Wet Wet Wet 'Yesterday'

Chart Peak: 4
YouTube

Wet Wet Wet's cover of the Beatles' 'Yesterday' brought the group's number of Top 40 hits to a staggering twenty-five... It reached No. 4 in August '97 and was their third hit this year.

Disc 2 starts here, although the sharp-eyed and numerate may have noticed we're already more than half-way through the "41 Chart Hits" promised on the disc tray: tracks are unevenly split due to the longer average length which means there are only nine tracks on Side 3 of the cassette. 'Yesterday' is something of an exception, getting out of the way within three minutes, although this is still significantly longer than the original. It doesn't seem the most obvious way to launch into a 78-minute CD but this was actually the second Now album running (and third overall) where the Wets had occupied this placing; with three appearances at the very start of the album as well they're almost Queen.

Anyone interested enough in British pop of the 1990s to be reading this will surely be aware that the last time Wet Wet Wet recorded a song for a movie, they spent 15 weeks at Number One with 'Love Is All Around'. Since they'd also topped the chart with a cover of 'With A Little Help From My Friends', you could be forgiven for thinking that Wet Wet Wet covering a Beatles song for a movie (Bean, in this case) was a licence to print money. The record company probably did think that, but of course lightning seldom strikes twice in the same place, and as it transpired this wasn't even the lead single from the soundtrack; the more fashionable Boyzone got that. Ten years into their career, the group were approaching something of a crisis point, with the drummer about to quit in a dispute over songwriting royalties whilst Marti Pellow was struggling with his own demons: 18 months later he collapsed in a hotel and was rushed to rehab for heroin addiction. This proved to the the last single release of their initial career, though they have reunited several times since.

Perhaps a great performer could have used this turmoil to wring out a truly emotional performance. But when faced with a ballad, Pellow reverts to low-budget Mick Hucknall form, whilst the production (by bassist Graeme Clark and unofficial member Graeme Duffin), is hamstrung by the need to give all five Wets something to do and the lack of original ideas, so it simply sounds overfussy as if they're playing along with the original track, but with more repetitions. I suppose it's a pretty strong tribute to the skills of Paul McCartney and George Martin that their string arrangements are copied almost directly, but the sparse and direct nature of the original recording is otherwise lost.

Also appearing on: Now 10, 11, 12, 16, 21, 28, 31, 37
Available on: Now That's What I Call 1997

Bananarama/Lananeeneenoonoo 'Help!'

Chart Peak: 3
YouTube (Warning: contains shirtless Roland Rivron)

'Help!' was originally No.1 for the Beatles in Augst 1965 when Bananarama/Lananeeneenoonoo were only very little girls... This new version raced to No. 12 after only one week of release in mid-February 1989.

Possibly the most difficult-to-spell artist credit in the entire history of the Now albums, and the second track in a row with an exclamation mark in the title. It is of course also the second Sixties cover out of four tracks so far - as Mick Fleetwood mentioned at the Brits, that era was very prominent in the culture at the time.

This was the third official Comic Relief single, though the first released to coincide with an actual Red Nose Day event (a couple of weeks early in fact, but it was in the chart at the right time). Like the previous efforts by Cliff Richard and the Young Ones and Mel And Kim, it takes the form of a parody cover version that teams a game-for-a-laugh pop star and comedians; in this case French & Saunders and Kathy Burke reprise their parody of "The Bananas" which they debuted on their Christmas Special a few weeks earlier, bringing in the real group to play along. I presume it's only coincidence that Burke, a guest star rather than a regular member of the duo, gets to shadow the least-remembered Nana, Jacquie O'Sullivan.

Apart from a somewhat half-hearted Stock/Aitken/Waterman production, this track shares its main flaw with many of the early Comic Relief tracks - it's really more a soundtrack to a sketch than a record in its own right. It's quite funny to watch them lark about in the video, impersonating the original group and also impersonating the skiing scenes from the original Beatles movie (which are actually associated with 'Ticket To Ride' but close enough) - alas it loses too much in sound only. It's not got enough jokes to be consistently funny but there are too many for it to work as a straight cover version. Obviously, full credit to everyone for agreeing to do it, but it doesn't sound so good these days.

It does mean, though, that both Jennifer Saunders and Kathy Burke can claim to have appeared on more Now albums than Whitney Houston or the Manic Street Preachers. I don't know if they ever have claimed that, but I would.

Bananarama also appear on: Now 3, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15
Available on: 30 Years Of Bananarama (The Very Best Of) (Deluxe) [+video]

Chaka Demus & Pliers (with Jack Radics & Taxi Gang) 'Twist & Shout'

Chart Peak: 1 (2 weeks)

YouTube

'Twist And Shout', a chart-topper in January 1994, was the 3rd of the duo's 4 UK hits to date... It followed 'Tease Me' and 'She Don't Let Nobody' and has now been followed into the chart by 'Murder She Wrote'

Before we start, I should acknowledge that yes, I am stretching a point somewhat by including the "Beatles cover" tag down there, but I ultimately concluded that they were the act most commonly associated with this song even though theirs wasn't the original version and was never released as UK single - it finally made the Top 50 in 2010 when it was made available as a download. Also, I should point out that Blogger doesn't seem to like ampersands, so if any of the ones in this post go a bit haywire, apologies.

In minor contrast to the preceding track, I remember this one very well but didn't realise until much later how much other success Chaka & Pliers had had: this was their third consecutive UK Top 5 single, an unprecedented feat for a Jamaican act (though it was reportedly only a last-minute change of mind by the record company that awarded them lead credit). I think only Shaggy has matched them in this regard.  And of all the versions of this song, this is the only one ever to reach Number One. That it became one of the few chart-toppers from the mid-90s pop-reggae revival may be something of an accident of timing in that it took advantage of traditionally low sales at the turn of the year, but it's fortuitous because this proves to be one of the best examples of the "cover an old song with some toasting over it" subgenre. It's possibly closer to the style of the Isley Brothers version than the Beatles, really, but what stands out most is the joyful, celebratory atmosphere. It sounds like a huge summer hit, whenever it really came out.


Also appearing on: Now 25, 26, 28, 29
Available on: True Reggae

The Smokin' Mojo Filters 'Come Together'

Chart Peak: 19

YouTube

Since the last two tracks we had here were Paul Weller and a Beatles cover, it seems only fitting to wrap up the first disc with a Beatles cover fronted by Paul Weller. Indeed this is a return to the War Child project which makes this seem almost like a summary of the forgoing side of the album (ignoring the Sacred Spirit track, anyway). And credit where it's due to Noel Gallagher, who pulled a double shift on the Help album, recording an exclusive Oasis track and then working on this in the same day.

The full line-up as given in the single sleeve was:
Paul Weller lead vocal & guitar
Paul McCartney guitar/piano backing vocals
Noel Gallagher guitar
Steve White drums
Carleen Anderson backing vocals
Steve Craddock {sic} guitar

- oddly, no bass player is mentioned, but then Ocean Colour Scene member Damon Minchella is briefly seen in the video and as he was also part of Weller's band at the time, it must surely have been him. Presumably, had McCartney played the bass he'd have reprised the same part he did on the original.

As I said in yesterday's post, it isn't really adviseable to try and cover a Beatles song in exactly the style of the original, and this group seem to have taken that to heart; unfortunately they seem to have been more focussed on not duplicating the existing version than on any fresh interpretation. Of course since one of them actually was a Beatle and the others were huge fans, that's not exactly surprising: also one imagines they wouldn't have had a lot of time together to work this out. Weller's gruff vocal is very different from John Lennon's creepily measured delivery on the Beatles record, and despite the large number of players, the backing track has a rough-and-ready sort of energy which is closer to Lennon's live performance of the song than the original (bag) production.

As a tie-in of all those talented people it's arguably a little underwhelming, but at the same time it remains a solid performance of a classic song and it does the job OK as a charity record; unlike some collective covers, at least you can tell they all like the song. Whether because of the more upbeat style, or the fame of the people involved, or just because it was marketed as a single rather than the confusing multi-artist EP format, this became the more popular of the two singles from this album, reaching the Top 20 just before Christmas (and in fact after Now 32 was released, which might have held down sales even more). In fact it's the only time this song has officially been a hit in its own right, since the Beatles and Michael Jackson both released it as part of a double A-side. Weller himself released another version (very similar to this apart from the absence of McCartney's keyboard and backing vocal parts) as one side of a limited-edition charity single in 2005.

As is my usual practice with charity records, I supply a link to make a donation and I've also linked below to War Child's download store, which is where I usually buy my downloads anyway. As I predicted in the Radiohead post, I have indeed bought another copy of the Help album myself.

And so ends what might be my favourite ever first disc of a Now album. Let's see next week whether Disc 2 can keep up the standard.

Available on: Help (also available direct).

Suggs 'I'm Only Sleeping'

Chart Peak: 7

YouTube

It's a coincidence that I happen to be writing about this song this week. I recently treated myself to The Beatles In Mono and as such have had the opportunity to listen to this (not my upload, I hasten to add!) and compare all the variations between the mono and stereo versions of the original. Hours of fun for all the family there. Thinking back to 1995, though, I was nowhere near as familiar with the original version: I knew it was a cover of a Beatles song, of course, but somehow Revolver was one of the few Beatles albums we didn't have. The advantage of this was of course that I was much better placed to appreciate this on its own merits.

That said, I - like many other people who grew up in London in the 1980s - had a lot of residual affection for the former lead singer of Madness. Well, I say former: technically speaking, the band were sporadically back in action in the mid-1990s, playing Madstock concerts annually, although they didn't release new material until 1999. Thus the launch of Suggs as a solo artist was his first studio collaboration in over a decade with Mike Barson, who co-wrote and produced much of the album. With that sort of reunion in prospect, it seems slightly odd to launch the project with a cover version (officially it was a double A-side with 'Off On Holiday' but only this side seemed to get any exposure). However, it is an attention-grabbing sort of track.

It's a pretty hackneyed observation, but when you cover a Beatles song there's not a lot of mileage in trying to outdo them at their own game; the only worthwhile tactic is to approach the song from another angle. And they certainly do that here, recasting the hazy, stoned original into an upbeat old-fashioned ska track with lots of trombone and cartoon sound effects. It's catchy (adding its own hooks as well as those John Lennon supplied), jolly and an enjoyable listen. The major flaw is that this doesn't entirely match the subject matter of the song, although some sort of excuse might lie in the chorus lyric "please don't wake me"; all this noise is interrupting his sleep. That certainly seems to be the interpretation the video's based on. Anyway, you can always ignore that bit and just listen to the trombone.

Also appearing on: Now 34
Available on: 100 Hits - 90s

Wet Wet Wet 'With A Little Help From My Friends'

Chart Peak: 1 (4 weeks)

YouTube

And we're back ten years exactly to the summer of 1988. Once upon a time I'd planned to do Now XIII instead, but then I saw 12 in a charity shop for 99p, and one thing leads to another...

In fact it's quite apposite that this album kicks off with a single that I bought in a charity shop some years previously - indeed I must now have had it for longer than the original owner, even if I don't play it that often - particularly since it was a charity single* to begin with. Truly, it is the gift that keeps on giving. For those unfamiliar with the backstory, the NME organised the benefit album Sgt. Pepper Knew My Father to mark the 21st anniversary of the most famous Beatles album and raise some money for Childline. To help it along, a single was pulled from the LP (or cassette!) coupling this track by the Wets with the contrasting 'She's Leaving Home' by Billy Bragg With Cara Tivey which became the first Number One single for either act. More interestingly, 'With A Little Help From My Friends' became the first (and still the only) Beatles song to top the charts in more than one version, following its success for Joe Cocker in 1968 - the original was, ironically, a Top 75 hit in 1978 as part of an ill-advised attempt to cash in on the Sgt Pepper film.

As any regular readers of this blog may have noticed, a long preamble like this tends to mean I'm putting off trying to find anything to say about the record itself. And so it is here, since I can't imagine anyone interested not already being familiar with the source material and the band don't produce an especially convincing or distinctive version. In fairness to them, they presumably weren't given a lot of time to work on this, but it would still have been welcome had they come up with a more interesting idea than playing it slightly faster and repeating "my friends" to fade. The fundamental problem is, I think, that Marti Pellow comes over as too confident a vocalist to carry off the light-hearted, giving-it-a-go charm of the original. Not long afterwards, this and Cocker's interpretations of the song collided as the finale of a charity concert, where Pellow somehow manages to be even more annoying. It's not the best of starts, but it's not as bad as the Grease megamix.

*An asterisk on the back cover of the LP indicates that "All royalties from this track are being donated to Childline". Since I don't anticipate making any money from this blog post, it seems the next best thing I can do is provide a link to make a donation online.

Also appearing on: Now 10, 11, 16, 21, 28, 31, 37, 38
Available on: End of Part One

Candy Flip 'Strawberry Fields Forever'

Chart Peak: 3

YouTube

And speaking of cover versions...

You can see what they were trying to do, recasting John Lennon's famously LSD-inspired original for the E generation (I obviously didn't know this at the time, but the group name refers to practice of taking the two drugs together). Unfortunately, quite apart from the obvious risks of covering something that was so outstanding in its original form, they seem to fall between two stools here, neither replicating the texture of the original nor coming up with many of their own ideas (the Funky Drummer sample doesn't count), so the final effect is more like a karaoke backing track with some really weak vocals that make Ali Campbell sound good. The one part I do remember from the time is that backwards horn sample that appears later in the track. I don't blame them for trying it, but it doesn't really work.

Available on: A Tribute to the Beatles