Beatles Regrooved (CD - 2005)

Personnel: Robert Hodgson (vocals, guitar, piano, synthesizer, drums, programming); Cody Geil (vocals, violin); Azade Abi (vocals, piano); Jivez, Leah Reich, Jette Kelly, Avalon Frost, Morpho Eugenia (vocals); Reazon (guitar, electric bass, programming, turntables); Travis Pullman (guitar); Sarina Suno (violin); Irina Chirkova (cello); Kingspin (bass synthesizer, programming, turntables); Cannon Deweese (drums).

Audio Mixers: Kingspin ; Holmes Ives; Reazon.

Recording information: On The Hill, San Francisco, CA; Perceptual Studios, Washington DC; Rooftop Studios, San Francisco, CA; Squid Hell, Jamaica Plain, MA; Studio Noyau; Zion Studios, Atlanta, GA.

Arrangers: Holmes Ives; John Selway.

Following the success of 2004's Classics Regrooved, which reinterpreted various classical compositions for the chillout and electronica crowd, Koch Records visits another sacred body of work, this time applying the same formula to various Beatles songs. The problem with re-imagining Beatles material is that the Beatles generally imagined it at the highest level in the first place, so it really comes as no surprise that most of the tracks here seldom rise above the level of being mildly interesting curios. The songs that were a little psychedelic in the first place generally fare the best, while the ballads tend to sink under the weight of too much syrup. Jay Atwood and Susan MacCorkle's take on "Tomorrow Never Knows" retains much of the swirling inevitability of the original, and is easily the most successful of these "regrooves," while MystiQuintet's "Eleanor Rigby," which replaces the original's haunting sadness with relentless heaviness, and Azade Abi and Holmes Ives' "Come Together," which catches some of the cocky sharpness of the Beatles' version, are also strikingly reassembled. In the end, though, Beatles Regrooved remains mostly just an edgy set of background music, re-imagined or not, and it will more than likely send most listeners scrambling for their Beatles albums to make sure those wonderful original grooves are still intact. ~ Steve Leggett minimize