VE 125 Pepper Day 6/1
Jimi Hendrix: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
George Burns: With A Little Help From My Friends
Elton John: Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
Status Quo/Kaiser Chiefs: Getting Better
Hue & Cry: Fixing A Hole
Bryan Ferry: She’s Leaving Home
Frank Sidebottom/Eddie Izzard/Burnkit2600: Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite
Sonic Youth: Within You Without You
Keith Moon: When I’m 64
Michelle Shocked: Lovely Rita
The Triffids: Good Morning, Good Morning
Wes Montgomery: A Day In The Life
The Beatles: Sgt Pepper Reprise/A Day In the Life
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Today on the VE
A birthday party for a record album! You could forget your mom’s birthday, or even your spouse….but I’ll bet you remember what record was born on June 1, 1967.
I’m PC and this is the VE
Jimi Hendrix: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
June 4, 1967. The Saville Theater, London. The Jimi Hendrix Experience played before the rock royaly of the day, and only 3 days after it’s release, Jimi wowed Paul McCartney and George Harrison with his rendition of rthe just-released “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” On the original album, the song segues right into the next number, “Witih A Little Help Froom My Friends.” Joe Cocker’s slow and soulful version redefined the song, which was conceived as a lightweight vehicle for Ringo. But what worked well for Ringo, worked wonders for George Burns!
George Burns: With A Little Help From My Friends
Elton John: Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
The VE celebrating Sgt Pepper’s birthday. The watershed album was released int ihe UK by Parlophone Records on June 1, 1967, and on June 2 by Capitol in the USA. The only time that a Beatle participarted in a cover version of a Beatles song was in 1974 when John Lennon helped Elton John remake “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds.” They would perfrom it together at Madison Square Garden later that year, in what would be Lennon’s last concert appearance. Celebrating Pepper’s birthday has become a bit of an event, and in 2007, the BBC did it right, gathering contemporary groups at Abbey Road to re-create the album using the original 4 track equipment The Beatles used–even the same microphones and analog tape machines. In performance, and sonics, the Kaiser Chiefs got it right…
Status Quo/Kaiser Chiefs: Getting Better
“All This And WWII” was one of three films that featured Beatles songs as a soundtrack–the other two were the ill-fated Bee Gees Peter Frampton Sgt. Pepper film in 1978, and Julie Taymor’s Across The Universe in 2005. But All This…was the first…and Status Quo had their way with “Getting Better.” Liscensing Beatles songs is a pricey affair–Mad Men just paid a ransom for the use of “Tomorrow Never Knows,” but when Michael Jackson controlled The Beatles catalog, Gomez version of “Getting Better” popped up everywhere as a Phillips TV commercial (CLIP)….
Eighties covers of Sgt Pepper tunes were collected for charity on the British compilation “Sgt Pepper Knew My Father,” and we’ll source a few versions from that collection. I had the good fortune to nab a vinyl copy at Rough Trade on Portobello Road in London. From it, Pepper’s next selection, “Fixing A Hoile,” re-
imagined by Hue & Cry…
Hue & Cry: Fixing A Hole
Bryan Ferry: She’s Leaving Home
From All This and World War II, a natural for suave Bryan Ferry…’She’s Leaving Home. The VE is throwing a birthday party for Sgt Pepper’s LHCB. Now, for the problematic “Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite.” It’s a novelty song to begin with, and the versions I’ve uncovered are unconventional to say the least. First, since “All This” is still cued up, here’s British comic Frank Sidebottom’s take, followed by a bit of comic Eddie
Izzard’s rendition from “Acoss The Universe.”
Frank Sidebottom/Eddie Izzard: Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite …But here’s the version of “Mr. Kite that I think John Lenon would have loved best…taking it to an even weirder place, here’s Burnkit 2600
Burnkit2600: Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite ..And so ends side one of the original Sgt Pepper. Shal we flip over top Side 2?
Sonic Youth: Within You Without You
For my money, one of the great and organic Beatles remakes. Sonic Youth, “ithin You Without You.” The VE is throwing a birthday party for Sgt Pepper’s LHCB, released June 1 1967. “When I’m 64” was actually not a choice for George Burns when he waxed a couple of Beatles tunes in 1972–he was too old to sing it! As a novelty, it works well for Keith Moon, who sadly would not even make it to 34….
Keith Moon: When I’m 64
Michelle Shocked: Lovely Rita
The Triffids: Good Morning, Good Morning
The VE …it’s the Sargent’s birthday, and we’ve tracked through the album rundown with interpertations of the timelesssongs, from Keith Moon’s “When I’m 64”, to Michel;le Shocked “Lovely Ritam” and just there, The Triffids and “Good Morning , Good Morning.” And that brings us to the album’s momumental finale, “A Day In The Life.” Just as we began with Jimi Hendrix with the Sgt Pepper title song, let’s wrap with another guitar legend, but from the opposite end of the music spectrum. Jimi played the tune live the week it was rleased, but Wes Montgomery was the first to record his own version, reacting almost instantly to a song that would set a whole new standard–for standards. From June 1967, as the world was absorbing the original, Wes found this groove… Wes Montgomery: A Day In The Life Wes Montgomery in June 1967, “A Day In The Life.” One of the first recorded reactions to the album that re-set the premise of pop music. But hold on. I goofed. I left one out. We skipped right from Good Morning Good Morning , to A Day In the Life…but I totally blew past the Sgt Pepper Reprise. Let’s fix that…. The Beatles: Sgt Pepper Reprise/A Day In the Life And THAT’s the VE. Keep those thumbs-ups coming at the VE page on FB check prn.live’s archives and rtds.ca’s on demand for past shows, and follow me on Twitter. I’m PC.