Album review : WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS – Covers of The Beatles 1967-70

Cherry Red [Release date [28.11.25]

The Beatles are the gift to the music world that just keeps on giving.

It’s a neat twist that the band who made their name initially by doing cover versions on stage in Germany in the sixties, are now the most covered band on the planet.

This With A Little Help boxset comprises 3 CDs, 75 covers, and more than 60 artists.

Why did those artists do it ?

To show respect for The Beatles’ prodigious song writing ability, to reimagine the music’s emotional content or simply to walk in the band’s well defined shadow. Maybe even to walk out into the spotlight occasionally. Or, just to belt out a good tune. They’ll all have their own motives.

The covers range from straightforward pop star efforts (Slade, Amen Corner, Marmalade), to truly stupendous, earth shaking renditions, like Wilson Picket’s ‘Hey Jude’, Brian Auger’s ‘A Day In The Life (kudos for taking on that one), and Ike& Tina Turner’s ‘Come Together’.

And some truly “left field” covers … ‘The Ballad Of John and Yoko’ by The Percy Faith Orchestra; ‘Lucy In The Sky..’ by William Shatner; ‘It’s All Too Much’ by a pre Perry Journey and ‘Too Many People’ by The Farnborough Firework Factory.

Then there are more than a handful of truly stupendous covers versions. Like the artist got under the hood and did some retooling.

Richie Havens’ reductive arrangement is nevertheless true to the spirit of ‘Strawberry Fields’; an earnestly sincere version of ‘She’s Leaving Home’ from Harry Nilsson gets best arrangement prize; Zebra’s bluesy version of ‘Helter Skelter’ is a daring departure from the original.

Plenty more big names, understandably, spread soulful covers across the 3 discs. Jose Feliciano ‘She Came In Through The Bathroom Window’; Aretha Franklin ‘Let It Be’, and Billy Preston ‘I’m So Tired’ standout.

But perhaps the most interesting are a bunch of tracks from Mike Batt, Fats Domino and Ramsey Lewis. All hugely successful in their own right, across the ages, but never too big to cover the greatest band of all.

They contribute to what is an incredibly addictive boxset that’s comparable to no other contemporary release. ****

Review by Brian McGowan

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Power Plays w/c 1 December 2025

We feature all the artists selected in this sequence in 2025.

Featured Albums w/c 1 December 2025

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Singer Songwriter)

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