Vinz Clortho Keymaster of Gozer

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Member Since: 4/4/2001
Total Mixes: 66
Total Feedback: 621

Other Mixes By Vinz Clortho Keymaster of Gozer

CD | Pop - Pop/Rock
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CD | Holiday - Halloween
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CD | Mixed Genre
CD | Mixed Genre

"Beatles For Rent"

Artist Song
The Charles River Valley Boys  I Saw Her Standing There  
The Moog Machine  Get Back 
David Bowie  Across The Universe  
Celine Dion  Here, There & Everywhere 
The Moog Machine  Hey Jude 
Billy Connolly  Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite! 
The Charles River Valley Boys  I Feel Fine  
Peter Sellers  A Hard Day's Night  
Electronic Concept Orchestra  Penny Lane 
Jim Carrey  I Am The Walrus 
Michael Jackson  Come Together  
The Charles River Valley Boys  She's A Woman  
Electronic Concept Orchestra  Hey Jude 
Kevin Rowland  The Long And Winding Road 
The Charles River Valley Boys  Paperback Writer  
Tom Jones  Hey Jude 
The Fall  A Day In The Life 
Sean Connery  In My Life 

Comment:

A friend of mine sent me an absolutely horrid CD full of Beatles covers, most in foreign languages. So I prepared this disc to "return the favor." (Before you even ask, the disc he sent me did indeed include Shatner's take on "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds".) I admit, I don't have as many bad Beatles covers as I'd like (wait, did I just say that?), but I think this is a pretty nice, abyssmal mix. Hard to believe George Martin himself is responsible for five of these tracks. Some of the others I recorded off of vinyl albums I own (the Moog and country songs, the Tom Jones track). I tend to think that almost all Beatles covers are bad by default, though I admit I have liked a precious few over the years. Most of the songs here are god awful, with a few falling in the "so bad it's good" category, and one actually being quite cool (the classic Peter Sellers track). Though I must close by stating that, in my opinion, Sean Connery's spoken word recitation of "In My Life" is simultaneously the *best* and *worst* thing I've ever heard in my life. Not sure how that's possible, but there you have it. Enjoy!(?)

Feedback:

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Rob Conroy
Date: 4/23/2003
Looks interesting. I'd like to hear that Fall track, btw, and actually like the Kevin Rowland cover.
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I've heard many explanations for that Kevin Rowland album, but none of them can convince me that it wasn't a mistake. :-)
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Rob Conroy
Date: 4/23/2003
I don't know... I think that the *cover* was a mistake but the record has a real sincerity to it that's appealing. :-) (When in doubt, fall back on the apparent intentions of the artist.)
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greaseball1
Date: 4/23/2003
Someone had to do this eventually, it's great, have you heard Laibach's version of the whole Let it Be album or Booker T and the MG's doing the whole Abby Road album?
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xopheliacriesx
Date: 4/23/2003
tori amos's covers of the beatles are great, i don't know if you heard them or not... she's done a few live, and 'happiness is a warm gun' on her strange little girls album, which is all covers... i don't listen to the beatles very much, but my mom does, and she says although she doesn't usually like beatles covers she thinks tori does the beatles justice...
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Thomas_Mohr
Date: 4/23/2003
Dunno how anybody can actually include a Celine Dion rendition of whatever song in a mix. That Fall cover is pretty good, actually. I also like the Connery thing. Where is that Jim Carrey version from?
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Sean Lally
Date: 4/23/2003
Very nice - a good companion piece to Joey de Vivre's "Lucy in the sky with rhinestones". (Sorry - that's one of my all-time fave AOTM mixes, so I had to plug it.) The Sean Connery thing.... I don't know how I feel about it, either. It's got a real "golden throats" quality to it, but it's also sorta cool. Anyway, sacred cows make the best hamburger, as you know.
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valis
Date: 4/23/2003
I've not heard joey's mix Sean is touting, but I *CAN* tout Eric Schmuckler's brilliant (!) "Northern Songs" collection as a personal favorite of mine. (mix id = 20963)
Nice work Vinz.
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popkulcher (Marc Fagel)
Date: 4/23/2003
I caught some of the tv special on the making of the George Martin-produced cover album, including the Jim Carrey track, and it was unbearable. Simply painful to watch (and hear). I don't know that I'd include the Fall cover here -- kinda silly, sure, but still has that compelling Mark E. Smith touch. Hey, did the Bee Gees' star-studded soundtrack for Sgt. Peppers ever come out in CD? I'd imagine that would have another dozen tunes begging for inclusion here.
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Media Vixen: Radio Sally
Date: 4/23/2003
This does look like a hoot. Richie Havens' cover of Eleanor Rigby is a downright classic.
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p the swede
Date: 4/23/2003
it's hard to do a beatles cover good, but that album from NME back in the 80's where various artist do Sgt Pepper had some great moments (Fall, Billy bragg and sonic youth) and Kevin oh my Kevin are one of my heroes but his cover record are his least great album but still a good one, and for Bowies "Across the universe" when Lennon (and Harry Nilson) met Bowie and took away 2 awesome great soul ballads and put that track and the James Brown rip-off (FAME) on Young americans, made that album good instead of the real classic it should've been
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Rob: apparent intentions of the artist have little to do with my actual enjoyment of the subsequent product. And yes, I do own a copy of that album (it's actually a deluxe copy with bonus tracks that a friend made me). Elizabeth: my girlfriend has the Tori covers album. She doesn't like it much and I doubt I will either. Thomas: I found Celine's reading abyssmal, which is pretty much how I view her as well. The Jim Carrey track is from the "George Martin: In My Life" album, where Martin gathered together various famous people to do bizarre Beatles covers. I still can't tell if it ws a joke or not (despite the liner notes). As for the Fall track: I knew everyone would crawl out of the woodwork to defend that tune. I enjoy a few Fall tunes (a precious few, in fact), but let's face it: if "A Day" didn't have the name "The Fall" on it--which is always hip to namedropped--it'd be what it is: a bad cover version. Besides, "A Day" makes a great penultimate track here. Swede: I enjoy Kevin's work with Dexy's Midnight Runners, but that covers album just strikes me as a joke. Yeah, I know it's born out of personal torment and depression...but he didn't need to put that torment and depression in my ears!
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And a few I forgot...Greaseball: no I haven't heard those albums, but they do sound intriguing. Marc: I've seen the Bee Gees thing on CD, but naturally I don't own it. I had too many nightmares about that film as a kid. :-) Also, to a few people: I know I'm not the first to post a Beatles cover collection here. Eric and Joey both have great ones well worth checking out.
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p the swede
Date: 4/23/2003
a romour said that Kevin album sold about 500 copies in England, that's tragedy
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Yeah, that's what I heard too. My friend in Scotland actually has a promotional minidisc version of it, which is where the bonus tracks come from.
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By the way, I should add that this is probably the only mixed genre disc you'll ever see from me with repetition of artists (which I think completely defeats the purpose of a "mix" CD), but since I was low on material...
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Eric Schmuckler
Date: 4/23/2003
i have swum so deeply in this ocean that i don't know which end is up anymore, so separating 'best' from 'worst' beatles covers has become chimerical for me. i think the charles river valley boys album (beatle country) is outstanding; it gets props in both beatle and bluegrass circles. the howler on that one is 'yellow submarine', therein rendered as 'yeller submarine.' yes, the george martin tribute with sean c. and jim c. was absolutely bottom of the barrel, and his orchestral beatle albums of the 60s -- 'beatle girls' and 'off the beatle track' -- were no great shakes neither; without the boys he hadn't a clue. i liked electronic concept orchestra track in a moog/lounge way, but even better are the full moog beatles LPs by marty gold and new world electronic chamber ensemble. i publicly admit i thought MJ's 'come together' rocked like a mofo; infinitely preferable to, say, aerosmith's. and the bee gee's 'sgt pepper' soundtrack, while fairly maligned, did have some stunners -- robin's 'oh! darling' challenges macca's. a brilliant series of cds -- 'the exotic beatles vols. 1-3' is well worth checking out for nausea inducing purposes. and you want to talk real pain? try ena baga's 'happy hammond plays the beatles' or rick wakeman's 'tribute to the beatles' or the infamous 'beatle barkers' LP or, most horrifyingly, renegade soprano cathy berberian's 'revolver - a musical revolution'. okay, i've sold myself -- i'll make a bad bad beatles mix someday. you've been warned. thanx for the shout-out, vinz and valis.
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Oh Eric, seek professional help. LOL! :-) BTW: the only thing I can cite as "outstanding" about that "Beatle Country" album is the musicianship. The arrangements, by default, are terrible (then again, I can't stand country).
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joey de vivre
Date: 7/15/2003
Ooh, scary! this may indeed be the best of the worst, or vice versa, however that works out . . .