LUCINDA WILLIAMS : SINGS THE BEATLES FROM ABBEY ROAD

1. Don't Let Me Down
2. I'm Looking Through You
3. Can't Buy Me Love
4. Rain
5. While My Guitar Gently Weeps
6. Let It Be
7. Yer Blues
8. I've Got A Feeling
9. I'm So Tired
10. Something
11. With A Little Help From My Friends
12. The Long And Winding Road

Label : Highway 20 Records

Release Date : December 6, 2024

Length : 40:06

Review (The Arts Desk) : When first I clicked on the stream for this album, I really wasn’t sure about it. In fact, I thought I wasn’t going to like it, much as I had wanted to. But I’ve had it playing almost continuously while I’ve been dealing with mindless stuff – and I’ve come to like it. Not without reservations of course – there are always reservations – but it’s got under my skin and I’m now properly in the groove, appreciating what Lucinda Williams is doing, delving into this most hallowed of song catalogues and bravely tackling numbers that are rarely, if ever, covered. As is her way. Take “Yer Blues”, and “I’m So Tired”, two heavy, angst-ridden songs recorded on The White Album and written by John Lennon when The Beatles were in Rishikesh with the Maharishi (or “Sexy Sadie” as Lennon would call him). Indeed, with her rock ‘n’ roll voice she seems admirably suited to these songs – much more so than to “Let It Be” and “The Long and Winding Road”, two softer, gentler songs by Paul McCartney, where her voice is sometimes a little too quavery for comfort. Recorded at Abbey Road in February and March this year, just ahead of Williams’ tour, Lucinda Williams Sings The Beatles has its origins in the Lu’s Jukebox series of themed lockdown performances curated by Williams and streamed for a fee with proceeds going to designated venues. They included rewarding sets of covers by Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, and the Rolling Stones among others and of course they found favour with fans and have now been released on vinyl and CD. A couple of days after the Stones set was recorded in late 2020, Williams suffered a stroke. Valiantly and in public, she has overcome many of the deficits it caused but the guitar remains a work in progress, and she doesn’t play on this album. The musicians who do a fine job recreating the sound world of The Beatles to which Williams sings are Butch Norton, drums and percussion; David Sutton, bass; Doug Pettibone, electric guitars, pedal steel and backing vocals, Marc Ford, electric and acoustic guitars; and Richard Causon, Hammond B-3. Siobhan M Kennedy, wife of co-producer Ray Kennedy, sings backing vocals. From A Hard Day’s Night (1964) through to Let It Be (1970), Williams cherry picks a dozen songs that represent diverse aspects of The Beatles’ career, including two of George Harrison’s most enduring numbers, “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” (The White Album, 1968) and “Something” (Abbey Road, 1969) which work surprisingly well. Ringo Starr’s best loved song, “With A Little Help from My Friends”, takes its cue from Joe Cocker’s celebrated high-energy cover rather than from the Sgt Pepper original and would, I feel, have made a better and stronger closing track than “The Long and Winding Road”. And right now, the sentiment would have been perfect.

Review (Folk Alley) : During the pandemic, Lucinda Williams and her band found a way to release their creative energy; they produced a series of livestreams and records with Williams interpreting other people’s songs with the title Lu’s Jukebox. On the first volume of Lu’s Jukebox, Williams delivered her down-to-the-bone versions of Tom Petty’s songs, and, by the end of 2020, Williams had recorded six volumes of the project with the final album devoted to the songs of the Rolling Stones. Following her recovery from her stroke, Williams turned her attention to a volume seven of Lu’s Jukebox that would focus on the songs of the Beatles. In early 2024, she and her band traveled to England to record the album at Abbey Road studios, becoming the first artist ever to go into the studios to record Beatles’ songs. Williams covers a wide range of the Fab Four’s storied catalog spanning from early hits like “Can’t Buy Me Love” to later gems like “Let It Be.” The album opens with a straight-ahead version of “Don’t Let Me Down” on which William’s vocals plead, conveying the emotional urgency of the song. Cascading guitar strums flow under Williams’ take on “Rain,” which shimmers with background vocals by Siobhan M. Kennedy and guitarist Doug Pettibone, while Williams strips down “Can’t Buy Me Love” so that it’s less frenetic and more a rootsy sing-along. “Let It Be” opens sparely with Williams singing over an electric guitar before layers of a Hammond B3, drums, and background vocals carry the song into the sonic stratosphere. It’s the centerpiece of the album, and as with the original, Williams’ version unfolds slowly and sparsely and then spirals into a crescendo of sound. Williams take on “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” captures the song’s emotional depths set against a blaring wall of sound created by Pettibone’s and Marc Ford’s guitars. On her delivery of “Something,” Williams conveys the song’s languid elegance. Layers of steel guitar chords create a resigned melancholy on her take on “The Long and Winding Road,” creating an orchestral atmosphere that evokes the emptiness and anticipation at the heart of the song; in its own way it’s better than the original. On Lucinda Williams Sings The Beatles from Abbey Road, Williams doesn’t stray too far from the originals, preserving the sonic structure of each track on the album. She does, however, work within those spaces to innovate and to convey the depths of the songs in inventive ways, showcasing her distinct talents as an interpreter of the songs of others.

Review (No Depression) : Cover albums are notoriously challenging beasts. Artists must try to balance maintaining individuality, while also adhering to the source material. Listeners have to justify listening to new interpretations, when the original songs are often easily accessible. When covering a band as beloved, foundational, and obsessed-over as The Beatles, every choice becomes subject to overanalyzing. It’s a bold, even dangerous move. But country-rock, singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams is no stranger to courageous moves in the music industry. Lucinda Williams Sings The Beatles From Abbey Road, the seventh installment of her celebrated “Lu’s Jukebox” cover series (which also included tributes to Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, and more), pays faithful homage to the Fab Four. Williams interprets 12 Beatles songs, across five records and a single (A Hard Day’s Night, Rubber Soul, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, The White Album, and Let It Be), and includes songs originally sung by Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. Recorded at Abbey Road in London in a mere three days, Williams was (surprisingly) the first artist to record Beatles songs there, according to her husband/manager Tom Overby in the liner notes. Her band, most notably featuring guitarists Doug Pettibone and Marc Ford, matches The Beatles’ tone nearly perfectly, especially on the earliest selections like “Can’t Buy Me Love” and “Rain,” as well as the shredding solos in Harrison’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” Back in 2020, Williams suffered a stroke, but even today at 71, her voice sounds remarkably strong. Although her range stays fairly narrow on Lucinda Williams Sings The Beatles From Abbey Road, she unleashes her higher register convincingly throughout “I Got A Feelin’.” Lyrically, her worn, gravelly voice brings even greater depth to Lennon’s loneliness and angst in “Yer Blues,” as well as his weariness in “I’m So Tired.” Of course, tackling one of the most foundational bands in human existence isn’t going to be easy or yield flawless results. The tempo of Harrison’s “Something” moves too slowly, turning Harrison’s best love song into something closer to a dirge. And “Let It Be,” one of The Beatles’ most beloved tracks, is disappointing simply because it doesn’t stand out. The perfection of the original rests in its simplicity, so it’s nearly impossible to make it one’s own. If the cover is too experimental, it can be distasteful compared to the original; if the cover adheres too much to the original, like in this case, the result can be simply lackluster. Undoubtedly, Lucinda Williams Sings The Beatles From Abbey Road is a passion project for all involved. That passion is obvious, even reverent throughout the record. It doesn’t necessarily challenge the original works or interpret them in revolutionary ways, but that’s also seemingly not the point. The album exists simply because Williams wanted to make it happen, and because fans will definitely enjoy it.