Search - Judy Collins :: Judy Collins Sings Lennon & Mccartney

Take a sad song and make it better"?

H. F. Corbin | ATLANTA, GA USA | 07/17/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"After having recorded an all Dylan and then an all Leonard Cohen CD, Judy Collins finally sings twelve Lennon-McCartney songs. (Is it possible that she has only recorded one Beatles song previously, her glorious rendition of "In My Life"?) My favorite is "Yesterday," with a simple, mostly piano accompaniment, followed closely by "Blackbird," "When I'm Sixty-four" and "Hey Jude." "When I'm Sixty-four" is particularly poignant since John Lennon, as the whole world knows, was killed years ago and never made that magic number. Collins adds a nice touch by changing the final phrase to "when I'm 84." Adding a children's choir to "Hey Jude" works nicely as well. The selections that work best are those with fewer rather than more instruments (including Korg Triton and Minimoog) accompanying Ms. Collins.

"And I Love Her" and "Norwegian Wood" suffer from too much loud background music and should be remixed.



Ms. Collins faces the dilemma that everyone faces when he or she records music that the original group or singer has already made famous. While her arrangements of these familiar songs are perfectly fine, she does not improve on the originals. No one will ever sing "When I'm Sixty-four" and "Yesterday" better than the Beatles for the precise reason that they sang beautifully together. (The women who did a tribute album to Dolly Parton had the same problem a few years ago.) In a word, it is a lot easier to improve on a song sung by Bob Dylan or Leonard Cohen than John Lennon and Paul McCartney. On the other hand, that a singer in her sixth decade is still singing and doing it so beautifully is cause for rejoicing.



While this is not Ms. Collins' best CD (I would give that to the outrageously wonderful "Who Knows Where the Times Goes"), her tribute to Lennon-McCartney is certainly worth listening to and far better than what most of her contemporaries are recording."

Liquid Silver Forever

Mark D. Prouse | Riverdale (Bronx), NY | 08/13/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Among all of the gushing reviews here, obviously from mostly big fans of Ms. Collins, there is a 1-Star review from someone who thought this was the worst album ever made. I would say both sides have greatly overstated their cases. There is nothing extraordinary about this recording, other than the fact that Judy Collins is singing better than ever these days, and her "liquid silver" voice has not tarnished with age. If anything, it has gained some luster. I like some of these renditions very much, especially "And I Love Her," a direct and simple reading of "I'll Follow The Sun," and "Golden Slumbers," the latter even including a nod to early Beatles' experimentation with backwards tape. Although production values and vocal delivery are of high quality, some of the artistic choices made on other songs had me scratching my head. For instance, there are some stunning bits of vocal beauty in "Hey Jude," but then it's ruined by a children's choir ("yuck," was my reaction), and why do this old thing, anyway? Just my opinion, but it's not one of my favorite Beatles songs; I always found it repetitive and boring, once it went into its sing-along, endless chorus mode. It also points out the other reason I found this CD so disappointing: its lack of imagination in song selection. Where Judy could have gone deep, as she did long ago when whe covered "In My Life," she has opted this time for cute: "When I'm Sixty-four," and "Penny Lane." Many of the other selections are just so done-to-death: "Yesterday," "Blackbird," "Long And Winding Road," and Collins adds nothing new to the endless stream of previous attempts by other artists. At least Ella Fitzgerald, may she rest in peace, went out on a limb when she chose a Beatles song: "Savoy Truffle!" Granted, it's a George Harrison composition, but I believe it makes the point: if one is going to go over this well-trodden territory, some risks ought to be taken and more creativity should be allowed into the process. In this case, too much caution was the rule, and the result, while pretty, is rather bland. So, as much as I admire this marvelous voice, and found the album to be a mostly pleasant listening experience, I can only, regretfully, give it the 3 Stars. For the few keepers, I will hold on to this CD, but it could have been so much better."

Fantastic

filmteach225 | USA | 07/24/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"At first, the notion of Judy Collins doing an all Beatles cd turned me off: who could improve on the originals? But this cd, the more I listen to it, really grows on me and I very much enjoy Collins's varied interpretations. In fact, she makes some of these tunes sound new again and who would have thought that possible? She is especially good on "Blackbird" and "Long and Winding Road," but also shines on "And I Love Her" and "Good Day Sunshine." "I'll Follow the Sun" was a perfect choice for her, as well. I'm not crazy about the children's choir on "Hey Jude," and it was a brave venture on her part to even record this classic...it works well in spots, but the ending kind of falls apart, in my opinion. The most remarkable thing about this cd is Collins's voice; it sounds as clear and crisp and warm as it did decades ago; in some ways, it sounds as if it's improved over time. I never would have guessed when I first started listing to Collins in 1968 that she would still be putting out albums almost 40 years later. All in all, this is a cd I would highly recommend. In my opinion, Judy could sing the alphabet and make it truly her own...at this point in her career she has nothing to prove, and it seems as if she's having lots of fun taking on the Beatles. Thanks again, Judy, for blessing us with your remarkable voice and keep on singing!"