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Sounds Like the Beatles


popdude

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I just put together a CD featuring a bunch of songs that sound remarkably like the Fab Four. Many of them are relatively obscure, but to me, all of them possess a melodic magic similar to the Beatles.

Anyone ever hear of any of these?

"SALTWATER"/JULIAN LENNON (kinda cheating, sure, but a very pretty song nonetheless)

"I DON'T WANNA CRY"/THE KEYS (produced by Joe Jackson, early '80s)

"I SAW MOMMY KISSING SANTA CLAUS/THE BEATMAS (Xmas tune done in the style of "All My Loving")

"LISA'S NEW DRESS"/THE CARPET FROGS (Canadian)

"LOVE OF THE LOVED"/THE POPPEES (obscure Lennon/McCartney tune)

"PASSWORD"/COTTON MATHER (1997, from Texas)

"FRESH AS A DAISY"/EMITT RHODES (very McCartneyesque)

"I JUST WANT TO TOUCH YOU"/UTOPIA (Todd Rundgren and Co. do the Beatles - the whole "Deface the Music" album is a gas)

"DON'T THROW HER LOVE AWAY"/GREGG TRIPP (from Oregon, circa 1991)

"YOU TORE ME DOWN"/FLAMIN' GROOVIES (a classic)

"HAVE YOU EVER BEEN TORN APART?"/THE SPONGETONES (North Carolina's finest - these guys rock!)

"BACK SEAT DRIVER"/GREENBERRY WOODS (1990's vintage)

"LIES"/THE KNICKERBOCKERS ('60's hit)

"TAKE A CHANCE"/THE LATE SHOW (super-obscure Indianapolis band from 1980)

"NO NOT AGAIN"/THE LIVERPOOL ECHO (1973 UK album featured a young Martin "Salt in My Tears" Briley)

"ON THE PATIO"/THE MOCKINGBIRDS (1997, from Frisco)

"SHE LOVES YOU TOO"/THE PATRIOTS (UK)

"STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN"/THE BEATNIX (Aussie boys do Led Zeppelin in the Beatles' style - priceless!)

"ANNALISA"/CHRIS VON SNEIDERN (a pop genius)

"DON'T WANNA MAKE YOU CRY"/BLUE (very Beatley sounds from this UK group, circa 1982)

"CRUEL GIRL"/RED BUTTON (from their new CD)

"BIGEST GOSSIP IN TOWN"/ROCKIN' HORSE (more UK pop goodness)

"NIGHT WRITER"/THE ROOKS (NY combo - awesome track)

"I MUST BE IN LOVE"/THE RUTLES (if you haven't seen the Rutles DVD, do so - priceless!)

"101 DAMN-NATIONS"/SCARLET PARTY (rare UK pop)

"STEADY THING"/DAVID GRAHAME (more McCartneyesque musings)

"SHA-DAY-LA-DAY"/THE SHOUT (PA boys)

For those of you who have read this far, I have an offer, if you're interested - I will make two CD's of the above tracks and send them to two folks who PM me by 5pm Monday. (I'll do a random drawing if there are more than two requests.)

This offer is void where prohibited by TUNES. haha

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PopDude,

I LOVE Julian Lennon's "Salt Water." I thought I was the only one who digs it.... It's an obscurity, but it's easily the best song ever recorded by JL's oldest son, don't you think?

(I did an interview with Julian right after he released the album from which "Salt Water" comes, and man, was that eerie and cool and interesting.... I've always rooted for him, but there hasn't been much to root for since then.)

This is a great thread, thanks! I'd try to think of some entries to add to the list, but I'd rather go out and start finding some of the songs you've cited.

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If you're gonna have the Spongetones on there [And you must!] then 'She Goes Out With Everybody' has got to be there....esp the cascading verses.

Love that one, too, along with "Every Night is a Holiday," "A Part of Me Now," and everything else on the Spongetones' BEAT MUSIC. Maybe on volume two... wink
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The Elvis Brothers often sounded like The Beatles... they had a song titled "I Know You Shake It", and when I would play the first few lines, stop the song, and ask "Who do you think this is?", everyone, and I mean everyone, always answered "The Beatles?", thinking, "Well, it has to be The Beatles, but I've never heard this song."

Here is a YouTube, also very Beatles, from their sound to their look (One looks like Paul, one looks like John, and one looks like a morph of George/Ringo)-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tcf3qcup3AY

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The Elvis Brothers often sounded like The Beatles... they had a song titled "I Know You Shake It", and when I would play the first few lines, stop the song, and ask "Who do you think this is?", everyone, and I mean everyone, always answered "The Beatles?", thinking, "Well, it has to be The Beatles, but I've never heard this song."

The Elvis Brothers were very cool indeed, and their first two LP's are minor classics (I particularly love "Somebody Call the Police" and "Hey Tina").

Related note: a couple of the Elvis Brothers used to perform Beatles tunes back in the late '90s (along with Phil Angotti from The Idea) in a group called Not The Beatles.

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Elvis Brothers drummer Brad Elvis played with the band that opened for Raspberries at the Chicago HOB show. He currently has his own band,the Handcuffs, and plays drums for the Romantics. Adam Schmitt was briefly a member of the Elvis Brothers, although he didn't play on any of their records.

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I can attest to the fact that you can't possibly put all of this stuff on one CD. I did a radio program on this topic and it lasted 4 hours (on a non-commercial station). It was structured as a Top 40 countdown and I imposed various rules:

1. No recordings from before 1970

2. No tribute/parody bands

3. No Beatles solo

4. No more than 4 tracks per artist

I've got the list on my home computer, so I will try to post it here in the next couple of days. But I can reveal some of the contents without even looking: "Saltwater" was on it, as was "She Goes Out With Everybody". There also were a handful of Raspberries and Scott McCarl recordings. And let me say that I am surprised nobody has mentioned Klaatu or the Dukes of Stratosphear yet.

It was a fun exercise - I repeated it once a year for about 5 years and tweaked the rankings as I discovered new songs and reassessed the relative rankings of songs.

Stay tuned...

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Quote:
Originally posted by marvin:

Quote:
Originally posted by pretender:

Elvis Brothers drummer Brad Elvis played with the band that opened for Raspberries at the Chicago HOB show.

That band would be the Drysdales.

Marv

But don't hold that against poor Brad....
Oh, John...that was cruel...but fair.

:rolleyes:

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