I’ve been a Beatle fan for quite some time; 'twas November 18, 1979, 8:00 PM when I saw a movie called the Birth of The Beatles. I was all of 12 at the time, and the Beatles went on to dominate a large portion of my adolescence.
I’ve moved on, so to speak, and listen to a lot of other music now, but still hold the Fab Four near and dear. In my journey through the world of music, I’ve come across some music which was distinctly Beatle-ish, and I always seem to love it. XTC is the first example that pops to mind. Jack Johnson as well. Listen to the last track on Brushfire Fairytales and tell me he wasn’t listening to John Lennon at some point in his life!
So, my question is: What other bands remind you of the Beatles or have a distinct Beatle influenced sound?
The excellent producer T-Bone Burnett does some strongly Beatles-tinged tracks on many of the records of Sam Phillips, his wife. The most Beatle-esque are the records The Indescribable Wow and Cruel Inventions, two of my favorites.
T-Bone Burnett is also the producer of the soundtrack to O Brother Where Art Thou. He can do no wrong, in my book.
I’ll second Sam Phillips. And check out Kirsty MacColl’s Titanic Days for another Beatlesque solo female album
Stew and his band The Negro Problem feature the same kind of lyrically clever pop on their albums (both solo and group).
Elvis Costello, especially in the '80s and early '90s, echoes the Lennon half of the Beatles. Unsurprising, really, given that he collaborated with McCartney for a few songs.
And overtly, Sleater-Kinney doesn’t sound much like the Beatles at all. But I was talking with a fellow fan of both groups, and we agreed that there’s something about the Brownstein/Tucker songwriting and performing style that really brings Lennon/McCartney to mind. I’d say Dig Me Out, The Hot Rock and All Hands on the Bad One bear the most resemblance.
Peter Asher, Apple Records’ A&R man, brought Badfinger, then known as The Iveys, to Paul McCartney’s attention, and they were signed. Paul McCartney produced Badfinger’s second Apple album, Magic Christian Music (1970), and wrote its hit single, “Come and Get It”. George Harrison produced four of the tracks on Badfinger’s fourth Apple album, Straight Up (1971).
RawkStah, I don’t know if I’m being whooshed or not, but the Beatles did an excellent cover of “The Hippy Hippy Shake” from way back…pre Beatlemania times. It certainly was an excellent little rave-up.
CBCD and Interrobang!?, thanks for the heads up on Sam Phillips, and T Bone Burnett…I certainly love the O Brother soundtrack, so I’ll be sure to check out some more.
I’ve heard much about Sleater Kinney, but haven’t actually heard them…and they’re fairly local to my neck of the woods! I’m so lame.
I’m still confused about Duran Duran sounding like the Beatles…I remember they were likened to the Beatles in their popularity (snort, like that lasted) but in sound? Really?
Os Mutantes of Brazil - they debuted around 1968 and lasted until 1973. They were different from the Beatles in a couple of obvious ways, they had a female co-lead singer (Rita Lee), and performed a lot Latin-Brazilian music - but musically, they they come very close to the Beatles. And remarkably, they made a lot of their music on a shoestring budget with makeshift equipment.
As far as perfect carbon copy knock offs, there was a group called the “Knickerbockers” that had a song called “Lies”. Someone who didn’t have all the Beatles’ tracks memorized by heart would easily believe it was a forgotten 1965 album track by them.
