When They Was Fab - A Tribute to the Solo Beatles

Infobox Album
Name = When They Was Fab - a Tribute to the Solo Beatles
Type = Compilation Album


Artist = Top of the Poppers
Released = 2002
Recorded = 70's-80's
Genre = Pop, Rock
Label = Hallmark Records
Last album = "The Best of Top of the Pops '84"
(2002)
This album = "When They Was Fab - a Tribute to the Solo Beatles"
(2002)
Next album = "Night Fever (Top of the Poppers album)"
(2002)

"When They Was Fab - a Tribute to the Solo Beatles" is a 2002 compilation by the Top of the Poppers, consisting of covers recorded for the "Top of the Pops" record series (not to be confused with the British TV series). The covers were recorded during the 1970s and early 1980s, and the album was released on Hallmark Records. In his review of another Top of the Poppers album called "The Best of Top of the Pops '81", Allmusic reviewer Dave Thompson said that "of the three John Lennon songs wrapped up within, either "Imagine" or "Woman" could have given Roxy Music's version of "Jealous Guy" a run for its money in the brokenhearted sincerity stakes". [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:diftxqtaldje]

Background

From 1968 to 1985, Hallmark Records released nearly 100 albums consisting of covers of Top 40 hits. According to session singer Tony Rivers, "I"n those days, more often than not, you had to do 3 songs in 3 hours then you were out of there!! Not much chance of getting good at it!" [http://www.tonyrivers.com/totp.html] . However, he also notes that "there was good and there was bad" [http://www.tonyrivers.com/totp3.html] , and that the studio singers and musicians usually tried their best. Dave Thompson for Allmusic says that "it becomes apparent that the trick is not to look upon the songs as straightforward attempts to copy the hit song, but as interpretations rendered in the style of the hit" [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:a9fuxq9aldte] . Part sound-alikes, part true covers, the series sold well, and two of the albums reached hit No. 1 on the UK album charts. In 2002, Hallmark Records went back to the mastertapes, re-issuing several of the original albums, and releasing compilations using the recordings, which have a following of their own.

Track listing

#"My Sweet Lord"
#"Another Day"
#"Bangla Desh"
#"The Back Seat of My Car"
#"Power to the People"
#"Back Off Boogaloo
#"Photograph"
#"Band on the Run"
#"Imagine"
#"Let 'Em In"
#"Silly Love Songs"
#"Mull of Kintyre"
#"Wonderful Christmastime"
#"Starting Over"
#"Watching the Wheels"
#"Woman"
#"All Those Years Ago"
#"Ebony and Ivory"