First thing first, I am the wrong person to review anything to do with The Beatles, the most over played band of my childhood, by the early 80's I had heard all the Beatles I ever needed to hear, I have never intentionally played any of their records since, Only choosing to listen to endless covers. The Beatles are so inescapable that I've heard more than enough since then. This album is a tribute to K.H. Li (Liao Gui Xiong) who is Jah Wobble's father-in-law and grandad to Tian Qiyi who are his sons John T and Charlie Wardle, Jah's wife Zi Lan Liao is also on the album all recorded by John T at Pagoda Studios in Liverpool, where Jah Wobble and his family can demonstrate their love of the Beatles. I'm sure this will go down well with Beatles obsessives; I'm just not one of them.
The album opens with Tomorrow Never Knows that is one of the Beatles tunes that has been covered endlessly, in this case with the Chinese percussion leading the way, before the sitars like sounds come in, the percussion heavy parts work, while reminding me more of Nico's Faction's eastern mysticism, than anything Ringo or George managed, this has a cool chilled out vibe, the dubby breakdown is perfect to gaze at lava lamps and oil wheels.
Strawberry Fields might work if I had taken some acid, but not being a fan of the original, this doesn't diverge far enough to work for me, Jah Wobble brings a close intimacy to the lyrics, while all the harps and guitars work around a cool Chinese percussion pattern, bringing that hazy feeling to the fore, but I would prefer to just listen to the percussion solo unadorned, ready to meditate too.
Within Without You works mainly by being a less well-known song, the phased guitars and other instrumentation bringing a other worldly feel, yet again the tablas and percussion shine through, set against a slow thoughtful bassline.
I Am The Walrus is nothing like my favorite cover of this song by Lol Coxhill, taking it in a far dubbier and string laden direction, this is laid back and psyche drenched with nice, odd effects coming and going.
Norwegian Wood exactly the sort of song that made me run in the opposite direction away from The Beatles, this is thankfully not as saccharine as the original, the strings work well to bring a sense of longing and hope for the love he wants, once again it's all about the percussion.
Blue Jay Way centers around a great bassline and floating strings resonating deeply, trying to find some cosmic awareness, the dub section takes us nicely far out, while seeking to get to the inner core.
The Inner Light uses the Chinese instrumentation to take this far away, more Chinese opera than Liverpool boy band, I almost expect to see junk's floating by, with the lantern festival underway, making this the soundtrack to the lanterns being released and floating across the sky. The fiddles following the lanterns, when they rise into the sky. This is the must hear tune for me on this album. The intuitive drum and fiddle interplay, counterposed against the deep bass anchor, opening the vistas that could be seen by those lanterns journeying across the sky.
Love You To is a woozy hazy madrigal, mantra infused song, of love and praise to make love all day long, certainly better than fighting all the time, the peace and love vibe and making clear that love is far more important than hate, is currently needed more than it has been for a very long time. So join them making love all day long. Here's to the next summer of love.
Flying is a snail's pace crawl, rather than a supersonic epic, it almost feels like you should be gliding to this somewhat downbeat meander. The album closes with Rain something most of us are praying for currently, this takes the hippy dippy lyrics, adding effects and more of the percussive magic, that makes this a rather listenable Beatles tribute album, I'm sure some of the purists will be horrified.
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