WHO NAILED IT? #2 - "With a Little Help From My Friends

[Mike Blakesley]

For our next installment of "Who Nailed It?" we've picked a tune that might be a little more well-known or more widely heard!

This week's subject song was done by three of the classic-era A&M artists, plus a little-known group called the Beatles covered it too, and about a million others. Who really nailed it? Vote for one of our choices, or name and defend your own favorite!

 

[Harry]

Though I love and respect the original by The Beatles, I have to say I've come to really appreciate the cover version by A&M's own Roger Nichols & The Small Circle Of Friends.

It's funny that I've never really cared much for either Herb or Sergio's versions, in spite of being a super fan of both.

Harry

 

[Dave]

Obviously "one of the dozens of others", in which case, Roger Nichols & The Small Circle Of Friends (as if it were meant to evoke an emphasis on the group name: "Get it? --FRIENDS)

Mind you, I'm much appreciative of the Brazilian treatment that Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 give it, enough to make it my second choice (and it was my first, before my discovery of Nichols/Friends came along...)

However, Joe Cocker gives this song a pretty good reading and turning it into a ballad, augmented by the female chorus really give it an amazing twist...

Otherwise, comes the Herb Alpert & TjB take on it... It does fine as an instrumental, conveying the mechanics of musicianship of a working band, and even being done rather "show-off-ish" still works...

Lastly there's The Beatles version, which despite their greatness and eternal reverence, comes off as a bit "ordinary", meaning "it's hard to stay down on the farm" after the other versions in remakes definitely better it as in a mild form of "whoopin' it up"...



Dave

 

[Mike]

The one-and-only Joe Cocker!

Mike

 

[Actorman]

I have a good cover version of this song by the Scottish band Wet Wet Wet. It was a UK #1 single in 1988.

They are probably best known in America for their cover of The Troggs' "Love Is All Around" from the Four Weddings And A Funeral soundtrack which barely missed the Top 40 but was an AC hit. (It was also a UK #1.)

 

[Mike]

Steve Cropper has an instrumental version of "With A Little Help From My Friends" on his album, aptly titled With a Little Help from My Friends. I just acquired this CD a couple weeks ago. His arrangement of the song is slow and drawn out just like Joe Cocker's version; except there's no vocals (of course). I wonder if Joe Cocker used Steve Cropper's arrangement, or the other way around?

Anyway, Steve's version is full of some really good guitar playing. The rest of the CD is pretty good too!

Mike

 

[Dave]

The instrumental version I have heard of is by Larry Carlton, from his first album, With A Little Help From My Friends, back in 1968...

And I wonder if I'll ever hear the "previously unreleased" version by Gabor Szabo w/ Bob Thiele & His New Happy Times Orchestra, as part of the Light My Fire album sessions... (And if it was instrumental or a "vocal leftover California Dreamers track" from Wind, Sky & Diamonds...)



Dave

 

[Dave]

OK, I finally heard Booker T & The MG's guitarist-turned-LA session guitarist extraordinaire, Steve Cropper's version; its fuzz-soaked, almost slow groove of his take on it, may have been what inspired the Joe Cocker version (while retaining of the majestic authenticity of the Beatles original) and avoiding the "clockwork treatment" of how anything "instrumental" would come off...



Dave

 

[Captaindave]

IMO, it depends on what you think the mood and style of the song is supposed to be.

All the artists in this poll are very different musically and stylistically. I voted for Joe Cocker. His particular rendition are the best fit of sound and style, IMO.

The original version by the Beatles is a contender since, after all, they composed it and one might argue that a song's composer might be the one who best knows what the song should sound like.

However, sometimes another rendition might actually "trump" the original and in this case, I think Cocker's version does that.

Never much cared for Sergio and his group getting into Beatles covers. I like them best when they are doing what they do best... the Brazilian and related sound and style.

Didn't care for the TJB rendition at all. For my particular taste, this rendition and particular song was too much of a departure from the sound and style of Herb Alpert and the TJB that I liked and preferred. IMO, this song isn't done best as an instrumental. Without the vocal, it seems to fall flat.

FWIW...

 

[DAN BOLTON]

Gotta go with Herb's version...still see the 7 Dwarfs going off to work in the mine every time I hear it. When the strings come in on the "outro" I see Dopey skipping; and with the last chord, Grumpy is closing the mine's door.

But that's just me...

Dan