 Ronnie Spector As a dedicated Beatles obsessive in my youth, I traversed Fab fandom's deepest nooks and crannies, though surprisingly, I never really pursued the many Apple Records releases by non-Beatle artists. Somehow, even in my blind-faith "Beatles Do No Wrong" phase, I intuitively knew that Apple was a vanity label, and that nothing truly great would be on it. Recently, though, I've been pretty fascinated with Apple singles in particular. Lots of 'em were produced, written, and sometimes almost entirely performed by one or more Beatles, and so they form a weird parallel-universe chapter to the whole saga. This is a world where Doris Troy, Jackie Lomax, and Mary Hopkin are big stars, and Badfinger is almost as big as the Beatles themselves. George Harrison seemed to do the most interesting stuff on Apple … he probably saw it as a much-needed outlet for the bulk of his songs that weren't otherwise making the cut, as well as a proving ground (or perhaps just playground). David Bowie was infatuated with this Harrison/Phil Spector-produced single by Ronnie Spector around the time of his Hunky Dory album, and has recently covered the tune (which also cropped up in '73 on Harrison's own Living in the Material World). Although I haven't been able to confirm it, the Spector single is supposedly the only post-breakup single to feature all four Beatles (though obviously they weren't in the studio simultaneously). You wouldn't be able to hear it anyway, as this is a very All Things Must Pass "wall of sound" production. Ronnie's vocal is more interesting than Harrison's later one, lending a tough tenderness to the baroque waltz-iness of the arrangement, and making the spirituality of the lyrics more earthy and urbane. The b-side, though, is where the fun is at. It's the kind of bluesy rocker I'd kill to see performed by an all-star cast at the end of a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction party, with the hook "Tandoori chicken/And a great big bottle of wine." So let Bowie claim the a-side, I'll cover the b-side. This single was decidely not a hit (it charted at #77 US), but it's a shiny little moment that indicates the non-Beatle Apple stuff probably has a lot more treasures in store.
Review by Suzie Cant |