Battle of the Bands: The Beatles vs. Spike Jones & his City Slickers

One of the few truly boring recordings ever laid down by the Beatles, was "The Sheik of Araby," for the 1962 project rejected by Decca Records. Truth be told, though, it's a pretty cool song, especially in the hands of a guy like Spike Jones. But hey, don't take my word for it. See (and hear) for yourself.

I Am the Albatross: Beatles Neckties

For more in our series of nightmarish neckwear, click HERE. 

Christmas Songs by The Beatles??

Nah. But this may be the next best thing, by Beatles tribute band The Fab Four. I ran this post for last month's Forgotten Music, but it happened to fall on Thanksgiving Day, and I reckon most folks were too busy to listen. So here's another shot.

When it comes to Christmas music, I'm a Scrooge. Give me anything else, please! But a few years back my friend Drew Bentley, former rockin' deejay idol of the Omaha airwaves, sent me these two albums, released in 2002. I've since hauled them out at least once a year, and they always give me a smile. Each song is based on familiar Beatles tune, and you'll hear a lot of familiar riffs. I'd challenge you to guess which song is which, but YouTube spills the beans.

I see the original CDs are now pretty expensive (at least on Amazon), but you can get a digital download of Hark! for $8.99. This was a later release combining all 20 songs from the two albums above. It's also available in CD form on the band's website, HERE.

Yeah, yeah, yeah!

Joy to the World

Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree

Frosty the Snowman

Jingle Bells

Good King Wenceslas

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Let It Snow

Blue Christmas

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

Forgotten Music: Christmas with The Fab Four

When it comes to Christmas music, I'm a Scrooge. Give me anything else, please! But a few years back my friend Drew Bentley, former rockin' deejay idol of the Omaha airwaves, sent me these two 2002  albums by Beatles tribute band The Fab Four. I've since hauled them out at least once a year, and they always give me a smile. Each song is based on familiar Beatles tune, and you'll hear a lot of familiar riffs. I'd challenge you to guess which song is which, but YouTube spills the beans.

I see the original CDs are now pretty expensive (at least on Amazon), but you can get a digital download of Hark! for $8.99. This was a later release combining all 20 songs from the two albums above. It's also available in CD form on the band's website, HERE.

Yeah, yeah, yeah!

Joy to the World

Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree

Frosty the Snowman

Jingle Bells

Good King Wenceslas

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Let It Snow

Blue Christmas

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

More of this month's Forgotten Music, Christmas and otherwise, at the blog of Mr. Scott D Parker.

Forgotten Music: The "Silver" Beatles

You've heard the story, but have you heard the music? On January 1, 1962, John, Paul, George and Pete Best recorded 15 songs in an audition for Decca Records. Decca passed on them, signing a band called "Brian Poole and the Tremeloes" instead.

The "Silver Beatles" name is complicated. Quick Version: For a period of a few months in 1960 (when the drummer was an older guy named Tommy Moore), one of the names they used was The Silver Beetles (or Beatles). Right around the time Pete Best joined up (in August of that year), they dropped the "Silver" and became simply The Beatles. So the group recording at Decca was actually called The Beatles. But, in the years since, these early recordings have sometimes been attributed to The Silver Beatles as a way of differentiating them from the band we know.

Six of the tracks from that Decca session appeared on the official release Anthology 1 in 1995. Those songs are Searchin', Three Cool Cats, Besame Mucho, Sheik of Araby, Hello Little Girl and Like Dreamers Do. Three others were later recorded (much better) by Ringo and the gang and are quite familiar: Money, Memphis and Til There Was You.

That leaves six songs that are harder to come by, and those are presented here. I was going to put up audio-only versions from my own vinyl collection, but found these on YouTube (from a later remastered CD) to be of better sound quality. The nine tracks mentioned above are on YouTube too.

Three of these tunes were later recorded live at the BBC and appeared on the album of that name. The others, as far as I know, have never appeared on any "official" Beatles release.

John sings lead on Sure to Fall and To Know Her is to Love Her. George does Crying, Waiting, Hoping and Take Good Care of My Baby. That's Paul on September in the Rain and Love of the Loved (a Lennon/McCartney original).

P.S. Pete Best still performs with his own band, and released a CD as recently as 2008. Visit his website HERE.

For more Forgotten Music (and Forgotten Books) visit Patti Abbott's pattinase.