I love the Chipmunks. I love the Beatles. When I found an album marrying the two, I was delighted. The Chipmunks Sing the Beatles Hits
is a 1964 effort containing twelve tracks of Alvin, Simon and Theodore
doing their best to imitate the mop-tops. This seemed a very exciting
prospect to me, and the cover shot of the boys and Dave Seville assuming
the positions (and haircuts) of John, Paul, George and Ringo is
fantastic. In execution, however, it isn't nearly so interesting, since
nearly every song merely attempts to replicate the sound of a particular
Beatles song with higher-pitched voices. Play the Beatles sped up, and
you'd probably get a similar result. Still, for an avid fan of both
groups, it's worth a listen.
All My Loving - There's a
really joyous tone to this song, which has bouncy guitar-driven
instrumentals and tight vocals. The boys switch off on solos now and
then, though this early in their career it's rather difficult to tell
them apart. Still, a nice opener, especially with Dave's little
introduction making sure the lads have their hair on straight.
Do You Want to Know a Secret
- My second-favorite song on the album, it changes up the vocals a bit;
sometimes the boys all sing together, sometimes one sings solo with the
others providing an echo. A nice mellow song, it's on the lower end of
the register, aside from the "ooh-ooh-ooh"s, which are soft enough that
they sound pleasantly flutey instead of shrill.
She Loves You
- Nice fast pace, and it gives the Chipmunks a chance to do a nice bit
of harmonizing. I like the exuberance and the guitar; not so crazy about
the super-high "wooooooooooooo"s.
From Me to You - I
like the harmonies on this one too, and the guitar and harmonica are
fun. The notes manage to stay mostly out of the super-shrill range,
which is good for the ear drums, but nothing too notable about this one.
Love Me Do - This one is a logical choice since Alvin
is so associated with the harmonica, but a decent-sized instrumental
break where some trademark banter could have fit perfectly is wasted.
Twist and Shout
- A very peppy song, and fun to listen to, except in for a couple of
really screechy moments. My favorite part, though, is during an
instrumental break when Dave helpfully - if a tad irately - lets Alvin
know that his black wig is slipping off his head. All that twisting and
shouting is to blame, no doubt...
A Hard Day's Night - I
like the guitar work on this one, and it's a great song to begin with,
the Chipmunks just don't really add anything to it - other than an
octave or two...
P. S. I Love You - This sweet,
sentimental song is my favorite song on the album, partly because it's
entirely new to me. Somehow I managed to miss this one in its original
form, but I'll certainly be seeking it out. The Chipmunks don't get too
shrill on this one even for one note, and I love the singing style, with
Alvin going solo but Simon and Theodore chiming in on certain words.
There's a clarity and precision to it that's lacking in most of the
other tracks, and it's wonderfully melodic.
I Saw Her Standing There - Bouncy, but it goes on too long and too often dissolves into unpleasant screeching.
Can't Buy Me Love
- Another track with nice guitar and a peppy beat. Toward the middle,
there's a groovy little guitar solo and a shouted instruction from Dave,
but otherwise it's just the Chipmunks singing in unison and there's
nothing too exciting about it.
Please Please Me - Fast and fun, a pretty good track aside from the fact that the middle portion is pretty much incomprehensible.
I Wanna Hold Your Hand
- The Chipmunks do a nice job of harmonizing on this classic song, but
the pace seems draggingly slow, and the note on "haaaaand" is
ear-piercingly high. There's nothing uniquely Chipmunky about it, which
is a shame because I would think there would be a lot of comedic
potential here. As it is, it's not a terribly exciting way to end the
album.
Then again, most of these tracks aren't very exciting.
Voices that sound like they're on helium are fun, but what makes the
Chipmunks so appealing - for me, anyway - is the humor they put into
their songs. Aside from a couple of comments about the hair, that's
entirely absent here, making it a fun little tribute but a pretty dull
album overall that just doesn't live up to the cover's potential. It
doesn't help that the Chipmunks' personalities and voices don't seem to
be very well differentiated at this point. For the lover of Chipmunks
and Beatles, this is a fun little piece of history, but The Chipmunks Sing the Beatles Hits isn't an album that's likely to get a lot of replay.
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