Monday, April 9, 2007

Here's to bad ideas....

Well, now they've gone and done it. The Brits have announced perfect plans to eff up everyone's favorite album of all time. In honor of the 40th Anniversary of The Beatles Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, BBC Radio has decided to remake the album with the help of current rock and roll bands. Oasis (duh), The Killers, and Travis (a poor man's Oasis), among others have decided to help out. Oasis makes obvious sense, but after that you get the feeling they had a difficult time getting big name bands to join on (the aforementioned being the only "big" bands).

So, this horrible idea got me thinking. What if I was going to ruin the best album of all time? What bands would I hire on (assuming everyone I asked was onboard for the idea)? I've decided to list the band or artist that I think would do the best cover of every song off of Sgt. Pepper. Some of these were more difficult than I thought they would be. If you've got any good suggestions for any of these, leave your choices in the comments section. This could be fun. Here's what I came up with:

1. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - Oasis: I'm going to let the most Beatles-esque wannabees around start off and anchor my album. This was the easy.
2. With a Little Help from my Friends - The whole Brushfire gang!!: That's right, I realize Joe Cocker did a pretty damn good version of this song, but I'd like to hear it done all acoustically with Jack Johnson singing lead and Ben Harper, G.Love, and Matt Costa singing the answering portion of the song.
3. Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds - A Perfect Circle: Has anyone out there heard APC's version of Lennon's Imagine?? Makes me think they could do a pretty trippy version of this song about....well.....tripping.
4. Getting Better - The Postal Service: I'd like to hear an pseudo-electronic take on the "bounciness" of this song. I think a digital take on the poppy guitar chords would sound cool.
5. Fixing a Hole - Cake: I think Cake could make a pretty decent version of this song. I think they'd do a good job of matching the different sounding guitars.
6. She's Leaving Home - Sufjan Stevens: A harp being plucked over a string arrangement??? Sounds like Sufjan to me.
7. Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite! - Eels: I think you need kinda a oddball group to compete with the oddball sounds of this songs. I also think the Eels would be good at the waltz.
8. Within You Without You - Incubus: This one was tricky but who the hell owns a sitar nowadays anyways??? I was kinda thinking of the song Aqueous Transmission when I chose this one. I realize that's not exactly a sitar, but the song has a very 'earthy' quality to it that I think Incubus could do well.
9. When I'm 64 - Belle and Sebastian: Quite possibly my least favorite song on the album. I can't think of many bands that I care about that sound THIS poppy. Belle and Sebastian would have to be it, i guess. I need help with this one.
10. Lovely Rita - Red Hot Chili Peppers: Flea killing the bassline and Kiedes "rapping" alongside.....
11. Good Morning Good Morning - The Decemberists: Is Deep Purple still a band?? That's the only other rooster intro i've ever heard. Regardless, I think the Decemberists could prog rock themselves a couple of horns in this one as well as anyone.
12. Sgt. Pepper Reprise - Oasis: See above.
13. A Day in the Life - Radiohead: The classic song off this album. Its an epic, so you obviously need someone big to do this one. Someone that would do this song justice. Radiohead fits the bill better that anyone.



So, that's what I came up with. Like I said, this was pretty tough. So, if you've got some suggestions for any of these let me hear them. Most of us know the songs......I mean it is the greatest of album of all time.



RR

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's too bad no one reads this blog because this is one of the more insightful posts I've seen. I'll need some time to think through this one.

Anonymous said...

Today, I am the no one Kendallb mentioned in his post. That's a pretty good looking line up for said project. On an unrelated note, I liked the old color scheme...easier on the eyes.

Anonymous said...

While a good post, I think I've made it clear that I'm no fan of the Beatles and actually don't know many of these songs. Perhaps I should swallow my pride and give this album a listen.

I was wondering about the color scheme as well....

Anonymous said...

We didn't do this scheme did we??? I wonder if there's a way to go back to the old one.

Anonymous said...

Ouch, I decided to try and change it up just for the sake of changing it a little. One of you two go into templates and mess around with it if you want.

Anonymous said...

no, I'm actually ok with this one. I think pictures look better in the new layout. i just wasn't sure if "we" did it or if it was a blogspot thing....that's all.

Anonymous said...

i cannot believe gerdon is NOT a beatles fan?!?! i'm a firm believer in that you (the royal 'you') can't appreciate modern rock without having listened to the beatles!! i'll give you: 1) sgt pepper is not the best beatles album and 2) there are some stupid songs (i agree with RUT that 'when i'm 64' is the worst... :) [paul mccartney's songs in general are not my favorite...but that's just because i enjoy the creativity of Lennon's lyrics and george harrison's riffs]...but seriously, the 'white album' is the best rock album of ALL TIME. all in all, my take home message is that gerdon is a lame-o for not ever listening to the beatles (sorry gerdon, it seems as though my separation anxiety is spilling out in the form of badger at this blog spot)

Anonymous said...

whoa there, killer. I have listened to the Beatles, to some degree, and just haven't really gotten into - because of crap like 64 and yellow submarine. I plan on giving them a fresh listen at some point. To further clarify my views - I imagine the Beatles were hugely innovative for their time. I do think that the material is some what dated, which means that it doesn't span generations and isn't the best damn music of all time.

Yeah, I'm still not a fan of the color scheme. The pics do look good, but the text is a little harder to read. I'm more interested in the text being readable than having pretty pictures. But it doesn't matter too much. None of our 2.5 fans have complained yet.....

Anonymous said...

Good post...some of those are really great ideas. I ment to make this comment forever ago, but got bogged down and forgot. Anyway, as someone w/ a former obsession with britpop/rock, I have to mention that Travis is not a poor man's Oasis. They are more of a poor man's Coldplay, despite predating Coldplay a bit (I think). That is all.