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Product details
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Track Listings
| 1. Ticket To Ride |
| 2. Penny Lane |
| 3. Revolution |
| 4. Day Tripper |
| 5. Norwegian Wood |
| 6. Birthday |
| 7. Lady Madonna |
| 8. Yesterday |
| 9. Strawberry Fields Forever |
| 10. Drive My Car |
| 11. Blackbird/I Will |
| 12. When I'm Sixty Four |
| 13. The Fool On The Hill |
| 14. All My Loving |
| 15. I Am The Walrus |
| 16. Goodnight |
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I love the Beatles and their music, but I always felt that the songs were what set them apart from other groups. The diversity of tribute albums, crossing just about every genre of music, reinforces that belief. I sometimes broaden my musical horizons via Beatles tribute albums - it is a good way of trying something new which still has a base of familiarity. And so it was that I selected this CD. The first time I played it, I wasn't sure, but on the second play, I loved it.
Despite the inclusion of Yesterday, the songs are generally not the most frequently covered - Penny Lane, Revolution, Day tripper, Lady Madonna, Strawberry fields forever, Drive my car and I am the walrus are all well known, but how often do you come across covers of these songs?
The Swingle singers are made up of four men (two tenors, two bass) and four ladies (two sopranos, two altos). Their roots lie in jazz and classical music, but their a cappella style is very much their own. Classifying music is often difficult, but I wouldn't even begin to classify this. It's not the kind of music I would listen to very often, but it is one of those CD's that I choose from when I want something different to listen to.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
This spur of the moment purchase is an absolutely brilliant alternative to just about anything else you might think of putting on late of an evening when you're in a certain post Joy Division, Lou Reed, Little Feat, Tangerine Dream, Frank Zappa, Tord Gustavsen Trio-esque care-free, eclectic frame of mind and you just can't settle on anything. In fact, probably at least six of the tracks on this album are going to latch onto your brain in a very odd way indeed. It's apparent simplicity will soon take you on a strange nostalgic and enjoyable voyage back through some essential milestones of the Beatles back catalogue. I thought I would only listen to it once or twice, maybe even thrice, but it still seems to find its way into the CD player with great regularity - enjoy.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3 reviews
20 of 21 people found the following review helpful
An unusual Beatles tribute album
25 Jan 2003
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
I love the Beatles and their music, but I always felt that the songs were what set them apart from other groups. The diversity of tribute albums, crossing just about every genre of music, reinforces that belief. I sometimes broaden my musical horizons via Beatles tribute albums - it is a good way of trying something new which still has a base of familiarity. And so it was that I selected this CD. The first time I played it, I wasn't sure, but on the second play, I loved it.
Despite the inclusion of Yesterday, the songs are generally not the most frequently covered - Penny Lane, Revolution, Day tripper, Lady Madonna, Strawberry fields forever, Drive my car and I am the walrus are all well known, but how often do you come across covers of these songs?
The Swingle singers are made up of four men (two tenors, two bass) and four ladies (two sopranos, two altos). Their roots lie in jazz and classical music, but their a cappella style is very much their own. Classifying music is often difficult, but I wouldn't even begin to classify this. It's not the kind of music I would listen to very often, but it is one of those CD's that I choose from when I want something different to listen to.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
not imitations, but rather "variations" on songs of the Beatles
20 April 2011
Format:Audio CD
In order to best enjoy this CD it is probably best to consider the Swingles' arrangements less as "imitations" of the Beatles, than as "variations" on songs of the Beatles, something like what Jazz people do when they pick up an old standard and provide their own version, whose character can be dramatically different from the original.
So, yes, the character of the Beatles' songs is changed and sometimes quite dramatically - although you never loose sight of the originals, of course. Usually the Swingles' versions for a cappella octet aren't as adrenalin-filled and raging as those of the Beatles, and in the "sad songs", like Yesterday, they may not be as wistfully sad. Lady Madonna is less driven and hectic, but more sensuously "Gospel" than the original.
But the arrangements and realizations provide their own rewards: they are harmonically richer, with more ambiguity, melodies shared between different voices and sometimes tossed between them, and with vocal counterpoint added. There's the unique sensuousness of the vocal timbres, the fascination of the vocal percussion - soon the Swingles would be recording Beauty and the Beatbox with the collaboration of Shlomo the Human Beatbox, see my review), and some nice touches in the arrangement, like the obsessive "frrrap ! frrrap ! " in Birthday, the "Ku-tah!" in Lady Madonna, or the concert of vocal honks that opens "Drive my Car" as in Ligeti's opera "Le Grand Macabre". Track 11's arrangement brilliantly mixes "Blackbird" and "I will" - why not. (well, here' why not: I far prefer "Blackbird" and "I will" kind of ruins it). In some tracks some voices sounds as if they were electronically re-processed (as in Revolution, The Walrus or Strawberry Fields), as they are in the originals. There are nice antiphonal effects in Strawberry Fields.
So, sure, this is for "A capella" enthusiasts. Some fans of the Beatles (obviously not all!) might also enjoy it, especially if they happen to be "A Capella" enthusiasts.
So, yes, the character of the Beatles' songs is changed and sometimes quite dramatically - although you never loose sight of the originals, of course. Usually the Swingles' versions for a cappella octet aren't as adrenalin-filled and raging as those of the Beatles, and in the "sad songs", like Yesterday, they may not be as wistfully sad. Lady Madonna is less driven and hectic, but more sensuously "Gospel" than the original.
But the arrangements and realizations provide their own rewards: they are harmonically richer, with more ambiguity, melodies shared between different voices and sometimes tossed between them, and with vocal counterpoint added. There's the unique sensuousness of the vocal timbres, the fascination of the vocal percussion - soon the Swingles would be recording Beauty and the Beatbox with the collaboration of Shlomo the Human Beatbox, see my review), and some nice touches in the arrangement, like the obsessive "frrrap ! frrrap ! " in Birthday, the "Ku-tah!" in Lady Madonna, or the concert of vocal honks that opens "Drive my Car" as in Ligeti's opera "Le Grand Macabre". Track 11's arrangement brilliantly mixes "Blackbird" and "I will" - why not. (well, here' why not: I far prefer "Blackbird" and "I will" kind of ruins it). In some tracks some voices sounds as if they were electronically re-processed (as in Revolution, The Walrus or Strawberry Fields), as they are in the originals. There are nice antiphonal effects in Strawberry Fields.
So, sure, this is for "A capella" enthusiasts. Some fans of the Beatles (obviously not all!) might also enjoy it, especially if they happen to be "A Capella" enthusiasts.
4 of 25 people found the following review helpful
New Christy Minstrels make Elevator music on LSD!
28 Sep 2005
Format:Audio CD
Perhaps the strangest album ever recorded next to Lou Reed's machine metal music (2 vinyl discs of amplifier feedback).
The singers harmonize as well as the 5th Dimension, the Association, or Peter, Paul and Mary but the results are anything but delicious. I mean how can you make a song like Revolution or I am the Walrus ... full of gut-wrenching emotion into something with no feeling whatsoever (other than nausia)? Well, take a listen ... these guys did it!
The singers harmonize as well as the 5th Dimension, the Association, or Peter, Paul and Mary but the results are anything but delicious. I mean how can you make a song like Revolution or I am the Walrus ... full of gut-wrenching emotion into something with no feeling whatsoever (other than nausia)? Well, take a listen ... these guys did it!
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