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Bands all Beatles fans should listen to?

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M

Mineshaft_Gap

4077th
I'm a huge anglophile when it comes to rock music. I LOVE Beatle-esque harmonies. Melodious pop/rock songs that are instantly memorable and on occasion... hauntingly beautiful.

I remember years back after absorbing the entire Beatles discography I was hungry for more and in my search for more Beatle-esque music I discovered some of my absolute favorite bands. Some of which actually rival my love for the Beatles themselves.... almost!
Big Star!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Star

THE power pop band. Unmistakable Beatles influence with a Southern twist. Jangly guitars and absolutely stunning vocal harmonies and guitar overdubs. These guys were the American Beatles so far as I'm concerned.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cn1t6l7UUPc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNKSs1J38EA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pte3Jg-2Ax4

You might know them from the intro to That 70's Show. "Hangin out... down the street... the same old thing... we did last week." That's Cheap Trick doing a cover of a Big Star song. A few other musicians who've done covers of Big Star songs include Elliott Smith, The Bangles, Jeff Buckley, Wilco, The Posies and more.

Harry Nilsson!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Nilsson

Some of the albums from Derek Taylor's box eventually ended up with the Beatles themselves,[4] who quickly became Nilsson fans. This may have been helped by the track "You Can't Do That", in which Nilsson covered one Beatles song but added 22 others in the multi-tracked background vocals. When John Lennon and Paul McCartney held a press conference in 1968 to announce the formation of Apple Corps, John was asked to name his favorite American artist. He replied, "Nilsson". Paul was then asked to name his favorite American group. He replied, "Nilsson".
Click to expand...

Once John Lennon called and praised Pandemonium Shadow Show, which he had listened to in a 36-hour marathon.
Click to expand...

The debauchery shared by John Lennon and Harry Nilsson during Lennon's Lost Weekend is the stuff of legend. His covers of various Beatles songs (including You Can't Do That, Mother Nature's Son, and She's Leaving Home) are among my favorite Beatles covers. Thanks in no small part to his absolutely BEAUTIFUL singing voice. Harry Nilsson wrote his fair share of songs and had quite a few of his own hits under his belt. That said he was prolific at covering other peoples material. His collaboration with Randy Newman is what launched Newman's career. He put out an entire album of Newman covers (in which Newman played piano) that I quite simply think is a masterpiece. It's one of my most listened to albums on a consistent basis.

Perhaps the biggest hit of his career was his cover of the Badfinger song "Without You." A song that's been covered by a lot of prolific singers, but I think Nilsson's version is the definitive version.

Any obsessed Beatle's fan will LOVE Harry Nilsson. Check out "Mr. Richland's Favorite Song."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_FGC0VHiTk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERhvqJzmZAY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKy_gTrdXaU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QghwNqlCRE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s51bRVVRah4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ozl5SahSko - Newman cover... absolutely gorgeous.

His songs range from jaw droppingly beautiful to hilarious. He's my favorite singer/songwriter. Period.

Oh yeah... I did mention Badfinger didn't I?

Badfinger!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badfinger

This one should need no introduction for any Beatles nut. The first group signed to the Beatles Apple records. You know their songs even if you don't "know" them. They wrote some of the most perfect pop songs ever written. Badfinger was almost finished when half of the songwriting force of the band committed suicide. They reunited for a brief period of time but were quickly disbanded after the other half of that force decided to follow suit.

Can't find any good versions of their songs on youtube. Check these songs out on your own.

Baby Blue
Day After Day (produced by George Harrison)

Some others I didn't bother to write anything about because they should be obvious.

Electric Light Orchestra
Elliott Smith
Cheap Trick
The Zombies
The Beach Boys
The Kinks

I'm missing a ton. I just made this thread because I thought about how much a 13 year old me would have loved to see something like this. I'm always open to hearing about more fantastic Beatle esque bands so if you know any that are fairly obscure I'd love to hear about them.
 
S

Salazar

Member
Elliott Smith's Figure 8 has always struck me as slightly Beatles-esque in its songwriting.

Edit: :lol Listed, as obvious.
 
N

NGAMER9

Member
:lol I came in here to say Big Star. My job is done.

Edit: That said, I hate the vast majority of the Beatles' work.
 
M

Mineshaft_Gap

4077th
Rolling Stones are fucking great for sure. Beggar's Banquet, Exile on Main Street, Let it Bleed, and Sticky Fingers are all masterpieces. What I'm going for is bands that ran with the Beatles template to some degree. Artists whose music will satiate the hunger for MOAR after listening to Rubber Soul - Let it Be for the bazillionth time.
 
G

gdt

Member
Ducky_McGee said:
Rolling Stones are fucking great for sure. Beggar's Banquet, Exile on Main Street, Let it Bleed, and Sticky Fingers are all masterpieces. What I'm going for is bands that ran with the Beatles template to some degree. Artists whose music will satiate the hunger for MOAR after listening to Rubber Soul - Let it Be for the bazillionth time.
Click to expand...

Their britpop stuff was sorta kinda like The Beatles.

I just posted The Stones because they don't get enough love for some reason.
 
V

Vanillalite

Ask me about the GAF Notebook
Tame_Impala_Innerspeaker_cover.jpg
 
D

DeathbyVolcano

Banned
Teddman said:
WINGS

Band on the Run is as good as a Beatles album. So are large portions of Paul McCartney's solo catalog.
Click to expand...

No.

George Harrison's solo career >>>>>>> any respective Beatle solo career.

All Things Must Pass is incredible.
 
S

Snuggles

erotic butter maelstrom
DeathbyVolcano said:
No.

George Harrison's solo career >>>>>>> any respective Beatle solo career.

All Things Must Pass is incredible.
Click to expand...

A man who speaks the truth. All Things Must Pass is one of my most beloved albums of all time.
 
M

Mineshaft_Gap

4077th
I think Ram is easily the best solo Paul McCartney album. Band on the Run is MEH.

Back on track though... I'm glad to see the Elephant 6 collective groups getting a nod. Of Montreal, The Apples in Stereo, and Olivia Tremor Control are all very good indie pop groups. Ladybug Transistor is pretty cool too. Sometimes I think these bands are too hip for their own good though. I kinda hate the ultra random nature of their band, album, and song names. Olivia Tremor Control is especially guilty of this.

The Flamin' Groovies have one album called Shake Some Action that is a SERIOUS nod to pre Rubber Soul Beatles. GREAT album. Influenced almost as much by Big Star as by the Beatles.
 
T

Teddman

Member
DeathbyVolcano said:
No.

George Harrison's solo career >>>>>>> any respective Beatle solo career.

All Things Must Pass is incredible.
Click to expand...
All Things Must Pass would've benefitted from an editor--it has stupendous highlights but a glut of material best left in the studio.

Paul has the advantage of having had the time to produce a lot more material than John or George, but he simply has the best catalog. Ram is an often overlooked album that may be the best single post-Beatles LP of them all.
 
H

hateradio

The Most Dangerous Yes Man
Lafiel said:
The Olivia Tremor Control - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6hkVXpQYYg whenever i play their albums back-to-back my parents always comment on how they sound like the beatles. And they're really good as well.
Click to expand...
This is one of those bands that I simply can never remember. I listen to their albums and I become oblivious of their music minutes later. Something does not "stick."
 
J

Jonnyboy117

Member
Early Pink Floyd, especially Piper at the Gates of Dawn, is extremely reminiscent of the later, psychadelic periods of the Beatles. Some of that influence stayed with Floyd all the way up through The Wall, at least, but it's much more obvious on the early albums.

A number of Bob Dylan songs were likely influenced by the Beatles (and vice-versa), the most notable one being "Fourth Time Around" from Blonde on Blonde, which may have been a response to "Norwegian Wood".

Umphrey's McGee is not generally a Beatles-like band, but they do have one song on the most recent studio album called "Made to Measure" that is distinctly Beatles-esque and also really great. They also occasionally cover the Beatles, but then so do most bands.

Jet's "Look What You've Done" is a blatant and I'd say very successful imitation of the Beatles' style.
 
S

Salsa

Member
Revolution number one said:
I never said listen to any of their other albums
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Fair enough :p

I dont like them though, guess a couple of songs are good. I also dont really see the connection to the Beatles. I mean i see it in a superficial way, the looks, the style, and Liam sings every song like if he was sining i am the walrus. But other than that, nothing.
 
R

Revolution number one

Member
SalsaShark said:
Fair enough :p

I dont like them though, guess a couple of songs are good. I also dont really see the connection to the Beatles. I mean i see it in a superficial way, the looks, the style, and Liam sings every song like if he was sining i am the walrus. But other than that, nothing.
Click to expand...

English red neak + 70's hard rock + beatle image and melody = definitely maybe
 
S

Salsa

Member
Revolution number one said:
English red neak + 70's hard rock + beatle image and melody = definitely maybe
Click to expand...

Lyrics probably break it for me. Their songs just dont make sense. I guess they can be fun for a while, but thats where they fall short when comparing them to the beatles. (well they fall short everywhere when comparing them to the bea.. you get it)
 
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