Like I Need a Hole in My Head: A Sgt. Peppers Tribute Album?
This year marks the 40th Anniversary of Sgt. Peppers’ Lonely Hearts Club Band and to celebrate, the BBC has gathered together some current bands to ::wait for it:: re-record the landmark album for broadcast on BBC2.
If you thought Danger Mouse’s so-called “Grey Album†was an affront to “The White Album,†The Beatles, music, nature, and the universe, you can’t be much happier at this news. I’m not.
This BBC production won’t be hip hop – thank God – but it still seems an ill-conceived idea. It has been confirmed that Oasis, Travis, The Killers, Kaiser Chiefs, Razorlight, and James Morrison will be taking part with others expected to be announced later, but no details on who is covering what have yet been emerged.
The artists won’t be the only famous participants in this endeavor. Geoff Emerick, the engineer who worked with The Fab Four on the original record, will be recording these new versions using some of the same equipment that was used in 1967.
I’d enjoy writing this more if I wasn’t an Oasis fan. I know what you’re thinking, and you’re not wrong. Oasis has been re-recording Sgt. Pepper on and off for the past decade. Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher had some pointed criticism (does he ever say anything that’s not pointed?) for the “Grey Album.â€
it’s shit. I was embarrassed for him…
…it was just a pretty atrocious attempt to try and make the Beatles hip-hop. I bet Paul McCartney loved it. And if he could find any way of convincing Yoko Ono, it’d be in the fucking record shops now. Hip-hop is shit at the best of times — don’t involve John Lennon in it. What’s next? A hip-hop version of Highway 61 Revisited? I’ll personally slap that cunt if he does that.
That’s still one of the funniest things I’ve ever read – he said this in a interview in Spin a few year back and I still go back to re-read it every so often. I was embarrassed for him- that’s just tremendous.
I don’t hate tribute albums and I don’t hate covers, but there are some that have “train wreck†written all over them at the start. This is a bad idea. It’s not necessary. If you want to celebrate the album’s birthday, go listen to it. Have Geoff Emerick give the real album a proper mastering so we can hear the sonic wonders of this brilliant record rather than recording half-baked imitations.
The other problem is the cast for this thing. I happen to be a massive Oasis fan, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they did a decent cover of whichever song they end up recording. Liam has been dying to sing “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds†his entire career and I bet he’d do a thumping good job of it. This whole thing is still a bad idea, but Oasis will probably be a decent listen.
The other bands are making me want to kill people and break things.
The Killers are mortal enemies of the Fanboy universe. If I see that Brandon dude, I will fight him. At the very least, make them sing “Lovely Rita Meter Maid.†Don’t give them one of the good songs. My soul can’t take it. I know they have their following, and I will probably get hate mail in the comments but I just cannot stand them. His voice, the overblown nature of their songs, his voice… The Killers are going to massacre a song from one of the most important albums in history and the fucking BBC is going to hand them airtime to do it.
The Kaiser Chiefs’ first record was pleasant. There are a few good songs, but these guys don’t have the chops to step up to Sgt. Pepper. They’re a nice band and they should continue making nice records, but it’s good to know you’re limitations. Same for Razorlight. They’ve a skiffle background and they’re not a bad band, but they don’t belong swimming in this ocean. Travis knocked off Radiohead first, now the BBC wants to give them a title shot.
This, boys and girls, is why the last thing Americans ever did with tea was to throw it into Boston Harbor. Allow me this one moment of smug before you remind me of all America’s sins against music. In fact, you don’t have to remind me. The Killers are from Vegas. I’m more afraid of Brandon Flowers and Geoff Emerick than I am George Bush and Tony Blair.
Beatles fans, we must do what we always do: blame Yoko and Heather Mills.
Filed under: Tags: Like I Need A Hole in My Head, Oasis, Paul McCartney, The Beatles
i love The Grey Album.
I should have figured as much!
you old farts are so predictable.
This post furthers the question: is any tribuite album a good idea? And has any tribute album actually been really good through and through?
It seems like most of them are from half baked labels, get 2 or 3 A-list acts to do a cover, and shove in a bunch of filler.
I made the mistake of buying Zeppelin and Radiohead tribute albums back in college. I haven’t listened to either in years. Count me as a victim to a scam.
i think the first Dread Zeppelin record is great…though it’s a Led Zep/Elvis Presley hybrid.
and maybe not even a tribute now that i think of it.
i think you’re right though mark, there aren’t a lot of great tribute records.
i have to think about this more, but off the top of my head the only one that i really love is Deadicated. there’s a lot of love for The Dead, which was fairly evident on that collection.
I’ve bought a couple tribute records and there are usually a couple of good songs and the rest… meh. Some people say that’s the way of the world with most albums. I disagree. I don’t know why, but most “tribute albums” don’t seem to work. Some of it is a byproduct of the silly way we “saint” certain artists, like I admittedly have with The Beatles. Even if I didn’t hate hip hop, I’d still think it’s sacrilege to do that to it (and I don’t even like “The White Album” that much).
Then you get in to all the individual, nitpicky things but for some reason the tributes just don’t work. A one-off cover here or there is much easier to pull off than these “concept” albums.
ah, i thought the Springsteen One Step Up album was pretty good, speaking of artists we tend to “saint”.
and funny, but “The White Album” is my favorite Beatles record.
Again, why am I not surprised?
“The White Album” falls into the trap of most double albums: they should have been single records. It’s too self -indulgent for me. There are too many songs that are barely more than demos rather than fully-realized ideas, and some of those ideas wouldn’t have gotten better even if they were fully realized. Besides… Yoko Ono.
There are great moments on it, but they are a bit overshadowed by some of the silliness and in some cases sloppiness.
The funny thing… even though it’s not one of my favorite Beatles moments, it’s far from being terrible or bad or anything like it. I just can’t take it all in one sitting and think the best material could have been presented in a stronger fashion.
Oh, and Saleski… EO and I discuss A Bigger Bang on the podcast this week.
I don’t know, Josh. The Beatles material is so great that I’m always interested to hear new takes on it. And if sucks, then well it’s easy enough to shut it out among the musical clamor.
I actually like Oasis and think when they’re at their best they’re a damned good band, though you make a hilarious comment about how they’ve been trying to rerecord Peppers for years. F-ing sucky of Noel to say that hip hop is crap. There’s lots of crap in hip hop for sure, just as in every other musical genre. But when it’s good, it’s bloody glorious.
I can’t keep up with all the wealth of cool subjects lately -
I probably can’t make the link work - but I wrote a review on BC for the the tribute album of Pink Floyd’s The Wall. The CD is seriously excellent.
Hey, if it sucks, it sucks. It will just add to the power of the original.
EB, I love Oasis. That one liner was just too much fun to pass up. I’ll call it a homage to Noel because it’s the type of thing he’s perfected.
Of course, I’m in complete agreement with him on the matter of hip hop. My line was always, “The ‘c’ in rap is silent.” I like Noel’s better.
ah the irony….noel, the man who has come up with nothing original in his entire career, dissing on somebody else’s parade.
Watch yourself with blanket statements like that, Saleski. Yes, there are obvious examples of them being derivative but after that, they’re no more guilty of it than anybody else. Where do you want to draw that line?
there are no absolute lines. i’m just saying that when the history of rock is written, the only thing that will be remember about Oasis is liam’s big fuckin’ mouth.
I think rock history will be kinder to them than that. The big mouths and loud lives may helped them attract attention in the early days but now it tends to overshadow their music, which is actually quite great. Beyond that, their legacy is being written as much by this new crop of British bands they’ve influenced as it is by the great records they’ve made.
I know you don’t like them, but I think you’re being a bit too dismissive. They’ve got a lot of stroke. Speaking of Strokes, Oasis’ success in Britain is a key reason they got so popular in the UK which led to them getting some attention in the US. Hell, Ryan Adams considers them an influence and covered “Wonderwall.” They’re more than ripoff artists and tabloid trash.
oh, i never said they were ripoff artists. in fact, i think people are way too quick with that knee-jerk stealing from the Beatles thing. honestly, i don’t hear that in their stuff.
Instead of saying ripoff artists you said Noel had come up with nothing original in his entire career. I’m sure there’s a difference there that I”m just not seeing.
They definitely have more influences than just The Beatles.