Alan's Album Archives: News, Views and Music Issue 83 (Top Five) Weird AAA Cover Versions

In-depth reviews of classic or neglected albums, mainly from the 1960s and 70s, now a 30 volume e-book series.Artists covered include Beach Boys, Beatles,Byrds, CSNY, Dire Straits, Grateful Dead, Hollies, Jefferson Airplane/Starship, Kinks, Monkees, Moody Blues, Pink Floyd, Rolling Stones, Searchers, Simon and Garfunkel, Small Faces, 10cc, The Who+Neil Young.Sister site to https://kindredspiritbooks.blogspot.com/ (scifi novels) and https://alonsyaliensdrwho.blogspot.com/ (Dr Who episode reviews)

Monday, 13 December 2010

News, Views and Music Issue 83 (Top Five) Weird AAA Cover Versions

♫ In the annals of the Alan’s Archive member groups there are some truly weird and wonderful sounds. We’ve already covered most of these elsewhere on the site in our psychedelia and experimental sections (take a bow John Lennon sound collages, Brian Wilson chopping up wood for a Beach Boys backing track and Pink Floyd songs about roadies cooking breakfast!), but this week we’re looking at the more mainstream oddities, pieces of music so clearly identified with another artist or another era so completely you wonder how on earth they ever got suggested in the first place:

5) Paul McCartney and Wings “Crossroads” (from ‘Venus and Mars’, 1976): For instance, what on earth possessed the ex-Beatle to re-record a minute long theme from a soap opera by the prolific Tony Hatch on an album that was intended to be Macca’s ‘big’ return to the spotlight following the success of ‘Band On The Run’? Well, officially its meant to be a bit of a pun, hidden away at the end of the album a la ‘Her Majesty’ on the Beatles’ ‘Abbey Road’ and following a track called ‘Lonely Old People’ (because, thought Macca, lonely old people liked to watch ‘Crossroads’ and sat in front of the telly to take away the pain of being old if you listen to the lyrics of the song – I wonder how Macca feels about it now that he’s 68?!) Yep, I can just imagine how that band meeting went: ‘So, guys, I love the heavy adult feel of this album but it would be great if we could end it with a snatch of a soap opera tune that only people of a certain age will recognise in years to come...’

4) Neil Young “Oh! Lonesome Me!” (from ‘After The Goldrush’, 1970): I actually really like this cover, which is usually held up by critics and fans to be the one mistake on Neil’s ‘breakthrough’ LP. But it is truly truly weird – this happy poppy country song, overplayed from millions of cover versions by Johnny Cash and Nancy Sinatra among others, is slowed down to a crawl with Neil’s mouthorgan overpowering us with emotion after practically every line. But the sentiments of the song – how the narrator’s girl is out having fun after they split but all he can do is think about her and mope – is far more in keeping with Neil’s revisitation than the faux optimism of the original and most covers. The restrictive and bare-bones accompaniment put the emphasis on Neil’s vocal rather than his guitar or piano playing for perhaps the only time in his prolific career and it’s one of his best, full of pathos and barely concealed hurt. Despite being at the peak of his career in sales terms, Neil was deeply unhappy in this period, splitting from his first wife shortly before the ‘Goldrush’ sessions and no song sums up his lost dazed state more than this quietly impressive cover.

3) Ray Davies “That Old Black Magic” (from ‘The Storyteller’, 1998): When the elder Kinks brother started touring a part-monologue, part-musical show based around his ‘unofficial autobiography’ X-Ray (alright, I’ll use that joke just one last time!) fans were expecting lots of unusual developments. They got them too – songs about Ray’s childhood worries of becoming disabled following a football accident, songs about Ray’s first hopeless attempts at chatting up the girls at his art school and most movingly a song about an early fan who kept cropping up at early gigs. But the biggest surprise was this revival of a hoary old mainstream classic, remembered from Ray’s childhood as a song his sisters would play regularly on the radio and delivered pretty much straight (well, until the innuendo at the end of the song anyway). The shock of hearing one of rock’s biggest rebels and outsiders treating song from the era before his birth with such awe makes for the most bizarre experiences in Kinks record collecting, give or take a ‘phenomenal cat’ or two.

2) Hollies “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah” (an outtake from ‘The Hollies’ sessions 1965, first issues on a music for pleasure compilation also titled ‘The Hollies’ from 1984 and currently available on ‘The Hollies At Abbey Road Volume One’): An outtake from the album reviewed above, this is also one of the strangest experiences a collector can have. A classic Disney song from the now sadly forgotten part-animation part-live action film ‘Song Of The South’, the Hollies dispense with the laidback arrangement of the original in favour of a raucous and rocky reading of a bright and bubbly song perfectly in keeping with The Hollies of 1963 and 1964 (although it just sounds wrong when heard amongst their more troubled 1965 recordings). In their early days The Hollies were energy and enthusiasm set against The Beatles’ professionalism, The Searchers’ primitivism and The Stones’ air of uncaring naughtiness and so whilst ‘Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah’ would be a mistake in anybody else’s hands it suits The Hollies just fine and you can almost see those bluebirds on your shoulder when you play it (quit chirping so loud, guys, I’m trying to listen!)

1) Byrds “We’ll Meet Again” (from ‘Mr Tambourine Man’, 1965): The weirdest AAA cover of all, though, has to be the famous Vera Lynn war anthem heard re-done in a folk rock format in a surprisingly reverential version by the early Byrds. All of the first few Byrds albums end with some weird musical statement (follow-up ‘Turn!Turn!Turn!’ ends with a banjo-led ‘Oh! Susannah!’(!)) but this one takes the biscuit – Vera Lynn is replaced by an earnest sounding Roger McGuinn and a barely-keeping-off-the-hysterics David Crosby who treat the song to some typical Byrds-ish Rickenbacker guitar and some, erm, interesting American pronounciations of the words (‘till we meet again some sunny day-e-ay, yay yay yay’). It’s been said, though, that this version of the song is less about seeing sweethearts after the patriotic World War Two than seeing sweethearts after draft-dodging the rather less patriotic and more confused moral ground of Vietnam, a war just beginning to make the headlines when the band recorded this. If the 1960s were a renunciation of everything the previous war-focussed generation had been through (as some of this website has been arguing), then this faithful adaptation is a true oddity, a song originally bought by the parents of the teenyboppers who bought the early Byrds albums and meaning something quite different to both generations, an astonishing time capsule of changing eras and beliefs. Although, having said that, McGuinn for one has said he just considered ‘We’ll Meet Again’ to be a ‘good tune’.

Well, that’s it for another issue. I’m not sure what’s happening next week but if we are free we shall be bringing you what will be our third Christmas special, looking at the best releases of the year. See you then!

A NOW COMPLETE List Of Top Five/Top Ten/TOP TWENTY Entries 2008-2019

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147) AAA Songs Featuring Whistling (News, Views and Music Issue 1...

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148) The Session Musicians Who've Played On The Most AAA Albums (...

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149) Top 10 Silliest AAA Album Titles (News, Views and Music Issu...

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150) A Short Guide To 10 AAA Spin-Off Bands (News, Views and Musi...

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151) Martin Kitcher "The ATOS Song (You're Not Fit To Live)"

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152) AAA Songs (More Or Less) Exclusive To Film Soundtracks (News...

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153) AAA Alcohilic-hic! Songs (Top 10 News, Views and Music 164)

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156) AAA Songs About Carlisle (News, Views and Music Top Five Iss...

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157) AAA Songs About Children Being Born (News, Views and Music I...

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158) The Best AAA Outtakes (News, Views and Music Issue 168)

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169) The Last 10 AAA Songs Listed Alphabetically http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/the-last-10-aaa-songs-listed.html%20%0d170

170) Tributes To The 10 AAA Stars Who Died The Youngest http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/the-10-youngest-aaa-stars-at-time-of.html%20%0d171

171) The 10 Best Songs From The Psychedelia Box-Sets ‘Nuggets’ and ‘Nuggets Two’ http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/the-best-of-two-nuggets-psychedelia.html%20%0d172

172) The 20 Most Common Girl’s Names In AAA Song Titles (With Definitions) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/girls-names-in-aaa-song-titles-from.html

17 3) NME/Melody Maker Questionairres Filled Out By AAA Bands http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/nmemelody-maker-questionairres-filled.html

174) Top Ten AAA Bootlegs http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/top-10-aaa-bootlegs-news-views-and.html

175) Days Of The Week AAA Style http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/days-of-week-aaa-style-news-views-and.html

176) AAA Musicals http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/aaa-musicals-news-views-and-music-issue.html

177) Interesting AAA Line-Ups That Were Or Nearly Were http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/ten-interesting-aaa-line-ups-that-were.html

178) The 101 Greatest AAA Songs Of All Time (Maybe?!) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/the-greatest-101-aaa-songs-well-ish-see.html

179) Mrs Thatcher Meets The Devil http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/mrs-thatcher-meets-devil-plus-intro-for.html

180) First Recordings By Future AAA Stars http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/first-

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181) The Ten Oldest AAA Songs http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/the-ten-oldest-aaa-songs-news-views-and.html

182) AAA Artists (Books Of Paintings) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/aaa-artists-books-of-paintings-news.html

183) AAA Appearances on TV Show 'Colour Me Pop' http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/aaa-appearances-on-colour-me-pop-tv.html

184) AAA Years In Song http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/aaa-years-in-song-news-views-and-music.html

185) A Tribute To Storm Thorgerson Via The Five AAA Bands He Worked With http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/a-tribute-to-hipgnosis-via-five-aaa.html

186) Five Top AAA Apps http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/top-five-aaa-apps-news-views-and-music.html

187) The Ultimate Grateful Dead Concert Setlist http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/the-ultimate-grateful-dead-concert-top.html

188) Surprise! Celebrating 300 Album Reviews With The Biggest 'Surprises' Of The Past Five Years Of Alan's Album Archives! http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/celebrating-300-album-reviews-10.html

189) Top Ten Dave Davies Songs http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/top-ten-dave-davies-songs-news-views.html

190) Comparatively Obscure First Compositions By AAA Stars http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/comparatively-obscure-debut.html

191) Famous AAA Fathers: http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/famous-aaa-fathers-news-views-and-music.html

192) The Best Five AAA Re-Issue CD Series http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/the-best-five-aaa-re-issues-series-news.html

193) Evolution Of A Band: Comparing First Lyric With Last Lyric: http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/evolution-of-band-comparing-1st-lyric.html

194) Ten Of The Best AAA Riffs http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/ten-of-best-aaa-riffs-news-views-and.html

195) Twenty AAA Milestone Moments Part One 1956-66 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/twenty-aaa-milestone-events-part-one.html

196) Twenty AAA Milestone Moments Part Two 1967-80 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/twenty-aaa-milestone-events-part-two.html

197) Eleven Random Recent Purchases http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/eleven-random-recent-purchases.html

198) Five AAA Outcasts Who Know More Than They Let Onhttp://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/five-aaa-outcast-characters-who-know.html

199) That's Why They Call It The (Top Ten) Blues! http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/thats-why-they-call-it-bluesaaa-top-ten.html

200) The Monkees In Relation To Postmodernism (University Dissertation) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/university-dissertation-monkees-in.html

201) The Music Never Stopped: AAA Youtube Video #5 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/the-music-never-stopped-alans-album.html

202) Carly Simon's 'You're So Vain': Was It About One Of The AAA Crew? http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/carly-simons-youre-so-vain-was-it-about.html

203) Ten AAA Stars In Further Education http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/aaa-stars-in-further-education-top-five.html

204) AAA Dramas and Plays http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/aaa-dramas-and-plays-news-views-and.html

205) Abandoned AAA Album Covers http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/abandoned-aaa-album-covers-top-ten-news.html

206) Chinese Horoscopes AAA Style http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/chinese-horoscopes-aaa-style-top-twelve.html

207) Top Ten Songs The Beatles 'Gave Away' http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/top-ten-songs-beatles-gave-away-news.html

208) AAA Song Titles That Are The Same As Other AAA Songs http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/aaa-songs-with-same-titles-as-other-aaa.html

209) Updates to Our 'Special Editions' #1 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/updates-to-our-special-editions-on.html

210) Most Parodied AAA Albums http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/the-most-parodied-aaa-album-covers-news.html

211) Longest Average AAA Songs Per Album http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/the-longest-average-aaa-songs-per-album.html

212) Shortest Average AAA Songs Per Album http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/the-shortest-average-aaa-songs-per.html

213) An AAA Guide To The Twenty Best Dr Who Stories http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/the-20-best-doctor-who-stories-aaa.html

214) AAA Songs and Albums Based On Books http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/aaa-songsalbums-based-on-books-and.html

215) Top Ten AAA Concert Quotes http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/top-aaa-quotes-from-concerts-top.html

216) Top Ten Surrealist AAA Lyrics http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/top-ten-sureallist-aaa-song-lyrics-news.html

217) AAA 'Christmas Presents' we'd most like to have next year http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/aaa-christmas-presents-wed-most-like-to.html

218) Review Of The Year 2013 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/review-of-year-2013-news-views-and.html

219) Nominate This Site For A Shorty Award 2014 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/nominate-this-site-for-shorty-award-2014.html

220) A Tribute To Phil Everly http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/a-tribute-to-phil-everly-everly.html

221) Dr Who and the AAA (Five Musical Links) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2014/01/dr-who-and-five-musical-links-to-alans.html

222) Five Random Recent Purchases http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2014/01/five-random-recent-purchases-news-views.html

223) AAA Grammy Nominees http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2014/02/aaa-grammy-nominees-top-twelve-news.html

224) Ten AAA songs that are better heard unedited and in full http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2014/02/ten-aaa-songs-that-are-better-unedited.html

225) The shortest gaps between AAA albums http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-shortest-gaps-between-aaa-albums.html

226) The longest gaps between AAA albums http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-longest-gaps-between-aaa-albums.html

227) Top ten AAA drummers http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2014/03/top-ten-aaa-drummers-news-views-and.html

228) Top Ten AAA Singles (In Terms of 'A' and 'B' Sides) http://www.alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/top-ten-aaa-singles-and-b-sides-news.html

229) The Stories Behind Six AAA Logos http://www.alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/the-stories-behind-six-aaa-logos.html

230) AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!! The Best Ten AAA Screams http://www.alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/the-best-aaa-screams-top-ten-news-views.html

231) An AAA Pack Of Horses http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/aaa-songs-about-horses-top-ten-news.html

232) AAA Granamas - Sorry, Anagrams! http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/aaa-anagrams-news-views-and-music-issue.html

233) AAA Surnames and Their Meanings http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/aaa-surnames-and-their-meanings-news.html

234) 20 Erroneous AAA Album Titles http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/twenty-erroneous-aaa-album-titles-news.html

235) The Best AAA Orchestral Arrangements http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/fifteen-great-aaa-string-parts-news.html

236) Top 30 Hilariously Misheard Album Titles/Lyrics http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/top-thirty-hilariously-misheard-aaa.html

237) Ten controversial AAA sackings - and whether they were right http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/ten-controversial-aaa-sackings-news.html

238) A Critique On Critiquing - In Response To Brian Wilson http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/a-critique-on-critiquing-in-response-to.html

239) The Ten MusicianS Who've Played On The Most AAA Albums http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/the-ten-musicians-whove-played-on-most.html

240) Thoughts on #CameronMustGo http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/thoughts-on-cameronmustgo.html

241) Random Recent Purchases (Kinks/Grateful Dead/Nils Lofgren/Rolling Stones/Hollies) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/six-random-recent-purchases-kinksg.html

242) AAA Christmas Number Ones http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/aaa-christmas-number-ones.html

243) AAA Review Of The Year 2014 (Top Releases/Re-issues/Documentaries/DVDs/Books/Songs/ Articles plus worst releases of the year) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/aaa-review-of-year-2014.html

244) Me/CFS Awareness Week 2015 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/mecfs-awareness-week-at-alans-album.html

245) Why The Tory 2015 Victory Seems A Little...Suspicious http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/why-tory-victory-seems-deeply.html

246) A Plea For Peace and Tolerance After The Attacks on Paris - and Syria http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/a-plea-for-peace-and-toleration.html

247) AAA Review Of The Year 2015 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/the-aaa-review-of-year-2015.html

248) The Fifty Most Read AAA Articles (as of December 31st 2015) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/the-fifty-most-read-aaa-posts-2008-2015.html

249) The Revised AAA Crossword! http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2016_07_10_archive.html

250) AAA Review Of The Year 2016 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2016/12/the-aaa-review-of-year-2016.html

251) Half-A-Dozen Berries Plus One (An AAA Tribute To Chuck Berry) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/an-aaa-covers-tribute-to-chuck-berry.html

252) Guest Post: ‘The Skids – Joy’ (1981) by Kenny Brown https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/guest-post-skids-joy-1981.html

253) AAA Review Of The Year 2017 https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/the-aaa-review-of-year-2017.html

254) Guest Post: ‘Supertramp – Some Things Never Change’ by Kenny Brown https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2018/06/guest-review-supertramp-some-things.html

255) AAA Review Of The Year 2018 https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-aaa-review-of-year-2018.html

256) AAA Review Of The Year 2019 plus Review Of The Decade 2010-2019 https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2019/12/the-alans-album-archives-review-of-year.html

257) Tiermaker https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2019/06/alans-album-archives-on-tiermaker.html

258) #Coronastock https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2020/04/coronastock.html

259) #Coronadocstock https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2020/05/coronadocstock.html

Monday, 13 December 2010

News, Views and Music Issue 83 (Top Five) Weird AAA Cover Versions

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