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Beatles covers: better than originals?

Anybody know any artist cover performances of Beatles tunes that are better than the originals?

Most covers of Beatles tunes fall way short compared to the originals, in my opinion.

I can't think of too many that stand out in my mind.

On American Idol, during the two Beatles weeks recently, two performances stood out that I recall: "Let It Be" by Brooke White was very heartfelt and right on and "The Long and Winding Road" by the young 17 year old kid (David ???) was as good as anything I've ever heard. Watch that kid...he is extremely talented....when he is on, he is right up there with the best!
128x128mapman
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mapman OP
22,509 posts
 
Gfroman,

I did see "Across the Universe". I liked the musical performances very much. The cast was very talented and put some nice different twists/edges on several songs. I would like to get the soundtrack.

The story line left a bit to be desired, I thought. These were clearly 21st century kids pretending to be in the 1960's. I thought they should have just gone with a more contemporary story line rather than trying to put a different edge/spin on the 1960's. That did not work for me.
mapman's avatar
mapman OP
22,509 posts
 
MadHF,

I've seen several leading BEatles cover acts including "Classical Mystery Tour" (with symphony orchestra doing the fills, wonderful!), Rain (twice), 1964 (very good, early BEatles stuff only, simple arrangements), and others. All were most enjoyable and I would recommend each. Classical Mystery Tour, in particular, may appeal to many on this site due to the use of symphony orchestra.

All these acts do a good job reproducing the BEatles recordings live using modern techniques to great affect.
tocchet
10 posts
 
Aerosmith has done a few Beatles covers.Come Together is better than the original.Helter Skelter live is incredible.They also did I'm Down.
rwwear
2,880 posts
 
The 801 version of TNK is great. I like it better than the original but the original is one of my favs as is Revolver.
cyclonicman
693 posts
 
First off, I would like to tell Marty that "Tomorrow Never Knows" is very highly regarded among the Beatles legacy! Forging a head, I don't think anyone doing a cover of the Beatles is going to sound better than the Beatles themselves and I wouldn't think that to imitate their style would be very easy. They made it sound easy, but a lot of their songs are not easy to vocalise. I always felt that even when as solo artists, one of the Beatles would perform a Beatles song with other musicians, it still was not as good as when they performed it with each other. Anyway, that's only my opinion and I would like to add to the list Elton John's rendition of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds". I thought it was pretty good, but still not as good as The Beatles.
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