Music Vacancy.

Surely multicoloured crossings are against some sort of road regulation.

Album: Here Comes The Sun: A Reggae Tribute To The Beatles
Artist: Various Artists

Summed up in one word: Strange
Would I recommend to others: It was hard not to see the entertainment value in this from the moment it was suggested to me.
Animal it reminded me of: A phyllobius glaucus with a Rastafarian hat and dreadlocks (well, to be honest, any animal with those really).
Situation this album definitely ISN’T suited for: The final fight scene in any Rocky movie. Especially their cover of “Hey Jude” (see it embedded near the bottom of the review).

When I think of the Beatles, the first thing which came into my mind was Yellow Submarine (which sadly wasn’t covered on this album…). I honestly haven’t followed their music much after being raised in the 90s world of Hanson and S Club 7. Rather than just sitting back and getting acquainted with their original classics first, I began my Beatles journey through reggae Beatles covers and then returned to YouTube to hear the originals.

I was totally expecting music like Peter Andre’s “Mysterious Girl” (yes, that’s right, I’ve found another reason to embed that into one of my reviews and we’re only up to album number four!). Sadly it wasn’t as enjoyable as the Andre. Maybe it was the lack of cheesy 90s pop music lyrics? Maybe reggae and muscle man Pete are an unstoppable combination that will forever force all other reggae into obscurity? Or maybe I just haven’t listened to enough actual reggae music.

The whole album had a really laid back feel to it, which I’m guessing is what reggae is like. I wouldn’t know. I didn’t mind the music but I hoped that there would be a faster paced song with a nice reggae beat to it somewhere on the album. None of the songs really did that for me really. Scarily enough I found myself turning back to “La Bibliotheque” from the last album I looked at… I think that song really had the sort of beat and feel to it that every album needs in at least one song! Maybe reggae doesn’t really do that.

The most interesting yet strange find of this album was “Let it be”. I’ve no idea why or what value it brought to the song but it had some sort of alien death ray/space invaders arcade sound at the start, middle and end of the song? I’m still confused about it… Unless reggae has alien/80s arcade game influences I was unaware of, it made no sense. I found it entertaining though. At least I DID… the first few times I heard it. It’s in the preview on iTunes if you want to hear it. I couldn’t find it on YouTube…

One of my favourite parts of the song “Imagine” is the piano riff. In the reggae cover it was disappointingly quiet. I loved the Glee version in comparison, which really brought the piano riff out nicely (yes, I watch Glee, I see your judgemental eyes staring at these words… I like it ok?). I love the song “Imagine” and think it’s a brilliant song. I wish Glee hadn’t removed the first verse from their cover of it.

I grew up with the song “Come Together” when I was younger but grew up with Michael Jackson’s version. I actually thought it was his song until this album… a clear indication of how poor my knowledge on this sort of music is. I listened to the John Lennon version after this and preferred Michael Jackson’s version over both the original and the reggae cover. MJ just had the strong beat and awesome guitar which I thought was great. I’ve included both the original and the MJ version for anyone who can’t be bothered Googling it themselves

The start of the “She Loves You” cover reminded me of Grand Theft Auto radio in Vice City for some reason. Do they have a song which goes “Yeah yeah yeah” on one of the stations? Maybe I played that game a bit too much during high school.

The start of the “Hey Jude” cover reminded me of the Blues Brothers “Shake Your Tail Feather”. Yes, that song was embedded in my review of Paul Greene’s album… I’ll have to put a rule for my next review forcing me not to refer to the same songs in comparisons.

Maybe i’m some reggae amateur who is complaining about covers which have perfectly matched the sound and feel of reggae with Beatles’ classics. I probably am. I do vow to find an original reggae album to rectify the situation in future. Rectify.

Thanks to my fellow beer loving friend Tom for his awesome suggestion! If you have a suggestion, tweet at me @thatpatrickguy or contact me via the email machine.