his massive solo success in the early 70s, until recently. His first three solo records (Runt, The Ballad Of Todd Rundgren, Something/Anything) are firmly ensconced in my musical DNA. When I realized that one of the Utopia albums, 1980's "Deface The Music" was an homage to the Beatles, I checked it out and "I Just Want To Touch You" is one of the best of the batch. But the entire album is a really deft tribute to the Beatles and goes through a variety of the band's styles -- though the early records and the psych-pop of Sgt. Pepper/Magical Mystery Tour get most of the attention from Rundgren.
Goodbye John Frost - Pete Ham (from "Golders Green," 1999)
Pete Ham is one of rock's great, though unsung, tragic figures, as has well been covered. His band, Badfinger, is oft-cited as one of the prime examples of a band that got hit with all of the industry bullshit and suffered for it. As much as the Beatles put Badfinger on the map, they also anchored them firmly in their shadow, despite Badfinger's relatively massive success (4 singles in Billboard's top 15 over a span of four years, not to mention the enduring success of their album cut, "Without You," which was very successfully covered by the likes of Nilsson and Mariah Carey, amongst others). Following the collapse of the band under the weight of unrealized expectations and bad management, Ham took his own life in 1975. He left behind a number of demos, which were assembled on a pair of CDs, "7 Park Avenue" and "Golders Green," Several of the songs demoed wound up on Badfinger records and some of the songs were discarded. One of the latter, "Goodbye John Frost" is a jaunty, piano-driven tune that clocks in at just under 2 minutes and certainly would've fit in fine on any of the band's early Apple output. Great singing and a great hook. Like many before me, I can only wonder at the great records that Ham had in front of him.
Goodbye - Mary Hopkin (from the "Goodbye" single, 1969)
Another member of the Apple Records gang, Mary Hopkin was a young Welsh singer that McCartney took under his aegis. Producing her debut single, "Those Were The Days" and her debut album, "Postcard," McCartney also wrote and produced her second single, the great "Goodbye."
I Dreamed I Was A Beatle - Murray Kellum (from the "I Dreamed I Was a Beatle" 7", 1964)
There were scads of tunes that cropped up in the wake of Beatlemania that sang the praises of the Fabs. "I Dreamed I Was a Beatle" is one of my favorites Beatlesploitation numbers. Unlike most of the tributes, it's actually a good song and Kellum (otherwise best known for his hit, "Long Tall Texan" -- which was covered by the Beach Boys) turns in a lyric that is about the most Wannabeatle there is. This can also be found on the entertaining compilation, "Beatlemaniacs!!!," which puts together a thorough compilation of Beatlesploitation tunes.
Somebody Made For Me - Emitt Rhodes (from the "Emitt Rhodes" LP, 1970)
Following the dissolution of his band, The Merry Go Round, Emitt Rhodes headed into the garage and churned out a series of classic albums that presaged the DIY/lo-fi boom of the 80s and 90s. Despite its humble recording environs, Rhodes (who played eery instrument on the record himself) makes a regal and well-crafted batch of songs, particularly on his 1970 debut. "Somebody Made For Me" is my favorite from this record and would've fit in on Macca's solo debut from the same year, if Paul was looking to do a more concise pop thing at that point.
I Want You Mine - Sex Clark Five (from the "Strum & Drum" LP, 1987)
They may sound like a Merseybeat band, but they're really an 80s band from Alabama, strangely enough. Their album, "Strum & Drum" is a great collection of pop classics. This one's my favorite and I first heard it on one of the "Teenline" comps that Hyped To Death puts out. Their cover of The Byrds/Gene Clark's "She Don't Care About Time" inspired me to do one of my own.
Together Forever - We All Together (from the "We All Together 2" LP, 1974)
Oh well, another Peruvian psych-pop Beatles rip-off band. We all know the world doesn't need another one of those (after all, who can forget ... um, We All Together?). We All Together took their tomfoolery to pretty extreme levels (with their nearly note-for-note -- and exquisite -- covers of Macca solo tunes like "Tomorrow," "Bluebird," "Some People Never Know" and others), though it also displays their great taste in cover choices. Here, they merely rework "I Will" into another sorta treacly ballad (though, use of the word "treacly" is no dis, as "I Will" was the processional at my wedding) with nearly equally great results. Track down either of the two records that have been reissued ("We All Together" or "We All Together 2") or, possibly easier to find, a compilation called "Singles." Neck and neck with Emitt Rhodes for King of the Wannabeatles, you need to hear We All Together if you haven't already.
This Kind of Feeling - The Last (from the "L.A. Explosion" LP, 1979)
Generally lumped in with the punk boom in L.A. in the late 70s, The Last quite frequently just sounded like a Merseybeat band, especially on songs like "This Kind Of Feeling." The production hovers in this weird world where it doesn't sound grimy enough to be from the 60s, but also lacks the dated touch of most recordings that were contemporary to it. While other bands from this era (The Nerves, The Plimsouls, The Knack) might have had elements of the Beatles in the mix, The Last really had it best, what with great songs like this one, "Bombing Of London," "She Don't Know Why I'm Here" and others from the L.A. Explosion album.
Tip Of My Tongue - Tommy Quickly (from the "Tip Of My Tongue" 7", 1963)
One of the many songs that Lennon & McCartney wrote in their early days but never got around to issuing recordings of, "Tip Of My Tongue" wound up in the hands of Tommy Quickly (part of Brian Epstein's Liverpool NEMS posse). A peppy, sort of dippy, lightweight rocker (the sort of which inspired the existence of the Rutles), it's still a great pop song and one of the hidden gems in the pair's vast songwriting catalog.
One And One Is Two - The Badbeats (from the "One And One Is Two" 7", 1979)
Here's another song that Lennon & McCartney wrote but didn't officially release, this one is interesting in that it's done by The Badbeats, a band out of Long Island from the late 70s whose two singles consist solely of covers (one was "Tip Of My Tongue"/"One And One Is Two," both Lennon/McCartney compositions, and the other was The Zombies' "Tell Her No" and the Knickerbockers' "Lies"). The band did put together an album, Here Are The Badbeats, but it never came out. What keeps this single interesting, aside from the quality of the songs they were covering, was the performance. Authentic, in a sense, but also still with a whiff of the punk energy that was bristling throughout music at the time. Perhaps a little too reverent, yes, but this first Badbeats single is still a great one and full of vigor, while "One and One Is Two" itself is another lost Beatles classic.
(more to come...)
