In 2020, covering the music of
the Beatles is still a relatively common occurrence, but in the late 1960s artists were churning out their own versions of
Fab Four tunes almost as quickly as the band themselves could release them. What is now considered a globally familiar songbook of
Lennon,
McCartney, and
Harrison favorites was being cemented practically in real time by acts ranging from emerging greats still finding their identity to minor one-off oddities. In another feat of archival extremism, the always-thorough Grapefruit division of Cherry Red Records offers up
Looking Through a Glass Onion: Beatles Psychedelic Songbook 1966-1972. As its title suggests, this three-disc anthology is focused on
the Beatles' influence on the burgeoning U.K. psych and progressive scenes that occurred from the 1966 release of
Revolver until two years after the band's breakup. There's quite a lot here, and of course the results vary in quality and taste. Right out of the gate,
Deep Purple and
Yes take their respective cracks at "Help" (heavy, plodding, and occasionally grandiose) and the relatively minor
Beatles for Sale cut "Every Little Thing" (intricate, dynamic, and sounding very much like early
Yes). As with those two acts, a trend of massive growling Hammond organ swells and frenetic guitar solos plays throughout much of the collection, often with less impressive results like Welsh combo
Eyes of Blue's over-the-top reading of "Yesterday" and
Spooky Tooth's dirgey
Sabbath-like "I Am the Walrus," which while interesting wears out its welcome. Elsewhere are tighter renditions that hit their mark like
the Gods' punchy, brass-driven "Hey Bulldog" or pleasing folky tributes like
Linda Peters' (later to find success as
Linda Thompson) spare version of "Get Back." Tonally,
Glass Onion runs the gamut of the era's exploratory trends from outright jammy psych-rock and prog-rock to buoyant sunshine pop, jazz, and soul-inflected pop, some of which were pioneered by
the Beatles' original versions. Not all of it is great or even good, but there are enough diamonds in the rough to keep it interesting and the liberties taken occasionally lead to some fascinating places. ~ Timothy Monger