Every now and then I get a hankering to immerse myself into the music released by that most popular of bands The Beatles. On a recent delve through my record collection I was reminded that LOADS of other artists have recorded Beatles songs over the years. I think Yesterday is one of the most covered songs in the history of popular music and that got me thinking about some of the Beatles song covers I have to choose from.

One of my favourite songs is a song written by John Lennon and featured on what I consider to be The Beatles’ greatest album, Revolver. It was the first song recorded for the album but is actually the final song on the track list…..it is Tomorrow Never Knows. It is definitely a song of its time (1966) and John Lennon was inspired to write it by the writings of Timothy Leary in his book The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on The Tibetan Book of the Dead. I have absolutely NO doubt that, somewhere in the background of the songs creation lurks the mind expanding drug LSD.

The first of the covers I will share is that of Genesis drummer and solo artist Phil Collins. He released this song on his first foray into the world as a solo artist on his album Face Value back in 1981. It is a fairly faithful look back to the original song and Phil Collins does, in my opinion, do the original song justice.

A very different version comes next by German Electronic Music band Tangerine Dream who were asked to contribute to a Beatles tribute album in 2009. They chose to cover Tomorrow Never Knows and I have included it here.

Tangerine Dream have been around since the late 1960s and have released literally HUNDREDS of albums. Their releases on Richard Branson’s Virgin label in the 1970s are probably their most famous albums (Phaedra, Rubycon, Ricochet for example) but they are still going strong and playing concerts all over the world. See what you think.

The final selection is a live recording of a band called 801. This group was put together by Roxy Music guitarist Phil Manzenera while Roxy were on hiatus in 1976. They played just 3 gigs including one at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall which was recorded and released at the end of 1976 as the album 801 Live. As part of the set they played a cover of Tomorrow Never Knows and this is what we have here.

I hope you enjoy this foray into the vaults of my record collection.

Keith.

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The Beatles – Tomorrow Never Knows

Phil Collins – Tomorrow Never Knows

Tangerine Dream – Tomorrow Never Knows

801 – TNK (Tomorrow Never Knows)