Picks On The Beatles

I have a personal theory where the Beatles are concerned. This is opinion, but one that a lot of other fans I know agree with: their music doesn't need covered, and 99.99% of the time nobody can improve on the originals, and many times butcher the songs they try to play. Example: nobody in rock history did a worse disservice to the Beatles than when Joe Cocker covered "With A Little Help From My Friends". I don't care if Jimmy Page played on this abomination. It was absolutely horrible, destroying the tempo, the spirit and arrangement and substituting Cocker's "emotional" blathering and slobbering vocals with a turgid tempo so slow it almost stopped. Sorry if you're a Joe Cocker fan but I am not - same with other "artists" who never wrote a note of original music and usually ruined the covers. Linda Ronstadt comes to mind. Her slaughter of "That'll Be The Day" should have been a capital offense. So, it goes without saying there are very very few people who could do the Beatles justice. Among those who did succeed were those with almost if not equal musicianship and talent to boot. Jeff Beck did a stellar jazz/rock reading of "She's A Woman" and a nice instrumental cover of "A Day In The Life". Wes Montgomery covered "Eleanor Rigby" and again, "A Day In The Life". Jimi Hendrix did a furious rocking version of "Day Tripper" on his "Radio One" album, featuring John Lennon on backing vocals. Cheap Trick also did a great job on "Magical Mystery Tour". So you see that in order to do the Beatles justice, you have to be pretty damn good yourself. So talk about a double take when Chet Atkins, guitarist extraordinaire decided to do an album of Beatles' tunes, the material through "Rubber Soul" to choose from at the time. It was great. Chet gets my vote as the single greatest overall guitar player ever because he was a master of any style he went near. There was no territory he was afraid to explore, and while he certainly didn't delve in hard/psychedelic music, he showed he had a complete grip on great pop music, this album rich in the blues foundations all rock and roll came from, and doing what many would have considered impossible: making stone cold rockers like "She Loves You" an elegant song, a fine reading of "If I Fell", one of the prettiest tunes ever written by Lennon/McCartney, and even rocking out on "A Hard Days Night". All tunes are instrumental, with some harmonica playing substituting some of the vocal melody lines. It is done with typical good taste, showing a bluesy side Atkins didn't normally specialize in, some fine rock and roll licks, and a seal of approval by George Harrison in the liner notes. For Beatles purists, it's usually a good idea to shy away from inferior covers, but "Picks On The Beatles" is a must for both Atkins and Beatles fans. Never were their tunes ever handled with more love, care and attention to their original intent. By the way, Aerosmith and the idiots who redid "Sgt. Pepper" should also be sentenced at least to life on Devils Island if it's still being used. If not, rebuild it. I hate Aerosmith's version of "Come Together" with a passion.

One of the many albums released by major artists covering Beatles songs during the U.S. Beatlemania period of 1964-1966, this one is especially memorable. Chet Atkins was one of Harrison's idols (particularly evident in The Beatles' recordings of "All My Loving" and "Till There Was You") and here Chet turns the tables and does a great tribute. Chet was not really "virtuosic" in the way that contemporary guitarists usually understand the term. He cared more about making colorful and appealing music than about using songs as a vehicle for overt exhibitionism, although I should concede that during the 1950s and early 60s it took far less than today to set oneself apart from the mass of pickers and strummers. At the time Mr. Atkins broke through to major success, there was something exciting simply in mixing classical technique with the electric guitar. The techniques he used - melodic variation, harmonization in 3rds and 6ths, punctuating major 2nds to indicate 7th chords (Harrison would copy this in his solo for "Slow Down"), passages of harmonics, string bending, shifting registers, "train" and "Hawaiian" effects with the vibrato bar, nylon guitar style arpeggiation and the "Travis-pick" which he and Merle Travis devised of syncopated melody notes combined with alternating (and sometimes muted) chordal bass patterns - were all put to the service of creating memorable musical landscapes. His guitar was always very controlled, tuneful, and immediately pleasing in tone. On this album, it really sings. The arrangements here are very true in spirit to The Beatles' originals, but Chet puts his stamp on each of them. They are ALL extremely well done. Some (and maybe most) of these tunes have never been covered better by anyone else. When I first heard this recording in 1966 I was partial to the simpler, more folksy and "prettier" tunes such as "I'll Follow the Sun", "If I Fell" and "Yesterday". The bluesier and more country-sounding treatments given "Can't Buy Me Love", "She's a Woman" and especially "I Feel Fine" didn't appeal to me at all. I thought Chet had wrecked these songs making them so "ethnic". But Chet knew better, of course, than the thirteen year old me. Where I heard the group's pop sensibility, he heard their inspiration. Now these are among my favorites. That said, "I'll Follow the Sun" and "Michelle" are the most technically varied arrangements. Chet even mimics Chuck Berry in "Michelle"! How's that for unusual?! Also particularly nice are "She Loves You", the minor blues "Things We Said Today" and the barn-burning "I'll Cry Instead" which is so comfortable in its country-combo setting, you'd swear it warn't The Beatles at all, but Bill Monroe instead! This is without any doubt one of the very best of all Beatle-theme cover albums. HIGHLY recommended. PS. For those interested in playing this music themselves, Chet's guitar parts from the entire album were published long ago as a single-book collection (a friend of mine had it) and I believe it's been reprinted. I myself have never owned it or even used it though, so I can't attest to the accuracy of the transcriptions.

I used to own Chet Atkins picks on the Beatles in the late sixties through the 1980s and then somebody stole it from my home. I really missed it through the years and tried to find a copy of the album on other shopping sites but nobody seemed to have it available then finally last year I saw that it was available on Amazon and I jumped at the chance to purchase a copy on compact disc. I love the smooth way chet picks out the Beatle songs; He makes each one so melodically perfect and enjoyable ;songs like "Yesterday", or the song, The Things we said Today:or "Can't buy me love", or ,She Loves You will have you singing with the music because it is done so well. Even the Beatles themselves had claimed that they liked chets translation instrumentally of their music very well! All the songs on this disc are really good so I recommend it to all music lovers.

If you're looking for a nice eaay-listening album of the classic Beatle tunes we all know and love than this is it. However if you are looking for Chet's best ripping guitar playing this isn't what you're going to want. Production quailty is simple and straight forward. This is best for background music but still relaxing with a good pair of headphones. Chet was and will be one of the best guitar players ever. Those today players like Tommy Emmanuel and Doyle Dykes owe a lot of what they do to Chet.

Beatles songs transformed by Chet Atkins into his "country/jazz" guitar style. Great laid-back driving music for all ages and musical tastes. Excellent recording quality and great price. Buy it!

Always a great music and delivery experience with Import CD's. Quick delivery. Well packed and quality music CD's and DVD's at an affordable price. Excellent A+++++

La star américaine de la guitare country folk et rock and roll

nice

very good cd

ギターによる、演奏ものをよく聴きますが、 アールクルーも影響されたと言われている、 チェットアトキンスの演奏を聴いてみたいと思い、購入しました。 素朴で、きっとテクニック満載で弾いているのであろうと思いました。 しかも、欲のビートルズの曲が、 ギターで響いています。 ハーモニカとの共演もあり、いいですね。 「ミッシェル」が気に入りました。 表紙もなぜか面白い。 「1．アイ・フィール・ファイン」の曲、シーサイドバウンド（ザ･タイガース）を思い出しました。 何か似ている部分があると思いました。