(Dark Horse, 1981)I have mixed feelings about “All Those Years Ago.” On the one hand, it stinks. But on the other, it’s kind of a nice counterpoint to the other Lennon tributes out there, which were typically maudlin (Paul McCartney), overblown (Elton John), or pointless (Roxy Music). Harrison at least had the decency to make his track bouncy and fondly sentimental – a welcome relief! – even if it, like the rest of the Somewhere in England album (including the torpid B-side to the single, “Writing’s On the Wall”), does feature far too many ugly keyboard sounds. I’ll give George an unenthusiastic tip of the cap for this one. Oh, and don’t get excited about the “Beatles reunited!” hype that surrounds the song; Ringo drums on it, yes, but Paul’s contribution is just a non-distinctive backing vocal that adds little and is hardly identifiable as McCartney.
4 comments:
heavy duty snark: since when is covering someone's song as a tribute to them "pointless"? And Roxy's cover of "Jealous Guy" is actually quite nice. As to "All Those Years Ago," I wouldn't say it stinks, but it does seem awfully slight. "When We Was Fab" is so much better at the retrospect thing.
I think it's pointless in that it's a straight-up cover of a song that reveals nothing about Roxy Music's feelings towards Lennon (whatever they might have been) aside from, "Hey, we could have a hit with this song of yours!" I suppose there's some implied respect there, but it feels more commercially driven than, uh, reverent or whatever.
...not that I'm demanding reverence (obviously, given my semi-fondness for the casualness of "All Those Years Ago")! I just find this particular cover hollow as a "tribute."
fair enough. I never really thought of it as a tribute. Just a nice cover. I guess what I should really have called you on was including Roxy's 'Jealous Guy' in a list with All Those Years Ago and whatever songs McC and Elton did (which I'm not familiar with). The Roxy song was done live, in the version I know, and covering songs live is not unusual. I saw Springsteen live the night after Lennon was killed; he ended with a rousing Twist and Shout. It was great rock'n'roll, didn't need to be reverential.
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