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excellent album, can't say I was ever really a Beatles fan (all country all the time for me) but after hearing this we might have to update the collection with a little Beatles. Chet was simply the master and was always aiming to better himself and his music. A big thumbs up on this album I only wish it had more songs.Seller was great 8 days from order to doorstep and nice price.
I WILL not borrow this one out, NO WAY. Chet Atkins is an awesome musician. Amazon always has quick shipping and the hard to find things I am looking for. I love him because my Dad always listened to him in the old days, so it's nostalgic to me. This to me is one of his best and I have borrowed it out many times and never recieved it back, that tells you something. It arrived sooner than I thought it would in excellent condition. Highly recommend it
The arrangements are masterful and the guitar is stellar. I was blown away by how good this CD is. George Harrison says, in the liner notes, "I got the feeling that these songs had been written specifically with Chet in mind," and you'll know what he means after listening. The only negative is that it sometimes has a 60's groove that's a little funky (and not good funky) but this is not a big deal. Every track is good and some are better than excellent, I'll Follow the Sun and If I Fell come to mind but the whole work is simply outstanding.
Atkins broke through to major success, there was something exciting simply in mixing classical technique with the electric guitar. When I first heard this recording in 1966 I was partial to the simpler, more folksy and "prettier" tunes such as "I'll Follow the Sun", "If I Fell" and "Yesterday". He cared more about making colorful and appealing music than about using songs as a vehicle for overt exhibitionism, although I should concede that during the 1950s and early 60s it took far less than today to set oneself apart from the mass of pickers and strummers. Chet Atkins was one of Harrison's idols (particularly evident in The Beatles' recordings of "All My Loving" and "Till There Was You") and here Chet turns the tables and does a great tribute.
Now these are among my favorites. Chet even mimics Chuck Berry in "Michelle". Beatlemania period of 1964-1966, this one is especially memorable. The techniques he used - melodic variation, harmonization in 3rds and 6ths, punctuating major 2nds to indicate 7th chords (Harrison would copy this in his solo for "Slow Down"), passages of harmonics, string bending, shifting registers, "train" and "Hawaiian" effects with the vibrato bar, nylon guitar style arpeggiation and the "Travis-pick" which he and Merle Travis devised of syncopated melody notes combined with alternating (and sometimes muted) chordal bass patterns - were all put to the service of creating memorable musical landscapes. The bluesier and more country-sounding treatments given "Can't Buy Me Love", "She's a Woman" and especially "I Feel Fine" didn't appeal to me at all.
Where I heard the group's pop sensibility, he heard their inspiration. At the time Mr. His guitar was always very controlled, tuneful, and immediately pleasing in tone. This is without any doubt one of the very best of all Beatle-theme cover albums.
One of the many albums released by major artists covering Beatles songs during the U.S. I thought Chet had wrecked these songs making them so "ethnic". But Chet knew better, of course, than the thirteen year old me. That said, "I'll Follow the Sun" and "Michelle" are the most technically varied arrangements. They are ALL extremely well done. HIGHLY recommended.PS. Chet was not really "virtuosic" in the way that contemporary guitarists usually understand the term.
For those interested in playing this music themselves, Chet's guitar parts from the entire album were published long ago as a single-book collection (a friend of mine had it) and I believe it's been reprinted. On this album, it really sings.The arrangements here are very true in spirit to The Beatles' originals, but Chet puts his stamp on each of them. Some (and maybe most) of these tunes have never been covered better by anyone else. How's that for unusual.Also particularly nice are "She Loves You", the minor blues "Things We Said Today" and the barn-burning "I'll Cry Instead" which is so comfortable in its country-combo setting, you'd swear it warn't The Beatles at all, but Bill Monroe instead. I myself have never owned it or even used it though, so I can't attest to the accuracy of the transcriptions.
If you like Chet Atkins and the Beatles music Chet does justice to the Beatles music. Anyone who likes Chet's playing and the Beatles musicshould like this recording. Chet was one the greatest guitarist of this era he plays any style and makes it convincing. I really enjoy this album. Actually I had this album in vinyl and wore it out and I am now replacing it with the cd.YoursDaniel P. Testa
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