SCRIBBLED NOISE

Sufjan, Fiery Furnaces Head Rubber Soul Tribute

Rob Kleckner reports:
In a shocking turn of events, we are pleased to report yet another Beatles tribute album. But this one's different, folks. It ain't just a big steaming pile of "Yesterday" and "Across the Universe" covers (for the love of God, please, stop covering these songs!).

This album is a track-by-track run through of the Beatles' 1965 masterpiece (aren't they all?) Rubber Soul. It's titled, appropriately, This Bird Has Flown - A 40th Anniversary Tribute to the Beatles' Rubber Soul, and will be released by Razor & Tie on October 25. Featured on the album are Sufjan Stevens, the Fiery Furnaces, Ted Leo, Low, Nellie McKay, and a few others.

The album was produced by Jim Sampas, who producer a Bruce Springsteen tribute album in 2002. Sampas says, "As we looked toward artists we would approach, we felt they should be kindred spirits, whose gifts for singing and arranging lend themselves to these melodies and themes. Each artist on this album brought their own fascinating interpretations and have extracted new meanings from Rubber Soul."

This thing is chock full of Bens, too. Harper on "Michelle", Lee with "In My Life", and Kweller doing "Wait". What, are the Beatles too good for you, Folds? Oh wait, no, you did "Golden Slumbers" for the I Am Sam soundtrack. How about you finish that medley, you Abbey Road elitist! "Oh, look at me, I'm too cool for pre- Revolver Beatles!"

Tracklist:

01 Drive My Car - The Donnas
02 Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) - The Fiery Furnaces
03 You Won't See Me - Dar Williams
04 Nowhere Man - Low
05 Think for Yourself - Yonder Mountain String Band
06 The Word - Mindy Smith
07 Michelle - Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals
08 What Goes On - Sufjan Stevens
09 Girl - Rhett Miller
10 I'm Looking Through You - Ted Leo
11 In My Life - Ben Lee
12 Wait - Ben Kweller
13 If I Needed Someone - Nellie McKay
14 Run for Your Life - Cowboy Junkies

* Razor & Tie: http:// razorandtie.com/

posted by KP @ Wednesday, August 03, 2005