Beatles sound-alike (let's make an album)

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

Can we come up with 15-20 post-Beatles songs that sound just like they could have been from the Fab-4? If we get too many, maybe I'll make elimination rounds afterwards to build a perfect sound-alike Beatles album...

The solo songs from John, Paul, George and Ringo cannot be part of this!

Here's a few suggestions:

1) The most obvious one first: Klaatu. Quite a few songs could fit in, and maybe Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft should be the first pick here (a superior song, and more John-like, which are harder to find). But I'll open with Sub-Rosa Subway, which sounds a lot like something Paul could have come up with (the voice is spot-on too).



2) Alice Cooper's voice is closer to John's, but Shoe Salesman also sounds like a Paul song. Quite a few lesser known Alice songs are close to the Beatles sound. Alma Mater perhaps, or my ultimate favorite song of his, Beautiful Flyaway could have been picks too IMO.



3) I'm not sure where this lasting impression that ELO sounds like the Beatles comes from. Maybe it's the fact that Jeff Lynne has been closely involved afterwards with George's stuff, or because of the Travelling Wilburys. Anyway, there's a few songs that are kind of Beatles-like, something like Need Her Love could have been from George. I chose Mr. Blue Sky, the theme certainly recalls some Beatles stuff.



Please feel free to criticize my selections and bring yours!

Click to read more...

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

For those who are not familiar with Klaatu...

John?



George?

 

[td_ice]

I don't know if ELO does or not, but to your point 3. Check out on YouTube, John Lennon on ELO and showdown.

He calls them, The Sons of the Beatles.

And I believe their are other quotes from John when asked if they Beatles are getting back together, he would tell them, something to the effect, " yeah we have, we are called ELO."

 

[Say Hey Kid]

The Knack

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

The Knack

One song in particular?

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Tears for Fears: Sowing the Seeds of Love

 

[Mescaleroman]

 

[Ralph Spoilsport]

This has a Rubber Soul feel to it.

 

[Shareefruck]

I imagine Tame Impala's John Lennon impersonation act would be a candidate.

 

[Mimsy]

Too obvious?

The Rutles:



The whole soundtrack from the film is great. The "1964" reference in the Youtube title is misleading. The movie was filmed in 1978. The track, in film, is presented as a '64 release.

 

[Gordon Lightfoot]

 

[reckoning]

I always thought Squeeze sounded a lot like the Beatles, though more the McCartney side than the Lennon. Songs like "Tempted", "Pulling Mussels From A Shell", or "Annie Get Your Gun" .

In the early-90s there was a Canadian band called The Grapes Of Wrath whose songs seemed to have a heavy Beatles influence. Songs like "Do You Want To Tell Me" or "What Was Going Through My Head"

The obvious example for me though is "Valotte" by Julian Lennon. It's a beautiful song, and he sounded just like his father. I thought he would become a big star, but he faded away quickly.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

Tears for Fears: Sowing the Seeds of Love

With only the chorus in mind, I was skeptical, but going back to it, you're right, the verses are very Beatlesque!

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

This has a Rubber Soul feel to it.

I understand what you're going for, but the lady voices kind of ruin it

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

Too obvious?

The Rutles:



The whole soundtrack from the film is great. The "1964" reference in the Youtube title is misleading. The movie was filmed in 1978. The track, in film, is presented as a '64 release.

There's a few songs that are actually pretty good on their own on this album. Too obvious, I don't know, there's no real rules to it!

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

Amazing! But it's contemporary to the Beatles. They nailed it though!

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

I always thought Squeeze sounded a lot like the Beatles, though more the McCartney side than the Lennon. Songs like "Tempted", "Pulling Mussels From A Shell", or "Annie Get Your Gun" .

In the early-90s there was a Canadian band called The Grapes Of Wrath whose songs seemed to have a heavy Beatles influence. Songs like "Do You Want To Tell Me" or "What Was Going Through My Head"

The obvious example for me though is "Valotte" by Julian Lennon. It's a beautiful song, and he sounded just like his father. I thought he would become a big star, but he faded away quickly.

Very interesting propositions! I took the liberty of getting some vids:

1) Squeeze - while there's huge differences in production, I can hear it, especially re-listening to Tempted (that I've listened to a lot from the Reality Bites soundtrack)



2) Grapes of Wrath



3) Julian Lennon - of course, sounds just like John, but to me Sean is even closer to the Beatles.

 

[peate]

I see someone posted Lies by the Knicks. Was the first thing that popped into my head. Klaatu was also a good choice. Now I have to wrack my brain little.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

Sean Lennon, I thought of Parachute, but I think Queue might be closer...

 

[NyQuil]

I imagine Tame Impala's John Lennon impersonation act would be a candidate.

Thankfully, Kevin Parker has veered away in his own direction since then.

But, yes, his early stuff was pretty remarkable:

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

Thankfully, Kevin Parker has veered away in his own direction since then.

But, yes, his early stuff was pretty remarkable:

Wasn't really aware of that stuff and had no idea what Shareefruck was talking about (YouTube gave me a cover of Lennon's Woman, which wasn't what I was looking for). But yeah, amazing stuff! Found two other ones that really could be from a 1971 Beatles album!





I particularly like the second one. Sounds like John, and even has some sound experimentation... Oh, what could have been

 

[peate]

Some unknown stuff but similarities are there.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

Some unknown stuff but similarities are there.

The first 2 are contemporary to the Beatles, but pretty nice finds. The last one is hilarious - an abomination of a pastiche!

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

Kurt Cobain was known to idolize the Beatles.

Nirvana - About a Girl...the song is early pop Beatles 101

 

[Gordon Lightfoot]

Amazing! But it's contemporary to the Beatles. They nailed it though!

Damn, I didn't read the thread closely enough!