The Persuasions Sing The Beatles [LP]

The Persuasions - The Persuasions Sing The Beatles [LP]

The Persuasions came out of the street corners of Brooklyn and spent decades as one of America's leading a cappella groups, singing everything from gospel to doo-wop to rock with no instruments at all. On this album a core quartet of the group takes on the Beatles, putting their deep bass lines, layered harmonies and soulful lead vocals in place of guitars and drums.

David Chesky produced the album in 2001 at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Manhattan rather than in a studio. He picked the church for its natural warmth and sense of space. The singers stood in a semicircle around a single microphone, the way they had first sung together decades earlier, so the recording sounds open and present, as if you were in the room. The songs range from 'Eight Days a Week' and 'Come Together' to 'Octopus's Garden', 'Don't Let Me Down' and 'The Ballad of John and Yoko', and the album closes with John Lennon's 'Imagine'.

This edition is pressed on 180-gram vinyl using the one-step process, as part of Chesky's Original Masters reissue series, and it comes with new liner notes. It suits audiophiles, vocal-harmony fans and Beatles collectors.

Side One:

Eight Days a Week
Oh! Darling
Come Together
Rocky Raccoon
Octopus's Garden
With a Little Help From My Friends

Side Two:

From Me To You
Yesterday
Ob La Di, Ob La Da
Don't Let Me Down
The Ballad of John and Yoko
Imagine