Ugh, been away too long. Had a bit of a rollercoaster two weeks with work, health and personal shiznit that, while sometimes though I thought I had a grip on the bucking bronto that is life, it would throw a new beehive in my lap. At the moment everything seems stable, but as Ringo once famously quipped ‘Tomorrow never knows’. And with that I’m going to segue with all the grace of a rhino jogging through Pottery Barn into another one of my large posts; 40-something handpicked covers of The Beatles‘ introspective, tambura-intoxicated, pysch and engineering masterpiece Tomorrow Never Knows.
Favorites by a long shot are two early versions; a crawling yet ominous cut by tragically late blues/soul singer Junior Parker (recently brought back to light via the Children of Men soundtrack) and a rare psych-souljazz version from the Don Randi Trio.
Also jumping on the bandwagon quite early are two great 60s covers from The Mirage and Morganna King.
Next is a small handful of covers from some noted notables (to me at least anyway) including Roxy Music side project 801 (AKA Phil Manzanera & Brian Eno), 80s alt-stalwarts The Chameleons, and The Mission UK as well as Danielle Dax‘s dancey one-hitter, Yukihiro Takahashi (of YMO Fame) and a odd one from diamond David Lee Roth, or at least odd for him anyway (BTW don’t hate on the Dave. Hate on Hagar if you must.)
Having the dubious distinction of being the first song to utilize the Flanger effect, Tomorrow Never Knows is in some ways the mother of all shoegaze/dirge/drone music. Plying that sound are some loud and sublimely sluggish cuts from Sonic Youth, Suns Of Arqa, Secret Colours, Ride, Toiling Midgets, Wrath of the Weak and Marshmallow Overcoat.
Getting even further left of the dial, in fact breaking the whole %$#@! knob off, is what I’d like to call the ‘Bad Acid Section’; a grip of VERY experimental, noise and outsider cuts from Tom Meade, Jad Fair & Daniel Johnston, A Minority Of One, David Fiuczynski, Supermotozoids, Irma Cerrutti and Dictionaraoke (aka Mac Speech + Karaoke). Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Tomorrow‘s overt Indian influences also make it ripe for being covered in an ambiguously Asian/Middle Eastern fashion and taming those tablas are Monsoon (Featuring Sheila Chandra), Pedro Aznar and Turkey’s DEF.
Cutting the oriental rug are dance cuts from electronica/hip-hop crossovers the Stereo MCs as well as a drum & bass from the normally reggae Wailing Souls, a downtempo Jay Atwood & Susan MacCorkle and now that I think about it probably a more ‘Prog-y’ than danceable Tangerine Dream.
And lastly locking it down for their respected genres is Beatlejazz, Ann Dyer & No Good Time Fairies and Giovanni Guidi (Jazz), Jason McNiff (Bluegrass), Five O’clock Shadow (Acapella), The Punkles (Reggae), Quartetto Orchestra Sinfonica G. Verdi di Milano (Classical), the 8 Bit Operators (Chiptune) and lastly a hilarious Beatles-in-the-style-of-Metallica parody from Beatallica.

Junior Parker – Tomorrow Never Knows
Don Randi Trio – Tomorrow Never Knows

The Mirage – Tomorrow Never Knows
Morganna King – Tomorrow Never Knows

801 (AKA Phil Manzanera & Brian Eno) – Tomorrow Never Knows
The Chameleons – Tomorrow Never Knows
The Mission UK – Tomorrow Never Knows
Danielle Dax – Tomorrow Never Knows
Yukihiro Takahashi – Tomorrow Never Knows
David Lee Roth – Tomorrow Never Knows

Sonic Youth – Tomorrow Never Knows
Suns Of Arqa – Tomorrow Never Knows
Secret Colours – Tomorrow Never Knows
Ride – Tomorrow Never Knows (Live)
Toiling Midgets – Tomorrow Never Knows
Wrath of the Weak – Tomorrow Never Knows
Marshmallow Overcoat – Tomorrow Never Knows

Tom Meade – Tomorrow Never Knows
Jad Fair & Daniel Johnston – Tomorrow Never Knows
A Minority Of One – Tomorrow Never Knows
David Fiuczynski – Tomorrow Never Knows
Supermotozoids – Tomorrow Never Knows
Irma Cerrutti – Tomorrow Never Knows
Dictionaraoke – Tomorrow Never Knows

Monsoon Featuring Sheila Chandra – Tomorrow Never Knows
Pedro Aznar – Tomorrow Never Knows
DEF – Tomorrow Never Knows

Stereo MCs – Tomorrow Never Knows
Wailing Souls – Tomorrow Never Knows
Jay Atwood & Susan MacCorkle – Tomorrow Never Knows
Tangerine Dream – Tomorrow Never Knows

Beatlejazz – Tomorrow Never Knows
Ann Dyer & No Good Time Fairies – Tomorrow Never Knows
Giovanni Guidi – Tomorrow Never Knows
Jason McNiff – Tomorrow Never Knows
Five O’clock Shadow – Tomorrow Never Knows
The Punkles – Tomorrow Never Knows
Quartetto Orchestra Sinfonica G. Verdi di Milano – Tomorrow Never Knows
8-Bit Operators – Tomorrow Never Knows
Beatallica - Tomorrow Never Comes

Enjoy!
LS

PS Those in Thee Versions Galore Facebook Fanclub still searching for more enlightenment, got some great Tomorrow mashups and re-edits on the wall for you…

Tags: The Beatles, Tomorrow Never Knows, Yay I'm back! Sorry I was ever away!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 20th, 2011 at 10:05 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.