Search - Fab Four :: Christmas With the Fab Four: Ultimate Tribute

Very Clever.

David B. Pigott | 01/13/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Fab Four are the best tribute band of the Beatles, period. And this is a work of genius. Every guitar lick and every nuance of the Beatles albums are perfectly reproduced here, and they are perfectly suited to the Christmas tunes.



Not only are all these carols played in the style of the Beatles, but each one is inspired by a specific Beatles song. So, for instance, "Rudolph" is played in the style of "I Saw Her Standing There".



Here is a list of the Christmas songs on the album, as well as the original Beatles songs that they're patterned after:



Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer--I Saw Her Standing There

Joy To the World--Please Please Me

Feliz Navidad--And I Love Her

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing--Help!

Away In A Manger--You've Got to Hide Your Love Away

Good King Wenceslas--Tell Me What You See

It Came Upon A Midnight Clear--Baby's In Black

Winter Wonderland--Honey Don't

Frosty The Snowman--Mr. Moonlight

Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!--Eight Days a Week

Santa Claus Is Coming To Town--When I'm Sixty-Four

Silent Night--Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)

The Christmas Song (Chestnuts)--Here, There and Everywhere

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen--Within You Without You

The Little Drummer Boy--Sun King

Dear Santa--Oh! Darling

What Child Is This?--While My Guitar Gently Weeps

Blue Christmas--Revolution 1

Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree--Got To Get You Into My Life

Jingle Bells--Tomorrow Never Knows"

Wow!!

David B. Pigott | 01/02/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"CHRISTMAS WITH THE FAB FOUR is what a dedicated tribute band is all about. The Beatles themselves could not have fused these standard Christmas songs with their own classic tunes. However, it is as if the Beatles just put out a new album. Right off the bat we have the "One,Two,Three, Four!" count-in, thinking that we are going to hear "I Saw Her Standing There" and it turns into "Rudolph...", "HELP!" becomes "HARK, THE HERALD.." etc. There is a lot of thought, care, and love crafted into each song and some of the arrangements are ingenious. For instance, the Christmas carol standard "Away in a Manger" is fused with "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away". The gimmick is that both titles have the word "away" in it. Also, the song "Tomorrow Never Knows" has a line that is repeated "...It is Knowing...It is Knowing." The song is fused with "Jingle Bells" and the band repeats the line "..it is Snowing...it is Snowing". This is just all just pure love with an encyclopedic knowledge and study of Beatlemusic. The whole album is magic and it is fun to pick out the original Beatle song intended in the fusion process. The FAB FOUR should be commended on a job well done. It has to be one of the most original Christmas albums in recent years and one hopes they try to do another."

Well done

Music Maniac | Pennsylvania, USA | 11/19/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Here we have an interesting pair of CDs, marrying Christmas carols and hymns with classic Beatles songs. With a few exceptions, the songs you get here are done very well. From what I had read before I got the CDs, I expected the Christmas songs to be sung to Beatles melodies. For the most part, though, it's only the musical arrangement that is taken from the Beatles, while the vocal melodies remain fairly true to the Christmas tunes.For those of us who are fans of both the Beatles and Christmas music, this is a very interesting project. Unless, of course, you're a purist who feels that the Beatles' classics should not be tampered with; if that's the case, then you will want to pass on this product. For the rest of us, here's a run-down of what to expect from the CDs.First CD: "A Fab Four Christmas"1. "Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer" -- Arranged like "I Saw Her Standing There," the first thing said is, "This is take 17," after which you hear, "One, two, three, FOUR," just like the lead-in to the Beatles' classic. You hear what sounds almost exactly like the original Beatles recording, but then you're surprised when the vocal kicks into a Christmas carol. The intro is catchy, but once the song starts it actually turns out to be one of the weakest tracks on the CD. I typically skip to the next.2. "Joy to the World" -- Arranged like "Please Please Me," but the harmonica is immediately playing the Christmas tune. During the song, the arrangement gets shuffled around a bit. After the line, "And heaven and nature sing," you hear the "Come on" shout-back part of the Beatles' song, making an interesting blend.3. "Feliz Navidad" -- Arranged like "And I Love Her," the classic Christmas rocker is toned down to a nice ballad.4. "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" -- Arranged like "Help," this is one of the few songs on these CDs that retains part of the Beatles' vocal melodies. The song starts immediately with the classic "Help!" chorus, but the lyrics are: "Hark! The angels sing / Hark! The newborn King / Hark! You know the angels sing / Hark!" After that, they delve into a very upbeat version of the Christmas carol.5. "Away in a Manger" -- Arranged like "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away," an interesting part of this one is the line, "The little Lord Jesus asleep on the HAY!" They shout, "HAY," just like the Beatles shouted, "HEY," in their classic. You immediately expect to hear them sing, "You've got to hide...," but they don't. Another interesting twist to this track is that they also go into "We Wish You A Merry Christmas," and add in English accented chatter, sounding much like the Beatles themselves.6. "Good King Wenceslas" -- Arranged like "Tell Me What You See." This Christmas song is one that I'm less familiar with, but it blends well with the Beatles' music.7. "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear" -- Arranged like "Baby's in Black."8. "Winter Wonderland" -- Arranged like "Honey Don't," this is a "Ringo" contribution. Honestly, I never cared for most of Ringo's country-influenced songs, so my opinion of this one is somewhat biased. I could do without it, but Ringo fans will probably like it. The biggest highlight of the track for me is the last few seconds, where the tag ending from "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby" is thrown on.9. "Frosty the Snowman" -- Arranged like "Mr. Moonlight."10. "Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!" -- Arranged like "Eight Days a Week," this is a fun rocker. Possibly my favorite song on this disc. Well done.Second CD: "Have Yourself A FAB-ulous Little Christmas"1. "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" -- Arranged like "When I'm 64," the music track stays remarkably close to the Beatles' classic, and the vocal sounds somewhat similar to Paul McCartney. Well done.2. "Silent Night" -- Arranged like "Norwegian Wood," this one sounds great. One of my favorite renditions of this song.3. "The Christmas Song" -- Arranged like "Here, There and Everywhere."4. "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" -- Arranged like "Within You Without You," it's not exactly what one would expect for a Christmas hymn. Surprisingly, though, it works.5. "The Little Drummer Boy" -- Arranged like "Sun King," this one is interesting. The second line of the carol was changed to, "A new Son King to see," obviously alluding to the Beatles' song title. The tune later turns into "Jingle Bells" for the fade ending. Well done.6. "Dear Santa" -- Arranged like "Oh Darlin," these songs blend together well.7. "What Child Is This?" -- Arranged like "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," this is one of my favorites. The music track stays remarkably close to the Beatles' classic, but surprisingly accompanies the Christmas hymn very well. Well done.8. "Blue Christmas" -- Arranged like "Revolution 1," this one's a great slow-rocker.9. "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree" -- Arranged like "Got To Get You Into My Life," this one starts out with a horn section playing "Oh Christmas Tree." This is quite possibly the most interesting musical arrangement I've heard for this Christmas song.10. "Jingle Bells" -- Arranged like "Tomorrow Never Knows," we have here another arrangement that one wouldn't expect for a Christmas carol. Again, though, it surprisingly works, and is one of my favorites. The sound effects used throughout the track make it sound a lot like the Beatles' song. In addition, at the end of the song we hear, "It is snowing," sung the same way that the Beatles sang, "It is knowing."One thing that is somewhat surprising is that the Fab Four didn't mix John & Yoko's "Happy Christmas" or Paul McCartney's "Wonderful Christmastime" with Beatles songs for this collection. That would have been interesting to hear. Maybe they attempted to do something with them but couldn't find a good fit, but one can only speculate.I only have one real complaint with these CDs. Both of these discs were apparently issued at the same time (both dated 2002). Together you get a total playing time of about one hour, which is less than what can fit on one disc. I would have preferred that everything had been on one CD, thus not being so wasteful of our natural resources, as well as not taking up as much space in the consumer's CD collection. But, that's a fairly minor complaint, and the price makes it well worth the purchase."