Time: 50:04
Size: 114.6 MB
Styles: Rock, Pop
Year: 2014
Art: Front
[3:54] 1. Revolution
[2:53] 2. Friday On My Mind
[2:58] 3. Johnny B. Goode
[2:58] 4. This Boy
[2:16] 5. In My Life
[2:18] 6. Blackbird
[4:05] 7. For What It's Worth
[2:33] 8. Drive My Car
[2:06] 9. Can't Buy Me Love
[4:28] 10. While My Guitar Gently Weeps
[2:55] 11. God Only Knows
[6:40] 12. People Are Strange
[3:07] 13. Day Tripper
[3:27] 14. The Last Time
[3:19] 15. Mercedes Benz
As of February 9, 2014, it's been 50 years since the Beatles appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show, thereby beginning their revolutionary invasion of American pop culture. Five decades later, it's more clear than ever before that musicians will never stop covering the Beatles. “Yesterday” remains the most widely covered song in pop music history. Popular tributes to the Beatles range from film musicals (Across the Universe) to Broadway imitations (RAIN) to the four guys who dress up as mop tops every summer and play songs by John, Paul, George, and Ringo at my hometown’s big annual festival. The band’s songs have been the basis for episodes of Glee and American Idol. Hell, a “Grammy Salute to the Beatles” featuring high-profile pop acts like John Mayer, Keith Urban, John Legend, Alicia Keys, and Katy Perry is airing on national television as I type these words.
This is a band whose songs will never die, partially because they are great, great songs and because they served as soundtrack for an entire generation, but also because modern bands and artists will never stop replaying, recreating, and retreading those songs for long enough to let them go or give them rest. This is both a blessing and a curse. It’s a blessing because Beatles songs almost always sound good and it's a curse because so many of the band’s songs have become overdone. I’d heard Beatles tunes so many times before I even started exploring music that I could never see myself investing as much in the band’s music as I have with, say, Bruce Springsteen. More than any other artist, the Beatles seem like a band that belongs to the generations that came before me rather than to me personally, and I’ve never been really able to put myself into their music and make it my own as a result. I know for a fact that I’m not the only person who has this issue.
This is probably all just my way of admitting that there are no Beatles records in my all-time top 50. But that doesn’t mean I’m not a ardent fan of the band’s music, or that I can’t appreciate one of their songs whenever I hear it, whether its playing out of a jukebox or being covered by a band up on the stage. On the contrary, it was with excitement and anticipation that I first pressed play on MonaLisa Twins play Beatles & more, a compilation oldies cover album that landed in my inbox earlier this week. I wasn’t excited because I knew who the MonaLisa Twins were. Rather, I was intrigued because I knew the songs. I wasn’t rolling my eyes at another band doing a Beatles tribute/cover album, or wondering how I was going to sit through yet another version of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” I was ready to hear these songs again, even if the cover versions brought nothing new to the table. And isn’t that interesting? Doesn’t it speak volumes about the universality and unparalleled accessibility of the Beatles music that I was ready to hear it again, presented in new form, by artists I knew nothing about? I don’t think it even particularly mattered how much I liked the record. I knew I was going to listen, and I knew I was going to write this review, because I already had most of that first paragraph in my mind before I even downloaded the record or pressed play.
Luckily, I do like this record. It’s nothing new, obviously. It’s the songs we’ve heard a million times before, and it’s not making any ambitious attempt to do them differently. Maybe if Tame Impala recorded the entirety of Revolver for his next record, you could expect a few curveballs, but that's not what this is. Instead, the record is delivered by two throwback pop songstresses from Austria – who really are twins named Mona and Lisa, respectively – and who recorded at least half these takes in live environments. Suffice to say, it’s a pretty no-frills cover album, but it works solely because the MonaLisa Twins are good enough musicians to pull it off. ~Craig Manning
This is a band whose songs will never die, partially because they are great, great songs and because they served as soundtrack for an entire generation, but also because modern bands and artists will never stop replaying, recreating, and retreading those songs for long enough to let them go or give them rest. This is both a blessing and a curse. It’s a blessing because Beatles songs almost always sound good and it's a curse because so many of the band’s songs have become overdone. I’d heard Beatles tunes so many times before I even started exploring music that I could never see myself investing as much in the band’s music as I have with, say, Bruce Springsteen. More than any other artist, the Beatles seem like a band that belongs to the generations that came before me rather than to me personally, and I’ve never been really able to put myself into their music and make it my own as a result. I know for a fact that I’m not the only person who has this issue.
This is probably all just my way of admitting that there are no Beatles records in my all-time top 50. But that doesn’t mean I’m not a ardent fan of the band’s music, or that I can’t appreciate one of their songs whenever I hear it, whether its playing out of a jukebox or being covered by a band up on the stage. On the contrary, it was with excitement and anticipation that I first pressed play on MonaLisa Twins play Beatles & more, a compilation oldies cover album that landed in my inbox earlier this week. I wasn’t excited because I knew who the MonaLisa Twins were. Rather, I was intrigued because I knew the songs. I wasn’t rolling my eyes at another band doing a Beatles tribute/cover album, or wondering how I was going to sit through yet another version of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” I was ready to hear these songs again, even if the cover versions brought nothing new to the table. And isn’t that interesting? Doesn’t it speak volumes about the universality and unparalleled accessibility of the Beatles music that I was ready to hear it again, presented in new form, by artists I knew nothing about? I don’t think it even particularly mattered how much I liked the record. I knew I was going to listen, and I knew I was going to write this review, because I already had most of that first paragraph in my mind before I even downloaded the record or pressed play.
Luckily, I do like this record. It’s nothing new, obviously. It’s the songs we’ve heard a million times before, and it’s not making any ambitious attempt to do them differently. Maybe if Tame Impala recorded the entirety of Revolver for his next record, you could expect a few curveballs, but that's not what this is. Instead, the record is delivered by two throwback pop songstresses from Austria – who really are twins named Mona and Lisa, respectively – and who recorded at least half these takes in live environments. Suffice to say, it’s a pretty no-frills cover album, but it works solely because the MonaLisa Twins are good enough musicians to pull it off. ~Craig Manning
MonaLisa Twins Play Beatles And More