shmoo1's Full Review: Come Together: Motown Sings the Beatles
If you asked me my favorite style of music the answer would be “Early R& B” and “Motown”. If you asked my favorite group the answer (with out pause) would be “Dude… Beatles… totally. What, are you kidding me?”
So what happens when you combine the best that Motown had to offer with the best the Beatles had to offer.
A total lack of imagination. An illustration in disappointment and frustration.
There are four really good reasons to buy this disk, unfortunately there are 11 reasons not to.… so let’s see… 4 out of 15 is just over one fifth… 22.5%… 22.5% of this CD is excellent.
77.5% is dreck.
Forget for a moment that the booklet talks about The Beatles being the most recorded independent group that Motown ever worked with and then the disk goes on to rely on Diana Ross and The Supremes of The Four Tops for half the offerings. Forget that you’re looking for Martha Reeves and The Vandellas. Forget that the majority of the songs are so slow that they make the record drag like a slug carrying a 10 pound weight by his tail.
I’ve figured out the big problem. The majority of the Beatles songs translate beautifully to modern times. Listening to them now is a surreal experience. They could have been recorded yesterday. No one else has done this. I can’t think of one group who’s major body of work is 40 years old and still relevant or current.
For a long time no-one could re-record the Beatles songs (with a few exceptions) with out destroying them. I couldn’t figure out why until I heard the “I Am Sam” soundtrack. Then I realized that everyone else changed the style of the songs which in turn dated them. I Am Sam contains some of the best Beatles remakes ever made simply because they remained faithful to the original versions and simply fleshed out the sound a bit. Listen to Sheryl Crow’s “Mother Nature’s Son” or Ben Harper’s “Strawberry Fields.” You’ll hear what I’m saying.
So here is a song by song diatribe of what worked and what broke my heart.
1) We Can Work It Out: Stevie Wonder- REASON #1… Stevie… Stevie…Stevie: A must have version of this song. Stevie could sing his way through a rectal exam and if he added a little signature harmonica it would be cool. Outstanding start that you pray will be a sign of things to come.
2) Eleanor Rigby: Four Tops- Ehh… a bit too cheesy for my tastes. Belongs in a blaxploitation film. Constant repetition of “Eleanore Rigby” and "Father MacKenzie” turn annoying very fast. Ray Charles version is better.
3) Can’t Buy Me Love: The Supremes- Nothing special. Cute and bouncy but not worth remembering.
4) Yesterday: Marvin Gaye- REASON #2, Marvin… you were a friend of mine. Slow, soulful, awesome. I will pay him my absolute biggest compliment and say its better than the original. Only Ben Harper has achieved this same status. Marvin proved that even fried out of his skull he could do no wrong.
5) Hey Jude: Temptations- REASON #3, A good version but a heavy tease…It starts off with a nice fat Fats Domino piano intro. Toe tapping and happy. The Temptations share the vocals equally which keeps you on your toes and the ending has a cool (almost acapella) street corner Temptations style. It’s excellent but should have carried on longer. You really want them to play with this end for quite some time… see what they come up with, but they wrap it up too soon.
6) Fool On The Hill: Four Tops- some interesting ideas but an early 1950’s, Ray Charles, white guy introduction that’s annoying and makes you think of Lawrence Welk. It turns in to easy listening elevator garbage. It could just as easily be the background music of an early Peter Sellers Movie
7) Let It Be: Gladys Knight & The Pips- REASON #4, Plaintive and searching. Nice emotion. They should have relied heavier on Gladys and lighter on Diana.
8) Come Together: Diana Ross-. A great slapped funk feel but having Diana sing it is a waste. Should have been a guy with a rasp to his voice.
9) And I Love Her: Smokey Robinson & The Miracles- waaayyyyy toooooo slooowwww and borrrrring. Needed a cup of coffee to keep me awake. I realized that I was out of cream and had to drive over to the store to pick some up. When I got back the coffee was cold and I had to brew some more. Before I could, I discovered that I was out of grinds. Flew to Columbia and ground some beans with my feet. When I got back and poured myself a nice cup of French Roast, the song was only half over. End it already Smokey
10) Got To Get You In To My Life: Four Tops- Better than Eleanor Rigby but dated and still cheesy. Age of Aquarius meets Tom Jones. Earth Wind & Fire version is vastly superior.
11) My Sweet Lord: Edwin Starr- OK… technically not a Beatle tune. They must have run out of what they considered good material. Can you sue Edwin Starr for ripping off George Harrison for ripping off The Chiffons? Not sure why they did this.
12) A Hard Days Night: The Supremes- cutesy and forgettable. They already did this with Can’t Buy Me Love and I wasn’t impressed then.
13) Michelle: Four Tops- A 1940’s slow smooth feel that lacks soul and heart. Again, elevator crap.
14) Something: Jr. Walker & The All Stars- Intro is WAYYYYYYY to long and you've already cut your wrists by the time he gets to the meat of the tune. Song is also completely forgettable and unimaginative.
15) The Long And Winding Rd.: Diana Ross- could have been REASON #5 breathy and excellent. Diana made this her own. However you get tired of the same repetitive orchestration used on this disk by the time this song shows up and you just want the pain to end
The Bottom Line?
Find the few songs I recommend, especially the Marvin Gaye/ Stevie Wonder tunes, but find them somewhere else.
Coming in at just over 1000 words, this lean and mean thing is starting to annoy me.
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.