Vol. 7 of Lucinda Williams’ celebrated ‘Jukebox Themed Performance Series’, sees the Grammy-winning artist turn her sights on the Fab Four.
Having originally started her ‘Jukebox Series’, during the pandemic in 2020 as a way to help independent music during a period when there was no live performances, these themed sets consisting of cover songs were curated by Lucinda Williams and streamed for a fee with proceeds going to designated venues. The first series had seen Williams focus on the songs of her great friend Tom Petty, and the enormity’s of its success resulted in an official release in all formats which has continued through the following five volumes that have included the songs of both Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones.
Now Williams has turned her attention to non other than Liverpool’s finest, The Beatles, selecting twelve songs from their vast catalogue in an attempt to put her own indelible mark on. Somewhat surprisingly, despite the amount of performers that have already covered songs written by The Beatles, and all the great musicians that have recorded at Abbey Road, Williams is the first major artist to actually record Beatles’ songs at this hallowed studio, apart from the Fab Four themselves. All three of the writers in the band are represented across the twelve chosen tracks, and in many ways the high and low points of the album can be measured by how well Williams’ has adapted to their individual styles and been able to create her own imprint. With that in mind it is probably easier to review “Sings The Beatles From Abbey Road”, in three separate parts.
‘Don’t Let Me Down’, opens the album and is the first of four tracks from the pen of John Lennon. Here Williams is immediately able to inhabit the song that so suits her emotive and expressive delivery, singing as if the request in the title hangs precariously in the balance and the stakes have become so much higher that it is no longer a request, and more a desperate plead. ‘Rain’, is an interesting choice, having originally been recorded during the sessions for the “Revolver” album, it didn’t appear, though it was used as the B-side for the ‘Paperback Writer’, single. Here Williams capitalises on The Byrds influence, reinstating the jangling guitar riffs, performed here by Marc Ford and Doug Pettibone, while the backing vocals by Siobhan M. Kennedy help to transport the song back to those heady psychedelic days of the mid sixties. That vibe continues with ‘Yer Blues’, that first appeared on “The White Album”, and is a perfect fit for Williams. Here, with the help of her excellent band she amplifies the original version, heavier in the beat, more attitude in the delivery, with that pent-up controlled aggression that for so long has been her trademark. The final Lennon offering is ‘I’m So Tired’, which again first appeared on “The White Album”, and is another perfect fit, Williams vocals, since recovering from her stroke in 2020, sounding as good as they’ve ever done.
The second track on the album is ‘I’m Looking Through You’, which is the first of the four Paul McCartney songs. Originally from “Rubber Soul”, this offering differs little from the original in structure, honing in again on the influence The Byrds had on the Fab Four during this period. ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’, follows next and is the oldest of the songs selected for this project, having been first recorded during a period when The Beatles were still very much a performing outfit, which was reflected in the high energy of much of their output. Here Williams and her band struggle to deliver the same sense of urgency and exuberance of the original, choosing a heavier approach, well enough played, but without those excitable harmonies it just comes across a little subdued. ‘Let It Be’, with its melancholic overtones would at first seem a perfect fit for Williams, and yet despite an inspired guitar solo the offering is a little to respectful to the original, as if Williams is struggling to truly connect with McCartney’s personal narrative, and while that observation could be attached to the album’s closing song, ‘The Long And Winding Road’, in truth, breathing new life into this plodding number is simply beyond even the bounteous talents of Williams and her band, making its inclusion somewhat baffling.
Two of the tracks here are accredited to both Lennon and McCartney, with ‘I’ve Got A Feeling’, the third track from the “Let It Be”, album, being a combination of two unfinished songs that always felt like an afterthought at the time and despite the best efforts here still feels very disjointed. The other is the classic ‘With A Little Help From My Friends’, interestingly the only track on this album to originally appear on “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”, this rockier version drawing strong comparison to that of Joe Cocker’s Number 1 hit single, which in its self is fine, but one can’t help but feel a sense of redundancy emanating.
Finally, there are the two George Harrison numbers, on which Williams and her band completely excel. Possibly because she has more in common with Harrison’s approach to songwriting than either of the other two, for let’s not forget his strong personal and working relationship with both Dylan and Petty who Williams has already covered during this series of cover albums, and have been such major influences on her own musical journey. This take on ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’, could well be seen as the definitive version, Williams inhabiting every syllable, while the guitar solo from Ford and Pettibone leaves you baying for more. If that wasn’t enough, what they do with what is probably the greatest love song ever written, is breathtaking. ‘Something’, has always been a sublimely beautiful song, but Williams’ emotive delivery, connects in away that Harrison either couldn’t, or more likely daren’t, leaving everything out there, holding nothing back, all deftly supported by more gorgeous guitar playing.
Throughout “Sings The Beatles From Abbey Road”, there is an overwhelming sense of joy that emanates, and clearly Williams and her band have thoroughly embraced the opportunity to record some of their favourite numbers by surely one of the greatest bands of all time at the very studio that they were created. Where the album succeeds it almost registers of the scale, and even where it doesn’t, there is still plenty to enjoy, making it a worthy addition to the series.
